David Vidal Tomé (born 2 August 1950) is a Spanish

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

and former player who played as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

Football career

Vidal was born in Porto do Son,

A Coruña A Coruña (; ; also informally called just Coruña; historical English: Corunna or The Groyne) is a city and municipality in Galicia, Spain. It is Galicia's second largest city, behind Vigo. The city is the provincial capital of the province ...

, Galicia. After an unassuming career (the

central defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

never played in

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

and appeared in only 15

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commonly known as Segunda División or La Liga 2, and officially known as LaLiga HyperMotion for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spa ...

games) he took up coaching in 1982, first with Cádiz CF in his adopted city. Vidal began with the

Andalusia Andalusia ( , ; , ) is the southernmost autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain, located in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, in southwestern Europe. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomou ...

ns' youth sides, then moved to assistant manager, being finally appointed head coach for the 1988–89 season after a brief interim spell in 1987. It was during that time he managed arguably the club's best ever player, Mágico González, of whom he once said: "Technically he was better than Maradona". After two and a half additional years in the top flight with modest

CD Logroñés Club Deportivo Logroñés, S.A.D. was a Spanish football team based in Logroño, in the autonomous community of La Rioja. Founded in 1940, it last played in '' Regional Preferente de La Rioja''. Due to financial problems, since 2009 the club ha ...

, who always retained their status, Vidal resumed his career mainly in the second tier. On 12 January 2007, he was appointed manager of

Elche CF Elche Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. () is a Spanish professional football club based in Elche, Province of Alicante, in the Valencian Community, Spain. Founded in 1923, the club will compete in La Liga for the 2025–26 season, holding home matches at ...

following the sacking of Luis García. On 12 October 2008, as a draw at

RC Celta de Vigo Real Club Celta de Vigo (; ), commonly known as Celta Vigo, is a Spanish professional football club based in Vigo, Galicia, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of Spanish football. Nicknamed ''Os Celestes'' (The Sky Blues), the club was fou ...

meant Elche only managed two points from seven matches, the manager was dismissed after a meeting with the board of directors; his assistant, former

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

and

Deportivo de La Coruña Real Club Deportivo de La Coruña (), commonly known as Deportivo La Coruña () or simply Depor, is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in the city of A Coruña, Galicia, that competes in the Segunda División, the ...

player Claudio Barragán, was temporarily placed in charge of the team. On 17 March 2010,

Albacete Balompié Albacete Balompié is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team based in Albacete, in the autonomous community of Castile–La Mancha. Founded on 5 July 1939, it currently plays in Segunda División, the second tier of Spanish foo ...

announced that Vidal would replace Julián Rubio as manager until the end of the campaign. Having helped the

Castilla–La Mancha Castilla–La Mancha (, ; ) is an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain. Comprising the provinces of Province of Albacete, Albacete, Province of Ciudad Real, Ciudad Real, Province of Cuenca, Cuenca, Province of Guadalajar ...

side to avoid relegation from division two, as 15th, he was released. Vidal returned to Albacete midway through the 2010–11 season, replacing the fired Antonio Calderón. He was also relieved of his duties after only one and a half months in charge, as the team was eventually relegated to the

Segunda División B Segunda División B (English: second division B) was the third tier of the Spanish football league system containing 102 teams divided into five groups, until it was replaced by the new structure in 2021. It was administered by the Royal Spanish ...

after 21 years. After two years out of football, Vidal was appointed at

Tercera División Tercera División () was the fourth tier of the Spanish football league system. Until 1977, it was the third tier of the Spanish football league system. Founded in 1929, it was below the ''Primera División'' (also known as La Liga), the ''Segund ...

club

Xerez CD Xerez Club Deportivo S. A. D. is a Spanish association football, football club based in the city of Jerez de la Frontera. It was founded in 1947 and plays in . History Due to the link between Jerez de la Frontera and the United Kingdom created b ...

on 13 July 2013. As it was in the midst of severe economic problems, he left less than one month later, and continued to work in the lower leagues. In May 2017, Vidal achieved promotion to the second division with Lorca FC after arriving the previous month. On 5 June, however, his contract was not extended. On 20 June 2019, Vidal was appointed manager of Racing Murcia FC in the regional leagues. In October 2020, he left for personal reasons and was replaced by Antonio Pedreño.

Honours

Manager

Murcia *

: 2002–03

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Vidal, David 1950 births Living people People from Noia (comarca) 20th-century Spanish sportsmen Spanish men's footballers Footballers from the Province of A Coruña Men's association football defenders Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players Deportivo Fabril players UE Lleida players Deportivo de La Coruña players Cádiz CF players Villarreal CF players Xerez CD footballers UD Melilla footballers CD Logroñés footballers Jerez Industrial CF players Spanish football managers La Liga managers Segunda División managers Segunda División B managers Tercera División managers Cádiz CF managers CD Logroñés managers Rayo Vallecano managers Villarreal CF managers Hércules CF managers SD Compostela managers Real Murcia CF managers UD Las Palmas managers UE Lleida managers Elche CF managers Albacete Balompié managers Xerez CD managers CD Guadalajara (Spain) managers Lorca FC managers