Valencia football club fans are once again calling for Singaporean billionaire Peter Lim to give up his ownership of the Spanish side.

This was following the unpopular sacking of the head coach Marcelino García Toral on Sep. 11 -- three games into the new season.

It has ignited a crisis at the Spanish club ahead of important matches.

The move to remove Marcelino was seen as going against the will of fans and players.

What are the fans saying?

The vocal and highly passionate Spanish football fans have taken to social media to show their displeasure.

The hashtag #LimGoHome has trended on Twitter.

#LimGoHome pic.twitter.com/S8QkMD7we4

— Pedrok91 (@pedrok91fc) September 16, 2019

#LimGoHome pic.twitter.com/gVmcGMiiAH

— Mj.Lina🫶🦇🧡 (@xinera65) September 16, 2019

The same hashtag has appeared since Lim purchased Valencia in 2014.

Why is Marcelino popular at Valencia?

Marcelino, 54, joined the club in 2017.

He led Valencia back to the top half of the table after back-to-back 12th-placed finishes in La Liga, and some time spent near the relegation zone.

Marcelino led the club to a fourth-place finish in the league in 2018, a result that gave the team a berth in the Champions League.

He also helped Valencia win the Copa del Rey, beating Lionel Messi’s Barcelona in the final, and reach the Europa League semi-final.

Marcelino was adored by fans as a result.

What are the players saying

Valencia players have taken to social media to voice their displeasure as well.

“Whoever made this decision, not only took (Marcelino) out, but also dragged the entire team and its fans with him,” Valencia defender Ezequiel Garay said on Instagram. “I say it loud and clear: It’s not fair.”

What led to Marcelino's downfall?

He was making public comments criticising decisions to sell players and not bring pieces he felt were necessary to keep the team contending in the elite.

Lim clearly didn’t agree with Marcelino’s views and decided to make the unpopular move.

The former Real Madrid and Barcelona player Albert Celades has been brought in as replacement.

The Valencia management are also of the view that the youth academy players have to be prioritised to allow them to rise through the ranks.

Victories and trophies should not just be bought, Associated Press reported on Sep. 12.

What has Marcelino said

Marcelino claimed that the Copa del Rey win was the "trigger" for his dismissal, Spanish media reported.

The instructions to "discount" Copa del Rey were ignored by Marcelino.

Marcelino was provided the view that the Copa del Rey was a "minor tournament".

"They didn't tell me why they didn't want the Copa, only that it was a minor tournament and that I could be putting the main goal (Champions League qualification) at risk. Winning the Copa was the trigger for this situation," Marcelino was cited by Spanish sports newspaper Diario AS as saying at a press conference on Friday.

Background

Lim's ownership of Valencia was supposed to usher the club back to top flight elite football to compete with the likes of Barcelona and Real Madrid.

The club was undergoing years of financial hardship, partly caused by the Spanish property crash.

Lim provided a purse with millions inside and was connected to Portuguese super agent Jorge Mendes.

But the club under-performed domestically.

Fans demonstrated in the streets at the start of 2017 following Valencia's 4-1 home defeat to Celta Vigo in the Copa del Rey.

They then sang a different tune when Valencia went undefeated for 10 matches at the tail-end of 2017.

Valencia, who are six-time La Liga champions, is 13th in the league now, with one win in four games.