The promotion, Part 2: Synergy
Castellón have got right what so many other clubs get wrong - having an identity.
The combined power of a group of things when they are working together that is greater than the total power achieved by each working separately. - Cambridge
A mutually advantageous conjunction or compatibility of distinct business participants or elements. - Merriam-Webster
Look up the word synergy in the dictionary, and you will see something along those lines. However this season, the dictionaries can be rewritten, and a much more simple definition provided - Club Deportivo Castellón. There were undoubtedly many key factors in the albinegros title-winning campaign, but above all others was creating an identity to live by. A lighthouse to be guided by if the sea ever got rough. It’s something few clubs grasp the importance of, and without which sustained success at any level is almost impossible.
Bob Voulgaris understands risk better than almost anyone on earth. It’s why he thrives when he’s taking them. When he bet most of his savings on the Lakers to win the NBA championship, it was not just an all-in play, it was a reflection of the disparity between the bookmaker odds and the real chance of it happening - the EV (expected value), as bettors like to call it. And it was easy to identify the value play in the most fundamental of football rules when he switched sports and bought Castellón in 2022 - 3 points for a win, 1 for a draw, 0 for a loss.
If the three pointer in the NBA was undervalued 20 years ago, being worth 50% more than a two pointer, then imagine the grin on Bob’s face when he looked at football and saw that winning was 200% better than drawing, but that a majority of teams would still look to defend the 1-0 instead of trying to confirm the win and go for two, and play for a draw when facing a supposedly better team. The edge was there to be exploited, and the identity was therefore set - always attack, always go for the win, a draw is the worst possible result as it probably means you didn’t attack enough.
Any potential coaching hire, and anyone on the sporting side, would have to understand that, and live by it. Unfortunately for Ruben Torrecilla, the manager in charge when Bob bought the club, he did most certainly did not. There was some surprise amongst the fans as he was fired in December 2022 with the team second in the table, but in reality it was predictable. Drawing 30% of matches was too inefficient, especially when the team often played to hold the result.
Albert Rudé, the man chosen to lead the team for the second half of that season, did not end up improving the situation. In fact, it got slightly worse, with a 34% draw percentage, as Castellón narrowly missed out on promotion via the playoffs. Bob rued the conservative approach taken in the final against Alcorcón, and it was time to bring in the man he had had his eye on for a long time.
Dick Schreuder joined fresh off achieving promotion to the Eredivisie with PEC Zwolle - four draws in 38 games and 99 goals to boot - and finally Bob had someone who really fit his identity. Synergy had been reached.
There were certainly some teething problems early on, especially for some of the players. The pre-season was brutal as they adapted to the physical demands of Dick and his new playing style and went from doubters to believers, but it paid dividends right from the first game against Málaga. They came out of the blocks fast and never looked back. The physical edge was evident in the first half of the season, as they blew teams off the park with their pressing and relentless attacking.
Fast forward to the time of writing, and the team has a Primera RFEF joint-record 82 points with one game left to play, 74 goals scored (9 more than the previous record) and only four draws - just under 11%, as far as I know also a European record in 2023/24. These are the kind of numbers Voulgaris envisaged back in 2022, which have finally become reality in his second season in charge of the club.
Schreuder was identified using data as one of a few managers who would truly be able to carry out what Bob had mind, without which none of this would have happened. The relationship between Castellón’s president and manager is so close that it would be difficult to imagine it not continuing for the forseeable future - “brothers for life” as Bob posted on Twitter after clinching the title. However whether or not Schreuder one day ends up managing a team in the European elite - something which does seem likely to happen eventually - the managerial mould at Castalia is so set, the identity so defined, that whoever potentially gets chosen next should be very much plug and play.
Throughout football history, the manager has been the sun and everyone else at the club planets in the solar system. However the Fergusons, Wengers and Guy Rouxs are now figures of the past. The game has changed, at least at the “smart” clubs. At the likes of Castellón, Brighton, and Liverpool, the identity set by leadership is now the sun, and the manager is a planet, albeit a much more important one than the others. The team identity dictates the manager, the manager does not dictate the team identity.
Without that sun, things get complicated. Just ask Chelsea, who sacked Mauricio Pochettino after only one season, or Man Utd, whose recent managers’ philosophies read like the menu at a Chinese takeaway that serves fish and chips.
Perhaps then, the hardest thing to find is an owner with an enough conviction in an approach to run a club that way, or even an owner with an approach at all. How many clubs in world football truly have an identity that will not change regardless of manager? A product that is so set in stone, fans can be sure of what they will get week in week out? Castellón certainly find themselves on that very short list - it starts at the top, continues to the manager, down to the players and probably even the chef and nutritionist. Take note Cambridge and Merriam-Webster, because that’s how you define synergy.