The Return of Racing

Racing Santander have returned to LaLiga after a 14 year absence. This is how they slowly returned to the top flight after years of pain.

On what was their 601 game out of LaLiga their return was sealed in front of a rocking El Sardinero. There were tears, hugs and wild displays of emotion including a pitch invasion as Racing Santander and the region of Cantabria returned to the elite.

When they went down in 2012 there was a high chance they might not ever return, the club had fallen into such a state they suffered back to back relegations to the third tier. While in the third tier they almost went out of business.

Even when Racing were in LaLiga they were a basket case. It’s bad enough when a fanbase has to deal with one rogue owner, Racing have dealt with so many bad ones it’s a miracle they still have a club.

Indian businessman Ahsan Ali Syed was arguably the loudest and yet wildest of them. Syed had spoken about Racing competing with Barcelona and Real Madrid, he celebrated in the faces of fellow owners and presidents but soon it turned out he was as big a fraud as you can get.

The clubs majority shareholder Ahsan Ali Syed could no longer attend games as Interpol had a red alert for his arrest. It led to Marcelino the coach who had taken them to Europe walking away and with the club around €50 million in debt and on the verge of bankruptcy.

The second biggest shareholder Dmitry Piterman wanted to take control once Syed was removed but he had an arrest warrant out for his arrest as well. When Piterman had been in control of Racing Santander prior to Syed he tried to make himself the manager and sat in the dugout.

Piterman later took control of Alaves leaving them €25 million in debt and a player revolt at his interference with team selection and tactics.

Things got so bad the president who promised change while Racing fell through the divisions, Angel Lavin eventually ended up in prison for fraud and embezzlement. Players went months without being paid, some staff members went a year without pay, it got so bad the team refused to play their Copa del Rey quarter final against Real Sociedad on national tv.

Instead of playing they stood silently, defiantly in the centre circle together. Those days though feel so far away on and off the pitch Racing Santander have become an example of a well run club.

The club was taken over first by local businessmen and former players including Manolo Higuera in 2014 and they stabilised the club. PITMA group then bought the club and continued to stabilise them financially before Higuera returned in 2023 with friend and businessman Sebastian Ceria where the club has gone to another level.

The ownership group have big plans to improve El Sardinero although the local council haven’t been as helpful as you’d expect given the status the club has where it totally dominates the region of Cantabria.

Given their dominance of Cantabrian football Racing are an effective political tool yet the regional government often mishandle it and while former leaders got in bed with crooks like Syed they’ve yet to realise the potential the current owners are unlocking in the club.

After years of pain the club now has owners who care about the club and genuine supporters, owners who understand Racinguismo and what it means to be a fan of the club. They’ve restored the pride in the club but most importantly slowly built it up, never over promising and never over reaching just building back a great institution.

Step by step they’ve improved things at the club, openly communicated with the fans and brought the fans with them on the journey. While Guillermo Romo got Racing back in Segunda it’s Jose Alberto Lopez who has transformed the club.

Jose Alberto Lopez had come off a bruising spell at Malaga where he lost the fanbase but at Racing he slowly turned them around and to safety in 2022. That was their first season in 10 years in the top two divisions where they hadn’t been relegated.

After that he took them to the verge of the play-offs all they had to do was get a result away to Villarreal B who were already relegated, on the final day of the season. Instead in painful fashion they lost.

The game was a surreal affair with Racing fans outnumbering home fans. The enduring image was of hundreds of Racing fans in tears yet applauding their heroes off. That bond between the fans and players has endured.

Last season they raced clear in Segunda blowing away opponents in style. Racing were the talk of the tactics gurus due to their unique style. The team play a relationist style focused on short passes and the interactions and relations between players.

Jose Alberto Lopez summed up his style in an interview with total football analysis and why it’s so different brilliantly in an interview with total football analysis

“During the offensive phase, we try to focus our game on the relations and interactions between our players — in fact, we are the team with the most short passes in the tournament.

