Early career (1983–1999) Born in
Bailén,
Jaén,
Andalusia, Manzano's training career started in 1983 at the age of 27. He took charge of several teams in his native region, including
Real Jaén in the
Tercera División. In 1996, Manzano signed with
Talavera from
Segunda División B. During his two-season spell he led the
Castilla–La Mancha team to a second-place finish in their group (
1996–97), and a narrow miss on promotion (
1997–98). His good work there prompted the interest – and signing – from
Segunda División club
Toledo, which he helped
retain their league status with a seventh place.
Six clubs in six years (1999–2005) Manzano had his first
La Liga experience with
Real Valladolid, in
1999–2000. His new side finished eighth, and the season included a 1–0 win against
Real Madrid at the
Santiago Bernabéu Stadium. For
the following campaign, he stayed in the top flight with
Racing de Santander; in spite of a 4–0 home victory over
Barcelona, the
Cantabrians were relegated and the coach was fired. After helping
Rayo Vallecano finish 11th in
2001–02's top division, Manzano signed for
Mallorca.
Season highlights were another win at Real Madrid (5–1) and the
conquest of the
Copa del Rey after beating
Recreativo de Huelva. Subsequently, Manzano joined
Atlético Madrid, nearly
qualifying the side for the
UEFA Cup after
finishing seventh. After the sacking of
Iñaki Sáez as
Spain national team coach, he was rumoured to be one of his possible successors, but nothing came of it, and he took charge of
Málaga instead.
Mallorca and Atlético returns and Sevilla (2005–2013) On 15 February 2006, Manzano returned to Mallorca after
Héctor Cúper's dismissal, and continued to work with the
Balearic Islands club the following seasons. In
2009–10 they won their first ten home fixtures, eventually only losing three of 19 in the league (
Sevilla, Barcelona and Real Madrid) and
qualifying for the Europa League as fifth. On 19 May 2010, it was announced Mallorca would not renew Manzano's contract despite his achievements, due to financial difficulties. He returned to football on 26 September, being appointed at Sevilla as a replacement for the fired
Antonio Álvarez. His debut four days later was the first
European game of his career, a 1–0 win at
Borussia Dortmund in the
Europa League group stage. On 8 June 2011, after leading Sevilla to
fifth place, with the subsequent
Europa League qualification, Manzano returned to Atlético Madrid to replace
Quique Sánchez Flores. Early into
2011–12, he and
José Antonio Reyes had a serious altercation, which resulted in the player being relegated to the bench and sometimes not even selected for matchday squads. Manzano was relieved of his duties on 22 December 2011, following a 1–0 home and 3–1 aggregate loss against
Albacete in
the domestic cup, with the team ranking tenth in the domestic league. On 5 February 2013, he returned to Mallorca for a third spell after
Joaquín Caparrós was dismissed, as
the campaign went on to end in top-tier relegation.
Chinese Super League (2014–2018) On 11 February 2014, Manzano was appointed at
Beijing Guoan of the
Chinese Super League. His two years in the
capital city resulted in
second and
fourth-place finishes, respectively. Manzano remained working in the same competition in the ensuing years, taking
Shanghai Shenhua to fourth place in his only season (
2016). He arrived at
Guizhou Hengfeng Zhicheng a year later, replacing
Li Bing and
leading the team to eighth, before being dismissed for a poor start in June 2018. ==Managerial statistics==