Ziganda Out At Osasuna

Like death pools and other bets of pleasure this was one that would have caught several people by surprise.  Ziganda’s sacking was one that came as a relative surprise based on the fact that club president Patxi Izco has a history in his two terms runing the club of backing managers regardless of how high or low they are in the table.  The Rojillos were underperforming at the beginning of this season.  He now earns the dubious distinction at the club of being the first manager to get sacked in almost 11 1/2 years. Miguel Sola was the last manager to be formally sacked by the club.

Despite the ups and downs that led to his eventual sacking, Ziganda will be considered among one of the best coaches in club history as he led the Gorritxo to the finals of the UEFA Cup last year and had the longest consecutive win streak (5) in club history. Despite his successes, Ziganda was being questioned and was in the hot seat after the team ended last season poorly. Osasuna saved themselves from relegation in the final week of the season against Racing Santander. Cooler heads prevailed and decided to bring him back for yet another season.   Osasuna is so far winless in the league and have only been able to earn for out of a possible 18 points.  They are currently tied for 16th place and not in relegation because of  tiebreakers that favor them over Recreativo and Numancia.

Ziganda substituted Mexican coach Javier Aguirre back in 2006 as the latter decided to take over at Atlético Madrid.  He had some big shoes to fill as Aguirre led the Pamplonans to battle for the league title and ended up obtaining a spot in the qualifying stages of the Champions League in 2005-06.  The top candidate to replace  Ziganda at this moment and according to Pamplona daily Diario de Noticia is former Real Madrid (for only three matches) and Spanish national team boss José Antonio Camacho.