All these positional play models that have become trends are very good, but they also tend to anchor the player to play from certain positions.

We try totally the opposite.

We bring our players closer together, acting as facilitators so that players’ interactions are not perceived as isolated individual efforts but rather as associations that multiply the options to score goals, progress, and create as many scoring opportunities as possible.

From that idea, we have been the team with the most xG generated”

Players such as Inigo Vicente and Andres Martin who were prodigies as youth players and highly tipped for success have thrived under Jose Alberto Lopez. Lopez who was so often derided at Malaga despite spells of great football has built a cult of personality at Racing with the fans idolising the coach and the football he has introduced.

Asier Villalibre whose nickname is the Buffalo has run at a goal every two games, he might seem a typical target man but he’s adapted superbly to the relationist tactics and been a threat in behind while players like Inigo Vicente do their magic.

There is no other words for Inigo Vicente than magician, the midfielder has 48 assists in his 166 games for the club. He is the beating heart of the team and is just one assist away from 20 for the season.

The manager spoke about how important it was that the club gave him time and after an incredible start to 24/25 where they went 10 points clear at the top, the club fell off a cliff eventually finishing 5^th. After a 3-3 draw at home to Mirandes in the play-offs they then went and lost 4-1 away to see a second season end in heartbreak.

After two seasons of near misses, it wouldn’t have been a surprise to see the squad ripped up and players move on to a higher level but they kept the nucleus of the team together. Jeremy Arevalo a young striker went for a big fee but important players like Inigo Vicente and Andres Martin were retained.

Some started to question the coach but internally there was no pressure on a man who had completely transformed the teams style of play and brought the good times back to El Sardinero.

In the window the club reinvested the money from Arevalo adding depth and quality to the squad. Even the departure of popular and highly respected sporting director Mikel Martija didn’t disrupt them and the shrewd appointment of Chema Aragon to replace him has gone down well.

They started the season with four high scoring and dramatic victories before a shock hammering at home to Cultural showed all the vulnerabilities Racing have exhibited in the past.

A mini blip then ensued before a hammering of Malaga set them on track with the club losing just two of their games until the winter break. Even a shock defeat to relegation threatened Real Zaragoza when Segunda resumed was a blip and big victories against promotion rivals Las Palmas and Depor signalled their intent.

Fans have come to expect the occasional shock defeat such as a 0-4 hammering at home to midtable Albacete and slowly over the season the Cantabrian side have pulled away from their rivals.

Historically Segunda has been a tight league where defensive sides have ground out promotion, Elche went up scoring just 59 goals last season, Valladolid 51 the season before. Racing have gone up having scored 85 and counting.

They’ve also conceded 59, more than Real Zaragoza who sit bottom of the table. While it’s not impacted them too much this season, in LaLiga things will have to get tighter defensively.

Similarly to Elche this season though, Racing have the ability to be a surprise factor and unlike Elche they could blow sides away particularly at El Sardinero.

Villalibre has been confirmed as a permanent signing and it’s an open secret that Sergio Canales who came through the academy is returning next season although yet to be formally announced.

They will be a side stacked with attacking talent and while they have defensive vulnerabilties there is no doubt they’ll become one of the teams to watch in LaLiga next season.

Their promotion also strengthens the league, a founding club returns and one that sits 16^th in the all-time points table. While sides deserve to be in LaLiga on merit not on historical standing, the league is a better sell to football fans when you see names like Racing Santander in the mix.

In 21/22 both Racing Santander and Depor were competing in the third tier together, after this weekend both have a great chance of promotion with Almeria losing Depor now need just one more victory to seal their own return.

Those questions around style and how they stay up though are for another day, after so many seasons of pain what matters most is to just allow the Racing fans to enjoy this special moment.

From fearing they might not have a team to support anymore to one that has brought them so much joy and belief again. Racing fans won’t be kept up at night by the fear of whether their club will exist anymore and that’s the most important part of all this.