Team Data: Kashiwa Reysol
Team Name:
Team Logo & Mascot:  
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Home Uniform Away Uniform
 
Home StadiumHitachi Kashiwa Stadium
Seats 15,900
Team Data:
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Management Corporation: | Hitachi Kashiwa Reysol Co., Ltd. | |
Established: | 1 April 1992
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President: | Shozaburo Kobayashi
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Investors: | Hitachi, Ltd., Kashiwa City | |
Address: | 1-2-50 Hitachidai, Kashiwa City,
Chiba 277-0083 | |
Hometown Area: | Kashiwa City, Chiba Prefecture | |
Home Stadium: | Hitachi Kashiwa Stadium (capacity: 15,900) | |
Joined J. League: | 1995 | |
Major Titles: | Nabisco Cup Champion: 1999
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 | Ray-kun
Kashiwa Reysol are one of several teams that tried to "bend" the rule about keeping football teams separate from their corporate sponsors. The name "Sun King" is somewhat related to the meaning of the Hitachi corporate name, and the mascot -- a guy named after the sun, standing at attention -- is a pretty bad pun for "Hitachi". At least Rey-kun has the advantage of looking somewhat "tough", unlike some other J.League mascots.
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Kashiwa Reysol is one of the oldest clubs in the J.League. The team got its start in 1940, as the soccer team of Hitachi. The team was fairly successful during the mid-1970s, winning several Emperor's Cup and League Championships and contributing several players to the Japan National Team. In1986, the team moved from its former base in Koganei city, a western suburb of Tokyo, to Kashiwa, about an hour northeast of Tokyo. In 1992, the name of the team was changed to Kashiwa Reysol, in preparation for J.League membership. Reysol is a pseudo-Portuguese word taken from the words "Rai" (king) and "Sol" (sun). While this name is a thinly disguised plug for the parent company, Hitachi, the "sun king" became a very popular mascot with Kashiwa fans.
Unfortunately, Reysol failed to make the first cut for the J.League, and was forced to fight for promotion from the JFL. The team's success in achieving that goal owes much to the famed Brazilian midfielder Careca, who joined Reysol in 1992 and almost single-handedly carried them to the top of the JFL. Thanks to Careca's efforts, the team was elevated to the J.League in 1995. Unfortunately, as Careca's age began to catch up with him, the team's lack of talent at other positions became more apparent. After his retirement, Reysol struggled near the bottom of the league for several years, though it was beginning to develop some talented youngsters who would form the core of the team in future years.
In 1997, the team brought in Mr. Akira Nishino, who had led Japan's 1996 Olympic team to victory against Brazil in Atlanta. Under the direction of Nishino, the team began to gel, mainly around an aggressive defence, the core of which is provided by keeper Yuta Minami. a former U-21 and U-23 team member, and veteran Korean libero Hong Myung-Bo, who appeared in three World Cups for the Korean national team. The team's aggressive play helped Reysol advance to the top ranks of the league in the late 1990s, and in mid-2000, Kashiwa added Hwang Sun-Hong, a Korean striker who led the J.League in scoring in 1999, when he played for Cerezo Osaka. In 2000, Reysol reached its high water mark, falling just a single point shy of winning the second stage in 2000, losing out in the final match of the season against their local nemesis, Kashima Antlers.
Though many viewed Reysol's success in 2000 as a sign that the team was on its way to future success, a series of inexcusable management blunders turned the team from championship contenders into dispirited deadbeats in the depths of disarray, in the space of just five years. For reasons that have never been adequately explained, just six months after Nishino had taken Reysol to within a whisker of a championship, the folks in the Reysol board room became restless, and brought in former S-Pulse manager Steve Perryman as Nishino's "assistant". Perryman never disguised the fact that he considered himself a better coach than Nishino, and following a few weak performances in early 2001, he somehow managed to convince the team bureaucrats that he should be given full charge of the team. Halfway through the season, Nishino -- who had been extremely popular with his players -- was suddenly fired and replaced by Perryman.
