“I had friction with Toshack because he aired the problems and exposed us to the players”

Francisco Javier González Pérez, Fran (14-8-1969, 51 years old, Carreira, A Coruña), a myth of the most sportive and one of the most classy players in La Liga of the 90s and early this century, has granted an interview to AS to review the most interesting episodes of his football career and talk about his present and future plans in his new position as director of Deportivo's Grassroots Football.

What do you do now and what have you done all these years since you retired in 2005?

Since I hung up my boots, I have remained closely linked to football, first I was in Barcelona, ​​then I went to Manchester to work in the lower categories of City and for a few months I have returned to Deportivo as director of grassroots football.

How was the experience at Manchester City?

Excellent. First he spent around four months in the U-16 team and then a year and a half in the U-18 team, I was also assisting Pep (Guardiola) in some training sessions, and the truth is that the experience helped me to train much more to face the challenge now at Deportivo.

Why have you decided to return to the club of your life?

Well, they suggested it to me and I didn't hesitate. There was another opportunity about six years ago, but the circumstances did not exist to reach an agreement and perhaps I also lacked the experience that I have now.

What is Deportivo's new quarry project like?

It is a fairly ambitious project to train players, in the medium-long term, because the rush is not good, and more so in this difficult year with the pandemic, which has been to blame for not being able to work as we wanted, since many teams have not been able to train and play, and others have had to stop due to infections.

How is the experience being in these first months on a personal level?

Very positive. We have made an analysis of what is in Deportivo and from there we have done a restructuring for the grassroots football model that we want to establish from next season.

Let's go with your sports career. You have been between Fabril and Deportivo for 20 years and you have lived through everything at the club. Choose the most exciting moment of your career and why.

Staying with one is very complicated, I have lived many exciting moments: the first, staying and making my debut with the first team, that salvation 'in extremis' so as not to be relegated to Second B, the Cup semifinals against Valladolid being in the Second Division, the promotions to be promoted to First and then not to return to Second, the birth of Superdépor with all those great signings and those wonderful years with the League, the King's Cups (2), the Super Cups (3), playing the Champions League … I'm very happy with everything I have experienced at Deportivo, because not even in the best of my dreams could I imagine it.

And the most disappointing …

Without a doubt, that League that we lost in the game against Valencia. We deserved that title, although the positive thing is that that team was the prelude to all the good that came afterwards.

What did you feel when you saw Djukic miss the penalty against Valencia and goalkeeper González celebrate the save as he did?

It was the hardest blow of my career, aside from injuries. Because it was not only that day, it is that the following weeks we did not stop thinking about what had happened.

Not many people know that Madrid had a pre-contract with you that was never activated. What was the story of why you stayed at Deportivo and didn't go to Madrid?

Very simple: Deportivo and I were in the same direction to continue in the project and any other option was discarded.

Cruyff also wanted you for the 'Dream Team' …

But I didn't want to leave Deportivo, it never entered my plans, also because of my personality, I was very happy and the project was very beautiful. But it is that he can not only go to Madrid and Barça, also to Atleti, Valencia …

If history had been given differently, where would you have liked to play at Madrid or at Barça?

But since it has not happened otherwise …

I would like you to explain how that threat of not going out to play at the Bernabéu was like before that historic ‘Centenariazo’ Cup final against Real Madrid.

The players had a quota of tickets for that match, but on the day of the final a group of colleagues did not have them and they told us that some of our family and friends would go to areas that were not where we had been promised. So at lunch, we stuck with not getting up until the tickets appeared for those who had them and the situation was fixed. The club fixed it shortly before the game, but I think that anger helped us to leave, if possible, more plugged in and achieve that historic victory.

How would you rate your relationship with Lendoiro in your career at Deportivo?

Excellent and wonderful until the last two years.

Why did it deteriorate?

I do not know.

Of all the coaches you have had at Deportivo, which one have you had a closer relationship with and with which one more distant?

I have had a great relationship with all the coaches, even when I was not playing, for example, with Irureta, but I assumed what my role was in the team, because I was a club player, even though I thought I deserved more minutes. Perhaps I had some disagreements with Toshack, because he publicly aired problems that there were, he exposed us, many times unfairly, to the players before the press, and then friction arose, because we understood that they had to be discussed and solved in the locker room.

You have played in Dépor with great world stars. Which or which ones would you highlight?

Giving an answer is very complicated. In 18 years at Deportivo, I have seen top-level players pass by. At the time of 2000 you saw the bench and there was a leveling… International players sometimes weren't even called up. He could do two spectacular elevences with everyone who went through Dépor in those years.

As you say, they were dreamy years for Deportivo and its fans. Do you think the club lived beyond its means?

I don't know, neither I nor any player knew what was behind it. There are other people who can answer better than me.

It is surprising that you have only been international with Spain 16 times in seven years. Have you gotten frustrated by this?

No, what happens is that the time when I played was the Spain of fury, with a very defined style, until Luis Aragonés arrived and took a radical turn, and that change came a bit late for me. And then we must bear in mind that the injuries and operations I suffered also made it difficult for me to continue in the National Team. In fact, I was about to go to the 1996 Eurocup, but because of forcing for a long time at the end I couldn't take it anymore and two months before going to England, I had to have knee surgery. Then I was able to go, with Camacho, to the European Championship in Holland and Belgium.

Your son Nico has been a Barça B player for a few months while still young. What future do you predict?

I do not know, he is at a difficult age in which he has to take the final step. The future lies in how ambitious each one is and in what they are capable of sacrificing.

Do you advise him a lot?

In his day, yes, now he pays little attention to me …

Who is better at his age, him or you?

It's that football has changed a lot. I, practically until I was 17 years old, never trained, now it is a very different story and for the better, he trains more, better, food is taken care of a lot … At his age, perhaps he was not as good as him, but in Two years, since I did the preseason with the Dépor first team, I grew a lot and my jump was brutal. He has to take that stride now. 25.45

I ask you about the present time. Joan Laporta has been elected as the new president of Barça and without a doubt his great challenge will be to convince Messi to stay. Do you think it will continue?

Maybe. For me he is the best footballer in history and it would be great if he did not leave the league. For the kids from La Masia it is an encouragement that he is at Barça because he takes great care of young people, as we are seeing with those who are in the first team. Growing up with them is the best thing that can happen to them. I hope that Laporta and his board of directors convince him to stay, for the good of Barça and Spanish football.

How do you see the outcome of La Liga?

Now I see Barça as a very favorite, despite the fact that Atleti is first and has a certain advantage. Two-three months ago I saw Atlético very strong, but the two games against Levante have hurt them. I have seen the calendar and that of Barça seems to me the least complicated. In addition, I see Messi better and better and when he is at a high level …

What do you think of the restructuring that has taken place in Second B?

I find it difficult to understand it, but it is what it is. It is a competition in which, as you have doubts, it penalizes you a lot.

How do you see the present and future of Deportivo and if we will see another Superdépor?

I am convinced that it is. It is a matter of laying a very good foundation and from there growing, and very importantly, having patience and believing in what is being done. In any case, there is too much nostalgia with what was the Super Dépor, we must focus on what is now.

Do you see yourself one day training Deportivo?

I see it complicated. Neither to Dépor nor to any other team, and that in the City and in the Galician team I felt very good, but being a coach is something else and where I feel strong and trained is what I am doing now, in promoting the grassroots football.

Thank you very much for attending us.

To you.