Flores is no victim

Watford would be the only ones risking regret if they let Quique Sanchez Flores leave, writes Adam Bate.

“As a coach, the most important thing is quality, not quantity, and this is true of everything in life. How long do you stay married? Twenty years very sad? Or two years very happy?”

In a recent interview with The Guardian, it was this line from Quique Sanchez Flores that now stands out following the reports that his time as Watford is to come to an end. As with many divorcees, people will be quick to rally round offering support. But the truth is that Flores doesn’t look like a victim – and he doesn’t feel like one either.

This is the 51-year-old Spaniard’s eighth job in management. He’s only been sacked once. That was by Valencia, the club he’d represented for a decade as an accomplished full-back, and a decision he still regards as “not deserved”. Despite his best efforts, Flores is likely to be somewhat more relaxed at the prospect of his stint at Vicarage Road being cut short.

Of course, that merely reflects Flores’s character. By football’s standards, he’s a polymath. He wrote tactical analysis pieces for Marca during his time in Spain and has a fine reputation as a pundit. He’s a Coldplay fan who reads biographies of Steve Jobs, novels on spirituality and has traded walks on the beach in Valencia for runs on Hampstead Heath.

Like his son, Flores’s father also played for Real Madrid – a right-back too – and was a team-mate of the great Alfredo Di Stefano. Indeed, Flores is his godson and the Real legend was a regular visitor at Christmas. An aunt, late flamenco dancer Lola Flores, is an icon too. He has been surrounded by artists all his life but has turned Watford into a workmanlike success.

The remit was a …

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