José Manuel Barla

José Manuel Barla García (born 1 January 1967) is a Spanish retired footballer who played as a left midfielder, and later worked as a manager.

Playing career

Barla was born in Cádiz, capital of the province of the same name in the autonomous community of Andalusia, and began his career in the youth teams of Cádiz CF. He began playing for the B team, under the coaching of former defender David Vidal, in 1984, At the end of that season, he helped Cádiz survive another relegation playoff as they beat Málaga on penalties.

In 1991–92, Cádiz found themselves in a relegation playoff yet again, and Barla helped them stay up for a third time in his career, securing a 3–1 victory over Figueres. They finally were relegated the following season, and unthinkably suffered a second consecutive relegation in 1993–94. Following this disappointment, the legendary Cádiz squad was dismantled, and Barla joined Segunda División side Rayo Vallecano. 1996–97 ended in a rematch, the fifth relegation playoff of Barla's career, but this team Mallorca prevailed, winning on away goals.

Following Rayo's relegation, Barla returned to Cádiz, with the goal of helping them escape Segunda División B. He ultimately couldn't save them, and they were relegated to the Tercera División via the playoffs.

In January 2016, he was appointed assistant manager of another third tier side, Real Jaén, working under Gonzalo Arconada. He remained as assistant when Ramón Tejada replaced Arconada ahead of the 2016–17 season, and when Tejada resigned in March, Barla became manager until the end of the season. Similar to Avilés, Barla was unable to turn the season around, and Jaén were relegated that summer.

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