Born in Madrid, Pepe Mel has rarely left Spain.
He’s managed at pretty much every level in the Spanish football system, with his longest spell coming at Real Betis between 2010 and 2013.
He’s still in his home country, currently in charge of UD Las Palmas, but there was a brief period of around five months when he was manager of West Bromwich Albion.
Hired by the Baggies in January 2014, the now 57-year-old oversaw 17 games at the Hawthorns, winning just three, drawing six and losing the remaining eight.
He was dismissed that May and returned to Spain, but his time at West Brom in the Premier League left a lasting impression on him, as he explained in an interview with AS on Friday.
Asked what he had learned, he said: “The Premier League is the best league in the world, light years away from the Spanish one. When a Spanish professional goes there he is delighted, and you will not know a single one who tells you that it’s a disaster. Maybe, on the pitch (tactics wise), we could teach them something, but everything that happens outside of it, the organisation is much better.
“We should learn a lot about the English league. It taught me ways to train, the rest of the player, the psychology of the day to day and things like that”.
Following his time at West Brom, Pepe Mel returned to Real Betis for a year or so before taking charge at Deportivo La Coruña.
He then spent a year and a bit without a job before getting hired by UD Las Palmas, where he remains in charge to this day.