The move was so abrupt and so unexpected that team morale was devastated. Nishino got the news as he was preparing to lead his team onto the field for a match, and the unpleasant aftermatch was captured live on nationwide TV. Nishino, weeping openly, addressed the fans at the end of the match telling them how much he loved the team, and begging the players to "fight on" without him, and many key players also broke down in tears on camera, vosing to dedicate "everything we do for the rest of the season to the memory of Mr. Nishino". Whatever one might believe about Perryman's abilities as a coach, the way that he took power ensured that he would receive no "honeymoon" with either fans or players. When Reysol finished well down the rankings in 2001, the inevitable finger-pointing started, and there were already signs that Reysol was on the road to ruin.
The 2002 season confirmed the folly of Reysol management's decision to remove coach Nishino and hand the team over to Perryman. Even with complete control of the team, was unable to implement the system he wanted to instil in the team -- based on quick passing and rapid movement. There may have been some lingering ill will against him in the clubhouse, but the main reason for this failure was that Perryman seemed to lack the ability to appraise his players. His strategy might have worked, with the right personnel, but the skills of the players he had available simply did not fit the pattern Perryman had chosen. Perryman also failed to earn the trust of his players, and was widely resented by some key individuals. When things began to go wrong, his response was to blame players for not following his instructions. This simply added momentum to the team's downward spiral. Having failed to deliver on his promises of victory, Perryman was shown the door, and Reysol had to go back to the drawing board, to try to rebuild the team.
But the team's collapse in 2001 and 2002 was difficult to reverse. Reysol never was a very well-financed club, and though they did a good job of developing young talent in their youth organisation, they lacked the funds to attract quality veterans. One by one, the players who were able to do so moved on to other clubs, leaving a group of bitter and aging veterans who knew that their best chances of success had been stolen from them, and a collection of tenagers who were coming of age on a team that had lost its confidence and team spirit. Reysol just barely managed to avoid relegation in 2002 and 2003, and in 2004 they were forced to play a promotion-relegation match against the third-placed J2 team in order to keep their spot in the J1.
Kashiwa somehow evaded relegation once again, and in early 2005 there were some incications that the team might be starting to find its way back to competitiveness. But bad luck continued to plague the team, in the form of untimely injuries. Furthermore, management still had not learned its lesson from the Nishino-Perryman fiasco, and midway through the season they brought in naturalised Brazilian and former Japan NT player Rui Ramos as an "assistant" to coach Hiroshi Hayano. Whether true or not, there were numerous rumours that Ramos was there as a "replacement coach in waiting", and this simply generated more angst in an already troubled locker room. Quite early in the season, Reysol stopped playing as a team, and each player started to try to do everything individually. From that point on, their fate was sealed. At the end of 2005, Reysol again were forced to take part in the promotion-relegation series, and this time they lost dramatically to Ventforet Kofu, earning a trip back to the J2.
In retrospect, relegation may have been the best thing to happen to Reysol since the departure of coach Nishino. The team axed all of the older players who were no longer contributing much to the team harmony, and rebuilt on a base of talented youngsters including Tadanari Lee, Minoru Suganuma, Ryo Kobayashi and Yuzo Kobayashi. In addition, the team received far better support from the front office than in past years, and fans sensed a much more welcoming attitude which translated into better attendances even before the team regained a J1 spot in 2007. Reysol surprised just about everyone by not only rebounding to the top-flight in a single season, but by going on to place eighth in 2007 -- their highest finish since 2001.
Reysol is still a very young team, with a lot to learn. It is questionable whether they can maintain the momentum that they displayed last season, and they may be hard pressed to even match their midtable finish this season. Nevertheles, there is no denying the team's underlying talent. As the Reysol youngsters mature, the team can look forward to a brighter future, and perhaps a return to the days when the hope of a J.League title is not just an idle dream.
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