Mario Barrera: “I would return to sign Luis García Plaza for Elche”

Mario Barrera (Villa Hernandarias, 1963) was the first to bet on Luis García Plaza for a professional bench. Barrera, then Elche’s sports director, signed the Madrid coach when he was unknown. He gave him a project in Segunda, in 2006. Luis García only endured 19 games at Martínez Valero, but he won the respect and affection of everyone. Especially that of one of its discoverers. This Sunday, Elche is reunited with Luis García, a key moment to remember in AS how were those first months of Madrid on a high bench.

You bet on Luis García for the Elche bench when he was only 33 years old …

I have always liked betting on young people. Before being sports director of Elche and when I was in the technical secretariat, I already proposed to sign Marcelino and Unai Emery, they were at Sporting B and Lorca. He had good reports of them, as of Luis García.

And when he got to the sports department he did bet on Luis …

I followed him at Villajoyosa and at Villarreal B, in the Third Division. The first thing I thought is that we needed fresh air that year in Elche because the economic situation was not good. I put a salary cap and met Luis in Benidorm the first time. He didn’t blink the entire meeting. His eyes showed me the desire he had to be Elche’s coach and that was key. He would have come from Benidorm running. He is a vocational coach. Luis fit in because everything happened through the people from the quarry and young players. He was excited about the project. Despite the fact that the situation was not good and after adding 19 points in 19 games, the people at Martínez Valero supported him and loved him very much. Luis took over the group and the players adored him. His dismissal was a drama for the locker room. Luis is a sensational guy, he makes himself loved and is a club coach. Time has proved me right with that bet because his career as a coach is there.

Why was it not triumphant in Elche?

I have read him in an interview in which he recognized that he was green. But I would bring it back. I have never looked at the age of the players or the coaches. What I have clear is that Luis did not fail in Elche. We signed David Vidal because the team needed a boost, but Vidal found himself a staff worked physically and mentally, a candy for any coach. All the work was well done and that was thanks to Luis.

What stood out from those reports in which the name of Luis García Plaza was written down?

It has gained experience, but its essence is the same. He is a coach who always looks at the rival goal, looking for a showy and aggressive game. This is risky because you have to have a lot of courage to do it and have the right template. Luis is in First because he did that in Second B, where you could see that he was a different coach. He had that desire to please the fan with his football. Many years later, his Mallorca is that.

How many people told you that you were crazy when you signed a Third Party coach?

My working group and President Sepulcre liked the idea. It is true that some of them squeezed their butts when I told them that we were going to bring Luis. I saw it logical because Elche is not just any club. I was bringing a boy from Third to a club with a very high demand. But the desire that Luis and mine had made me think it was going to work.

I said before that that year in Elche a war economy predominated. Economically, Luis also fit in there …

Elche gave me total freedom to sign whatever coach I saw fit. Luis García did not come for an economic question. He came to Elche because I was convinced. I gladly took that risk. It is true that Elche was touched because there were stratospheric contracts in the squad and I considered that the stage of some players had to be closed. We set a salary cap of 120,000 euros and we strictly abide by it. We lowered the cost of the staff to a third.

It would not be easy to remove him …

I have already told you that it was a drama because that squad had a spectacular, incredible human quality. The players suffered a lot. There are people who applaud when a coach leaves, but that didn’t happen with Luis. It is true that Vidal arrived and it was a whirlwind and made a mental revolution that made the team pull up.

Are you happy about Luis’s career?

Of course. Everything he has achieved has been on his own merits. I am proud of his career because it shows that I was not wrong and I would sign him again. I am very glad that your methodology worked and was able to explode.

How do you see the current Elche?

Scribe has said it many times. Elche has a very good squad and shouldn’t be in trouble, but football is the way it is. With better players you can go to the mud and with less, you can fly. Escribá has done and is doing a great job, but I think that when he finds the right system it will be key. In my opinion, he has very good players to play in a certain way, even if that system is not the one that the coach likes the most. For example, Pastore has to play as a liaison because in band he unbalances the rest of the team. I think that when the system is found, everything will be better.