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Dismissed again: Pepe Mel sacked as manager of Real Betis

CRISTINA QUICLER / AFP / Getty

It was supposed to be a fresh chapter that marked the return of a hero to a club where he was, in the eyes of its supporters, wrongfully dismissed.

Alas, it was not to be.

On Sunday, for the second time in his career, Pepe Mel was sacked as the manager of Real Betis, as the Andalusian club announced the decision to part ways with the Spanish manager after a run of eight fixtures without a win and four consecutive defeats. Juan Merino will take over as Betis' manager on an interim basis.

While Mel's first managerial tenure at Betis came between 2010 and 2013, he played for the club before hanging up his cleats and was its top scorer in 1989-90, when the team was promoted to the top flight of Spanish football.

After being appointed as Betis' manager for the first time six years ago, Mel - while the club was flirting with relegation - publicly claimed that he would rather his teenage daughter was impregnated than his team relegated. Betis then turned things around in brilliant fashion, but by the time he was sacked in 2013, the club was bottom in La Liga.

Mel's second spell at Betis also featured some positives. Having guided the club to promotion as a player, he did so as its manager last season, punching the club's ticket to La Liga with a run of form that only included one loss between December and May.

In the end, though, Mel experienced the same fate he did the first time around at Betis.

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