Chris Coleman has announced his resignation as coach of Real Sociedad.
Coleman's decision comes less than a week after the Welshman said he would be
staying at the Spanish second division outfit following a meeting with the
club's new president Inaki Badiola.
There had been speculation about the former Fulham manager's future at
Sociedad due to the recent election of Badiola, whose new ideas on the club's
aims for the season and transfer policy differed greatly to the ones set out
following Coleman's arrival last summer.
Having asked for a few days to consider his position, Coleman last Thursday
announced he would be staying at Sociedad for 'as long as the club need me'
after receiving the backing of both his players and Badiola.
However, the 37-year-old Coleman now appears to have had a change of heart and
today announced to a press conference that he was stepping down as coach.
Coleman joined Sociedad last July on a three-year contract, taking over from
Miguel Angel Lotina who was unable to prevent the Basque giants from being
relegated from the top flight for the first time in 40 years.
After a slow start to the season which saw Coleman's side win four of their
opening 10 league and cup games while also losing five, Sociedad have built up
some momentum recently and have now lost just one of their last 11 matches.
Last weekend they beat local rivals Alaves 1-0 to move up to fifth in the
Segunda Division standings, one point behind Sporting Gijon who occupy the third
and final promotion place.
Coleman came close to stepping down once before during a testing first six
months in San Sebastian, when in November he offered to quit following the
resignation of former president Maria de la Pena.
De la Pena played an influential role in bringing Coleman to Sociedad and the
former Wales international admitted at the time that if she left he was willing
to follow suit.
Coleman was persuaded to stay on by the remaining board members though, who
asked him to remain in charge at least until the new presidential elections took
place on January 3.
Those elections resulted in the appointment of Badiola, whose new ideas in
running the club included the addition of a number of new players that he had
already pinpointed - a policy which did not sit well with Coleman, who was
against new faces being brought in over his head.
Badiola also had a six-month timescale to take Sociedad back into the Primera
Liga.
A meeting between the two at the start of last week resulted in Coleman
committing his future to the club, but the Swansea-born coach has now reversed
that decision.
