He’s only 34 years old, but he talks like a veteran. If traveling is the best way to open your mind and mature, José Manuel Flores Moreno, Boy (1987, Cadiz), he has a doctorate in it. From Wales to Qatar, via Italy and Russia, has been to eleven different clubs and eight different leagues so different from each other. Hence, now he wants to transmit all that knowledge from the bench. And what better way than in Almeria, where his wife, his and his son (three and four years old) are from. “For me, Almería is my second home. People treat me with great affection. This will be my residence,” explains the man from Cádiz, who already has in mind building his own house in the southeast of Spain.
“They were very good years in First division, now I am going to try to return it to him as a coach”, he says after hanging up his boots in 2020 in Fuenlabrada, where he went to start training as a coach, specifically, in the Las Rozas Football City. ending the UEFA Pro, Chico he is assistant to Almería B and coach of cadet B (Primera Andaluza), seeking to capture everything acquired in these three lustrums. That kid who started taking notes in the Barcelona B of Guardiola and Tito Vilanova he wants to put them into practice at the club with which he made his debut in the First Division.
– What assessment do you make of your debut as a coach?
Very good, quite positive both in the subsidiary and in the cadet. It is a new challenge, a quite beautiful and exciting experience. It’s different, very different from the player stage, where you make decisions on your own on the pitch. As a coach it is more difficult in all aspects, but it is also something beautiful. For a long time I had planned to train children so that they could see my experience throughout my football career. It fills me with pride.
– How did the return to Almería take place?
On both sides, since he had a relationship with the subsidiary’s coach, Óscar Fernández, and between the two of us we agreed. He came back here and so did I because my wife and children are from here. He wanted me to be part of his coaching staff and I saw it with good eyes. From a very young age it was clear to me that when I finished my football career as a player I wanted to be a coach, not in other ways, as a sports director, something that other colleagues have done. It has always been clear to me that I really liked being close to the players on the pitch. The club offered me to have the reins of cadet B and I accepted very excited.
– In his first season as coach, the club can return to the First Division.
The team is very good, I see it as very solid collectively. We hope that this year will be the definitive one to be able to ascend to the First Division. The two previous ones stayed at the gates and hopefully this year we can all enjoy it.
– If it is already difficult to take charge of a team, how is it to combine two, especially in a professional club?
It’s hard. Not because of the knowledge in training, but because of group management and organization. Naturally, they see you as the figure of a leader and you have to create an environment of leadership, competition, excitement and character. To the kids I transmit the characteristics, worth the redundancy, that have characterized me in my football career. I have always been a very organized person, very meticulous with everything. I like to keep everything organized.
– Is it easier to climb steps as a coach if you have been a professional footballer?
The first thing I always say is that it is totally different, it has nothing to do with the fact that you have played 20 years in the elite and then want to be a coach. You can be a very good player, but then not as good as a coach. They are two worlds apart. To be a coach you have to be very well prepared, with knowledge of personality and everything. The technical and tactical aspects of a player are highly valued, in addition to the physical, but there are some who go, train, return home and disconnect. 24 hours are short for the coach, he spends all day thinking about football. But it is true that all coaches who have been ex-soccer players have that plus of knowing what is lived inside a locker room. They have a lot of cattle because they have lived in it for a long time. That plus benefits. Everyone will have their opinion, but the best coaches I’ve had throughout my career have been former footballers: Pep Guardiola or Michael Laudrup. There are also others who have been great coaches and have not been players.
– As a player, did you pay attention to other aspects that your teammates did not reach?
Since I went to Barcelona B, I started to write down training sessions, also the physical trainers. I had Guardiola as coach and Tito Vilanova as second. I didn’t know if tomorrow I was going to follow one path or another, but the benches caught my attention, more than paths like the representation. Football has been my life, getting to know different clubs, countries and languages. It fills me with pride and hope to pass on that experience and teachings to players.
– Do you keep those notes?
Yes, yes, of course. I have always been, am and will be of paper and pencil. I’ve always liked to carry a pen and paper, writing down workouts, not just at the beginning. I’ve done it with different trainers. Since I am very organized, I keep it well kept. In fact, one of my hobbies was changing shirts after games. I have them organized by seasons, a jersey for each team, both home and away. If the league was 20 teams, I have the home and away of each of them. It is well kept to expose it and show it, above all, tomorrow to my son, he is still very small. There are between 600 and 1,000, I must count them. They are organized in trunks, divided into countries and seasons. I brought them to Almería and when I have my new house, I will make a special space for it.
– Is it more difficult to be a footballer or a coach?
Both sides have their difficulties. Being a footballer is not easy. You have to have enough temperance. It also takes a lot of sacrifice and being one hundred percent every day, every minute and every second. As a coach it is even more complicated because you do not depend on yourself and your decision-making, but not only on what came before, but also on how they execute what you want to teach in different contexts. You don’t make the decisions on the field of play. Group management is also key as it is the figure of leader before the players and the coaching staff. As I said, 24 hours are short for you; As a footballer, there is more time to enjoy the family and oneself.
– How is Chico’s game model and his locker room management?
Right now I don’t want to pigeonhole myself. I never liked to refer to myself. But if I like to learn, we will die learning. I have always had my personality and what I try to transmit is winning character, illusion, desire, commitment and attitude. That cannot be negotiated. They are basic concepts. When I played it was what I wanted in my teammates. He didn’t want ten quality companions, but ten fighting warriors. In fact, when I have won the most in my career it has been by being surrounded by players like that. I pass that on to them and then try to be flexible on some aspects. I am affectionate. I want that, apart from being a leader, they see me as a close figure. The best coaches I’ve ever had have been like that. But at the moment of truth, if a bit of firmness is needed in different concepts, you have to put it. Players have to take responsibility.
– How is it tactically?
It is necessary to have different concepts depending on the competition and the match. It is not the same in kids as in Third or First. I like the team to play, but sometimes there are rivals, contexts or dimensions that don’t allow it. You should look for other alternatives yourself if you think they are more beneficial. I want my team to play, but, above all, to have attitude, commitment and responsibility. That is paramount and cannot be negotiated. I always tell him. They can fail in technical aspects, in a pass or in a control. Even in the elite you fail! But not in attitude. Each person is going to run, do what the coach tells you, see that your teammate retracts and you don’t… If you don’t have that, you can’t play in the elite.
– Do you miss playing?
Yes. As soon as I left it, I already missed it and it still happens to me.
Does marking continue to weigh on Xavi? He has been to eleven clubs, from six different countries, and when hearing his name, the first thing that comes to many is the performance that day in Barcelona. It seems that he only played that match…
It is a question that I have always carried with me because I have been asked about it in all the clubs and countries I have been to. I am a close person with the fans, players, coaches and, above all, with the press. I have taken it in the best way, but I have not only had a 90-minute career. After playing in so many teams, countries and leagues, I have a longer career. But I always take it well, as something anecdotal.