Accies flop sacks boss before finals
FROM BACK PAGE made public and Fernando Hierro has been installed as manager.
The decision which created shockwaves on the eve of Russia 2018 was made by the one-time Accies defender who played three games for the New Douglas Park club back in 2009 after spells at Levante and Alicante.
Former Hamilton secretary Scott Struthers admits Rubiales’s time in Lanarkshire was only marked by his poor performances after being involved in 3-0 defeats to Kilmarnock and Aberdeen and a 4-1 loss to Rangers in the league, as well as a 2-1 reverse to Ross County in the League Cup.
He said: “Apart from Luis not having played particularly well for the club, my recollections of him aren’t very much.
“I think he quickly realised that playing in Scottish football wasn’t quite the move for him.
“It’s difficult to know what type of character he was as he was only with us for a matter of a few weeks.
“He moved back to Spain and became their PFA organiser then president of their FA quite quickly.”
Ex-Spain, Real and Bolton star Hierro, who moves from his role as the team’s director of football, was presented to the press at the Krasnodar Stadium last night.
Rubiales insists he was “forced to dispense with” Lopetegui after slamming the timing of an announcement by Real that their new man would be replacing Zinedine Zidane after Russia.
He said: “There was some sort of problem with communication. We can’t be expected to find out about something like this five minutes before the announcement and not take the necessary decisions.”