Sevilla, fighting relegation, are a shambles. Can Sergio Ramos save them?

To nobody's great surprise, Sevilla are suddenly seeking their 15th head coach in just under 10 years. It is a disastrous, humiliating record for such a previously successful and admirable football club in LaLiga.

The situation for a club that has won seven major European trophies over the past two decades is genuinely horrendous: threatened by relegation, scarred by in-fighting, suffering from incompetence and snarling fan animosity.

So whether, as the bookmakers expect, it's Luis García Plaza who takes over as new head coach or not, good luck to anyone attempting to use Sevilla's remaining nine LaLiga matches to lever them out of their precarious state -- three points off what would be a first relegation in quarter of a century.

It's not going to be Sergio Ramos taking over as head coach, that much is clear.

But Sevilla's furious, desperate, nervous fans -- some of the most passionate and demanding anywhere in the world -- could be excused for forgiving their prodigal son and praying that he's in control at the top of his old club as soon as is commercially feasible.

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Ramos was born locally and, as soon as his mother prohibited the young warrior from following his burning desire to become a bullfighter, his destiny to become Sevilla's precocious team leader was absolutely assured. The fact that he only hung around for a season-and-a-half, before becoming Florentino Pérez's first Spanish signing for his growing Galáctico project at Real Madrid, naturally soured things a little.

Regularly returning to the Estadio Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán and braving all the abuse to win with Los Blancos didn't endear him to the home fans one little bit. Particularly to Sevilla's radical, bullish Biri Biri ultras.

Even when he spent the 2023-24 season back in the red-and-white of the club, (under coach Quique Sánchez Flores, when they finished 14th but a healthy distance above relegation) many fans were very slow to welcome Ramos "home." Some, in fact, were keen to jeer or whistle him and then complain to local media that he'd lorded it back into the dressing room at age 38, when his best years were "behind him." There was tension, some of it caught live on TV.

But times have changed. Radically so.

Whether or not Ramos (and the moneymen who back him in what's reported to be €450 million offer to buy control) automatically has the organisational and commercial brilliance to steady this rapidly sinking ship can really only be proven when, or if, he takes charge.

But you can absolutely bet -- and this is according to the Sevilla fans I know personally -- that the club's supporters are simply sick and tired of the perilous way their club has been run on and off the pitch in recent years.

All the while with their green-and-white city neighbours, Real Betis, winning the Copa del Rey, reaching their first-ever European final, making it to the quarterfinals of this season's Europa League and presenting as credible Champions League qualifiers this season. It's all salt in Sevilla's wounds.

In the context of Sevilla playing without quality, guts, pride and any sense that the squad has an aversion to relegation, the prospect of Ramos -- ferocious, hungry, defiant, locally born -- taking over (whether he actually possesses "the chops" or not) will be utterly intoxicating for the majority of Los Rojiblancos' fans.

In the background, here's a look at the mess that whoever buys control from the five major shareholder families/groups who currently own the club will be required to fix.

First, there has been rampant incompetence in terms of how Sevilla have operated in the transfer market.

The squad's footballing quality has plummeted from that which won the club their most recent European trophy (in 2023 under José Luis Mendilibar, who not only saved them from relegation but steered them past Manchester United, Juventus and AS Roma to lift their record-setting seventh UEFA Cup/Europa League title).

Less than three years ago, Sevilla's roster boasted guys who'd won the World Cup or finished runner-up (Alejandro "Papu" Gómez, Ivan Rakitić, Gonzalo Montiel, Marcos Acuña, Jesús Navas, Lucas Ocampos) and a clutch of quality footballers (Fernando, Yassine Bounou, Pape Gueye, Youssef En-Nesyri) who had already won, or would go on to win, the Europa League or the Africa Cup of Nations, and were serial trophy winners across other European nations.

Right now, the incoming coach will inherit disinterested-looking athletes whose primary points of note are often, unfortunately, their height, power or previous ability to "win duels." The craft, the quality, the adventure, the thrills, the daring-do of Sevilla legend? Almost completely vanished.

Fortunately, the careerist who put that lumpen lot together, Victor Orta, has been sacked and the technical department of the club is attempting to bring through academy youth talent. But it's screamingly obvious that proper talent, ability on the ball, and the ability to understand stressful situations and emerge as a winner, are desperately lacking.

And the double-whammy, as far as recruitment goes, is that if they stay up, Sevilla have the second-lowest permitted salary bill in LaLiga, meaning that it'll be brutally tough to attract established talent. If they go down, it's worse.

It's a drastically different picture to the last couple of decades, when a mix of brilliant scouting for unpolished gems, and the ability to take high-quality footballers who were looking for an enjoyable, exciting new project, inspired Sevilla to 12 major trophies after the club's historic silverware drought that lasted from 1948 until 2006.

While the current football humiliation is taking place -- and make no mistake, that's what it is -- Ramos and his Five Eleven Group investors are reportedly putting Sevilla's books under critical "due-diligence" scrutiny. They've approached the bulk (but not all) of Sevilla's shareholding groups and given then a detailed lay-out of a proposed share price and vision for improving the ailing club. How relegation, which is still a genuine threat, would change that offer is not public knowledge -- but it assuredly won't improve the individual share price. Take that to the bank, as they say.

For whoever takes charge, on the coaching front, there's a pretty grim vista.

Sevilla need to beat two sides trying to drag them into the bottom three (Real Oviedo and Levante) away from home. They've still to play Atlético Madrid, plus in-form Real Sociedad and Osasuna, while their last three fixtures -- which, on current form you'd not back them to take a point from -- are Real Madrid, Villarreal and Celta Vigo.

They've taken a miserable six out of a possible 39 points since December, they're LaLiga's third-worst team at home, and nobody in the top division has conceded as often as Sevilla have.

José María del Nido Carrasco, Sevilla's current president, and son of the most successful Presi in the club's history, with whom he's fallen out virulently and publicly, recently addressed the club's current situation, saying: "I have a clear conscience knowing we've followed the roadmap we're supposed to.

"We've reduced expenses over these past two years. It's one thing to hear chants of 'Junior, leave now,' and another to have people wishing you dead. That's not pleasant and it must be condemned.

"Every night I ask myself if it's worth continuing to lead Sevilla ... but I accept being the villain in this story."

It was Del Nido Jr. who, as he freely admits, kyboshed Ramos' wish to return and play for the club without a wage in the most recent transfer market.

As far as Ramos taking over, Del Nido reckons: "The shareholders are Sevilla fans and they also want what's best for the club. The day they tell me I have to leave, I'll leave.

"I know from Sergio Ramos' inner-circle that they'll be informed of the club's situation through a letter of Intent."

When 2026 dawned, Ramos used his social media channels to welcome the New Year with the wish: '... that the year brings unexpected opportunities and the joy of fulfilling dreams."

If Sevilla are relegated then there'll be an unexpected opportunity to buy them a lot cheaper, but it will not be joyful nor will it represent any of Ramos' "unfulfilled dreams."

A potentially hellish few weeks are in store for Sevilla and their increasingly desperate fans -- but might salvation ultimately lie in the hands of their often-unpopular prodigal son Sergio Ramos?