José Peseiro
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
José Vítor dos Santos Peseiro, born 4 April 1960 in Coruche, Portugal is a football manager who most notably served as an assistant for Carlos Queiroz during his Real Madrid tenure and as a manager for Sporting until his resignation in October 2005.
A graduate of the same managing course of José Mourinho, Peseiro's career as manager started earlier, in the 1992-93 season for a local club, União de Santarém. After two season there, two more followed in União de Montemor and three in Oriental until 1999, when he moved to CD Nacional.
In the Madeira Islands club he started to appear, winning the Portuguese Second Division, and two seasons later, finishing second in the Liga de Honra, climbing to the top division. Finishing eleventh and completing his job of securing the team in the top division, he was picked by Carlos Queiroz as his assistant in Real Madrid for the 2003-04 season. However, as things went badly for the Madrid side, Queiroz was given the sack and returned to his assistant position in Manchester United, and Peseiro was invited to Sporting Clube de Portugal.
Peseiro arrived at a time of change in Portuguese football, after Mourinho and the FC Porto team that dominated the league in the past two seasons was disbanded, and fans had high expectations for Peseiro, whom they hoped could help the team recapture the title. A poor season start (with three defeats and two draws until the 9th week) was followed by an also poor rest of season, with a total of 61 points. However, the equally mediocre seasons of both Porto and champions SL Benfica allowed the team to fight for the leaage title until the 33rd week (Sporting was actually leading at the start of it), when Sporting lost to Benfica due to a last minute blunder by goalkeeper Ricardo Pereira. The UEFA Cup run, however, was much more positive - While finished third in the group stage, Sporting knocked out Feyenoord by two 2-1 wins, Middlesbrough, Newcastle United and a last-minute in the overtime header by Miguel Garcia put Sporting ahead of AZ Alkmaar in the Alkmaarder Hout. Motivated by the possibility of lifting the cup in their own ground, the Estádio José Alvalade, Sporting faced CSKA Moscow (who knocked out Benfica earlier in the competition and was on the FC Porto UEFA Champions League group stage). A goal by Rogério put the team ahead until the half time, but in the second half the Russian team turned the tide against Sporting, who shell-shocked after the first goal by Aleksei Berezoutski and allowed a second by Yuri Zhirkov. In a dramatic turn of events, Rogério sent what looked a sure equalizer to the far post, and in the counter-attack Vagner Love closed the scoreline against an hopeless Ricardo.
The start of the 2005-06 season was little less of catastrophic, losing the Champions League qualification to Udinese, and then being knocked out of the UEFA Cup by Halmstads BK in the Alvalade XXI. While the League started well for Sporting, a first defeat against CD Nacional was followed by a suffered victory against Vitória FC, and after losing to Halmstads the team suffered a beating at the hands of recently promoted FC Paços de Ferreira. In 16 October, a 0-1 defeat against Académica de Coimbra sank Sporting into 7th place, and two days later, António Dias da Cunha accepted his resignation.
During his tenure with Sporting, Peseiro was frequently accused of not being able to combine "positive" football with positive results. Peseiro also earned the fame of being a poor motivator and having a loose grip on the changing room - Fabio Rochemback was once caught on camera telling him to "Go take it up the arse" after being subbed out, an episode repeated months later with Liedson. Rochemback was then transferred to Middlesbrough FC, where he appeared in the UEFA Cup final.
