Valencia are the third most popular team in Spain, and a constant thorn in the sides of the top two, Real Madrid and Barcelona.
They also, as they love reminding anyone who will listen, deserve recognition as one of the "big boys" in La Liga, with six league titles and seven Copa Del Reys.
Their team boasts some of the best talents in Spain; Villa, Silva, Vicente, and Joaquin are just some of the impressive names Los Ches are lucky to have in their line-up which, at least on paper, is strong enough to compete for the league title this season.
Clearly this paints a rosy picture of the club's current state, but is it really all sunshine in the Mestalla?
Sadly, no.
Valencia have constantly whined about the amount of attention Real Madrid and Barcelona receive, but they can finally rejoice as the spotlight will be on them this season, albeit for all the wrong reasons.
Goodbye Benitez [2004-2005]
Like any team, Valencia needs men in suits to operate the club. But, unfortunately for Los Ches, in 2004 those men were as useless and inept as management can possibly be.
Valencia’s management has been invoking the wrath of the fans and the ridicule of spectators for as long as I can remember; but the most recent fiasco gained prominence with Juan Soler’s arrival on 2004, which coincided with the departure of Rafa Benitez.
Benitez’s famous quote, “I asked for a sofa and they gave me a lamp”, pointed the blame toward the men in suits, and it is where the blame should rightly be placed.
Soler, who bought the majority of the club's shares and became the president, tried to amend the mistakes of the previous managment and convince Benitez to stay. But the coach decided that enough was enough, and insisted on leaving while he still retained his mental health.
Claudio Ranieri was the unlucky successor in charge of creating a winning team out of a talent-studded yet dysfunctional dressing room, and with a pesky managerial nose peering over his shoulder.
After one season and a seventh place finish, Ranieri was sacked, and the next victim, Quique Flores, was brought into the slaughter house.
Flores to The Rescue [2005-2007]
Flores proved he was the man for the job, finishing in third place after a very impressive first campaign. He even managed to finish fourth the following season, despite numerous internal conflicts and spats.
Flores was hailed as the man who could handle the lunacy of Valencia, and returned the club to the right path. In the fans' eyes, he was the new Benitez.
But in 2007, after some disappointing results and endless conflicts with the management, the "new Benitez’" was sacked, after both the club and the fans turned against him.
Soler can rightly argue that he couldn’t avoid the departure of Benitez as the mess was created before he arrived, but he repeated the same mistake as the previous management—by sacking the only coach to achieve any form of success.
Common sense states that not many quality coaches have the stomach to handle the mad house that is Valencia, so when you find someone who does then, by all means, you hold on to him as if he was dear life itself.
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