REAL BETIS HAVE announced Quique Setien’s two-year tenure as coach has come to an end, just hours after his side finished the season with victory over Real Madrid.
Setien joined the club with high expectations after earning praise for his previous spell at Las Palmas, impressing with his brand of attacking football.
His first season at the Benito Villamarin was encouraging, as they finished sixth – one place above bitter rivals Sevilla – and scoring 60 goals, the fourth highest in the division.
For a time, Setien’s philosophy and impact at Betis had him being suggested as a potential future Spain or Barcelona coach.
But this season Betis have underachieved on the whole, despite going through some purple patches that had them as high as fifth in October and December, and Setien accepted after Sunday’s surprise 2-0 win at Real Madrid that he was never truly suited to the club.
“Everyone gets frustrated when you lose games, but our fans would have enjoyed today a lot,” he said post-match. “All clubs fans are like that. If Madrid had won well today, they would be thinking more positively.
“It is clear that the passion of Betis fans goes a bit against a guy from the north like me, who is much more for explaining things with common sense. There was a misunderstanding, above and beyond football things.
“In the end it was me who had to change, and I must reflect on this and try to improve it.”
Betis’ end to the campaign proved particularly damaging, winning just three of their final 11 matches.
Two of those victories came in their most recent games, a 2-1 win over rock-bottom Huesca before closing out the season with a triumph at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Scoring has been a big problem for Betis this term, as they have found the net just 44 times and none of their strikers have more than six goals to their name.
Following the 4-0 defeat to Levante on April 24, Betis confirmed after a board meeting they were not going to dismiss Setien before the end of the season.
But just a few hours after the campaign finished, so did Setien’s time at the club, despite suggesting on Saturday that he expected to see out the final year of his contract.
Betis end the season 10th, missing out on European football for next season.
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