Well, okay. Not quite yet. But one of the candidates for River Plate’s presidential elections at the end of this year has just revealed an almighty ace from his sleeve. Rodolfo D’Onofrio – an economist whose father was a director of the Argentine FA in the early 1970s – has confirmed that, should he win the elections, he already knows who’ll be the new manager. And it’s a name a few River fans have wanted for a while – Enzo Francescoli.
As of right now, there aren’t many details about the exact nature of the deal which are known, but Francescoli has become something of a rallying point for River fans who’ve become disaffected of José María Aguilar’s presidency (which is to say, all River fans). He’s consistently denied that he’d have any interest in becoming involved in the club’s politics, even though he’s been asked many times whether he’d consider standing for the presidency of the club himself, but now the Uruguayan, considered by many to be River’s greatest ever player, and after whom Zinédine Zidane’s son is named, is finally putting his weight behind one of the candidates.
Other men who are campaigning for the River presidency include more familiar names such as Daniel Passarella, as well as Hugo Santilli and Antonio Caselli. If nothing else, it’s difficult to see how Aguilar’s going to keep his hold. Not, that is, that he would have done without Francescoli’s endorsement for one of the candidates.
Hasta El Gol Siempre 
There is the small matter of Enzo having no managerial experience, and it would be setting up a legend to fail, but Aguilar certainly must go.
There’s something being lost in translation here due to the hurry I typed this up in last night, Justin – when used by Argentine papers the word ‘manager’ doesn’t normally mean the same as the English phrase. Think the same sort of role as Carlos Bianchi currently plays at Boca – more of a sporting director. And I apologise for the confusion here.
D’Onofrio is closely linked with Aguilar, I would say it’s far from a slam dunk. Enzo is a hero, but the candidate that assures Ramon Diaz as the new coach in January will be the one with the populist momentum. Today, allegedly, that is Hugo Santili. A long way to go until December 5th, as different candidates align themselves with each other.
Thanks for the clarification Sam.