Aitor Karanka's career path was not supposed to lead him to Maccabi Tel Aviv at this stage.
But unlike many of her previous coaches - such as Paulo Souza, Paco Eistran, Peter Boss and even Oscar Garcia, who came to Kiryat Shalom in order to take off - the 49-year-old Spaniard who signed a contract for a season and a half today (Wednesday) is coming here to land.
Whether it's an emergency landing or just a stopover - time will tell.
Meanwhile, Karanka arrives in Kiryat Shalom to restore his position.
Three times Karanka won the Champions League as a player with Real Madrid.
He was a stopper who moved between the lineup and the bench, and spent the vast majority of his career in two teams: the Blancos and Athletic Bilbao.
In both he trained under the German coach Jupp Heynckes, his first mentor.
In 2010, four years after he retired and at the end of two years of working in the Spain national team up to the age of 16, Karanka met the second and more significant mentor, Jose Mourinho.
The Spaniard was the assistant of the Portuguese at Real for three particularly intense seasons, and the shared period left a significant mark on Cranka.
In an interview with "The Coaches' Voice" he said: "Every training session with Mourinho was special.
Not only on the field, but also in the video room and in the personal conversations." One of the anecdotes he mentioned was when in a Real league game, the Portuguese demanded that he choose the substitutions himself. "I told him to substitute two certain players, so he put his hand on me and asked if I could see the fans in the stands .
I answered yes, and he told me that they would have made the exact same exchanges.
He then showed me some things I hadn't thought of, and made completely different exchanges.
I learned a lot just from this event."
Mourinho.
The great mentor, photo: AP
It is evident that Cranka was influenced by Mourinho, learned a lot from him and tried to apply it after he left to go independent in 2013.
Unfortunately - Mourinho has only one.
A stock in retreat
The beginning was actually not bad.
Middlesbrough from the English minor league was the first to bet on the special student, making him the first foreign coach in its history.
Karanka has shown some coaching sparks, even returning the team to the Premier League after seven seasons in the Championship.
There - the business collapsed.
Karanka has been defined as a control freak and one who goes down to details in an extreme way.
He created a defensive and fearful team that barely managed to win games or score goals.
In his last months there, he quarreled with players, with staff members and with the fans, who demanded that the team attack.
After one of his last games - a cup loss to Manchester City - he was asked why Patrick Bamford and Stuart Downing, two of his best players, were not in the squad.
His answer "I only wanted fighting actors" upset the fans, and the end came.
At Nottingham Forest, another Championship team, Karanka lasted a year.
Again - good start, decline, crisis, departure.
In this case, the Spanish coach demanded to leave when the team was in seventh place in the table.
The next stop was Birmingham City, where he stayed even less than a year.
Bad results and negative football led the team to three wins in 19 league games, and there was no choice but to say goodbye.
crank
Will he pick himself up again at Maccabi Tel Aviv?, Photo: Getty Images
It is not clear if he was fired or left, or maybe it was a mutual parting, but Karanka moved on.
He returned to his homeland, signed for Granada, and was unable to keep it in the top league in the little time left.
He remained in the position in the minor league as well, but last November, after only one win in five games, he was fired.
Maccabi deserves the Spaniard as a part in the retreat.
He is categorized as a defensive coach, stubborn, strict and orderly, but also has a lot of experience and knowledge.
He previously said that he admires Antonio Conte's 3:4:3, but added that for that you need suitable players.
Which formation will play with the yellows?
That's just one question.
There are still a lot of questions regarding Cranka, first of all - is he able to pick himself up again?
were we wrong
We will fix it!
If you found an error in the article, we would appreciate it if you shared it with us
