The name of Arsenio Iglesias shines from this Thursday in the sports city of A Torre

The sports city of the Tower of Hercules, in the vicinity of the Roman lighthouse, shines from this Thursday the plaque with its new name, that of the former coach of Deportivo and Real Madrid, among other clubs, Arsenio Iglesias, just on the day he turns ninety.

Arsenio, with Parkinson's disease, could not attend the event in which the plaque with the nomenclature of the sports city was discovered In which he worked as head of the municipal schools and, previously, as the coach of the one known as SuperDépor, who won the first official title of the A Coruña club, the Copa del Rey in 1995, and was about to win the '94 League. “The games were played on Sunday in Riazor, but they started here on Tuesday,” recalled his son Pablo, who excused the absence of the legendary Blue and White coach due to his health.

“He cannot be here because an illness greatly limited his movements and forces”, He said before reassuring the audience: “Head is still great. Arsenio is still Arsenio “.

In fact, he told an anecdote to confirm that he is fine with his head: “A few days ago a grandson collected all of his goals in First Division for the school. He reproached him that one season in Granada he had not scored. And he replied that he scored one for him. that year to Barça in the final of the Cup “.

Arsenio, who ended his career on the benches at Real Madrid in the mid-1990s, although he later managed the Galician team, is part of the history of Spanish football and, especially, of Deportivo, who became 'super 'and that, in his son's words, embodied his values: “hard work, humility and never showing off.”

Deportivo counselor Juan Antonio Armenteros recalled that Arsenio finished his time at Deportivo “as it had to be”, with the club's first title.

He considered that “his figure goes far beyond sports” because “he is a legend for how he achieved successes, both sports and personal, for dedication, humility, knowledge and, above all, common sense.”

“He is a Deportivo legend and he is eternal,” said Armenteros, who was pleased that the sports city of A Torre now bears the name of the “teacher.”

The mayor of A Coruña, Inés Rey, specified that “few figures are extraordinary” and Arsenio is one of them.

She stressed that “perseverance”, as stated in the plaque that she discovered with the help of the former coach's wife, Carmen, is the “key to achieving dreams” and said that “linking Arsenio's name to these fields is produced a perfect conjunction between the environment and the honoree, who is history, base and Dépor “.

He considered him “the great hero of the Coruña people, who fled from egos and epithets to go to the relevant” and assured that, with the name of Arsenio, in the sports city “humility is not an objective, it is an obligation”.

He also said that the former footballer and former coach was “very great on the field but much more outside” and affirmed that he “always did popular science” with that “common sense” that, he pointed out, “should guide us in 2021”, a “symbol of and for A Coruña “.

Last March, Arsenio Iglesias received the decoration as adopted son of the Galician city in an act that was held in the Municipal Palace of María Pita and to which he did attend after months without participating in public life.

Previously, in January, the municipal Honors and Distinctions Commission had agreed to grant him that title for “his personal and sporting merits and the work he carried out promoting the city, as well as for his social recognition.”

The Commission also decided to dedicate a street to it, to which it still does not give a name, and that the Sports City of A Torre be renamed, something that, since Thursday, is already a fact.

As a player, Arsenio played for Deportivo, Sevilla, Granada and Oviedo and played 238 games in the highest category of national football.

Later, as a coach, he managed Deportivo in four stages between 1970 and the 1990s.

Arsenio, who also coached Hercules, Zaragoza, Burgos, Elche and Almería, closed his career as a coach on the Real Madrid bench in the 1995-96 season, although later he took charge of the Galician team.