Samuel San José Fernández (born 1 March 1984), known simply as Samuel or Samu for short, is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a central defender, currently manager of UM Escobedo.
Club career Born in Santander, Cantabria, Samu was a product of his hometown club Racing de Santander's youth system. He first appeared for its main squad on 11 September 2005, in a 0–1 home loss against Cádiz CF.El cántabro Sesma da la victoria al Cádiz en Santander (Cantabria's Sesma gives win to Cádiz in Santander); Mundo Deportivo, 12 September 2005 (in Spanish) He finished the season with seven appearances (all but one were complete matches) and four yellow cards, as the Cantabria side finished 17th in La Liga and narrowly avoided relegation.
After having served a season-long loan stint with Sporting de Gijón in the Segunda División,El Sporting cerrará esta mañana la cesión del racinguista Samuel (Sporting to complete loan of Racing man Samuel this morning); El Comercio, 7 August 2006 (in Spanish) Samuel returned to Racing but, midway through the 2007–08 campaign, would be loaned again, alongside teammate Christian Fernández, to second-tier strugglers UD Las Palmas.Samuel, cedido a Las Palmas hasta junio (Samuel, loaned to Las Palmas until June); El Diario Montañés, 18 December 2007 (in Spanish) Both would be instrumental in helping the Canarians retain their league status.
Subsequently, Christian returned to Santander but Samu stayed, signing for three years with the option for a further one.Samuel vuelve a Las Palmas para quedarse tres años (Samuel returns to Las Palmas to stay three years); Marca, 10 July 2008 (in Spanish) He appeared in an average of 23 games the following three seasons, with his team always managing to stay afloat in division two.
Samuel then alternated between the second division and the Segunda División B, representing SD PonferradinaUrzaiz, en la lista (Urzaiz, a possibility); Diario de León, 3 July 2011 (in Spanish) and Racing SantanderSamuel, primer refuerzo del Racing 2014/15 (Samuel, first addition of 2014/15 Racing); Racing Santander, 9 July 2014 (in Spanish) and achieving promotion with the former in 2012.La Ponferradina asciende ante un rival desquiciado (Ponferradina promote against undone rivals); Diario AS, 25 June 2012 (in Spanish) He spent 2015–16 in the Mexican Ascenso MX, with Atlético San Luis.El defensa español Samuel San José, tercer refuerzo del ASL (Spanish defender Samuel San José, third ASL addition); Atlético San Luis, 14 July 2015 (in Spanish)
After returning to his home country, Samu saw out his career at age 39, playing lower-league and amateur football with UD Llagostera,Sanjosé i Pablo Sánchez, experiència per al Llagostera (Sanjosé and Pablo Sánchez, experience for Llagostera); Diari de Girona, 23 July 2016 (in Catalan) SD FormenteraSamuel San José, experiencia de Primera para el nuevo Formentera (Samuel San José, Primera experience for new Formentera); Diario de Ibiza, 6 July 2017 (in Spanish) and UM Escobedo.Samuel San José: "El objetivo del Escobedo es el ascenso, no hay que poner paños calientes" (Samuel San José: "Escobedo's goal is to promote, no grey area there"); Cadena SER, 18 August 2021 (in Spanish)
Coaching career Samu was named manager of his last club immediately after retiring.OFICIAL: UM Escobedo, Samuel San José se retira y asume el cargo de entrenador (OFFICIAL: UM Escobedo, Samuel San José retires and takes over as manager); Todo Mercado Web, 16 June 2023 (in Spanish) On 19 May 2024, having achieved promotion to Segunda Federación as group winners, he renewed his contract for a further year.RENOVACIÓN Samuel San José seguirá al frente del equipo la próxima temporada. (RENEWAL Samuel San José will continue leading the team next season.); Twitter, 19 May 2024 (in Spanish)
Managerial statistics
+ Managerial record by team and tenure TeamNatFromToRecord Escobedo16 June 2023Present Career total —
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External links