Spanish Euro heroes see royals and PM - fans want Aragones to stay

 Coach Luis Aragones and his players made an official visit to the Zarzuela royal palace with the Euro trophy and were cordially received by the Royal Couple which had been to Vienna to watch Spain's 1-0 triumph over Germany in Sunday's Euro final.

 They then called on Zapatero - also present in Vienna - at his official residence in the Palacio de la Moncloa, just outside Madrid.

 Many of the players, but not Aragones, looked bleary-eyed after a night of wild celebrations, in which around one million "madrilenos" went out into the streets to cheer the team as they passed in their open-top bus.

 Most of the Spanish fans want Aragones to continue as coach, according to an online poll organised by Madrid sports daily Marca.

 By Tuesday midday no less than 48,948 readers had voted, with 60.16 per cent opting for him to continue in the job and only 39.84 per cent voting for him to be allowed to join Turkish giants Fenerbahce.

 Aragones, 70 in July, was not particularly popular during his four years as Spain manager - until he guided his young team to triumph at Euro 2008.

 After flopping at the 2006 World Cup, around 80 per cent of "aficionados" wanted Aragones out.

 Indeed, right up until the beginning of Euro 2008 three weeks ago, most fans wanted to see the back of him - partly because of his refusal to pick Real Madrid captain Raul Gonzalez.

  The turnaround in Aragones' popularity demonstrates how fickle football and capricious can be.

 Now most Spaniards would like him to stay on instead of leaving for Istanbul, having seen how he changed a bunch of small touch players into impressive European champions.

 Fenerbahce announced last week that they signed up the "Wise Man", as he is known in Spain, until 2010.

 Aragones confirmed that he was leaving the Spain job straight after Sunday's final victory over Germany, and is expected to announce his Fenerbahce agreement within the next few days.

 The Spanish federation offered Aragones a two-year contract extension last week, but it appears to be a clear case of too little too late.

 Federation president Angel Maria Villar is expected to announce shortly that former Real Madrid coach Vicente del Bosque will take over from Aragones.

DPA