“The name of the Athletic coach does have weight”

Why do you want to be president?

After so much experience, so many jobs, so many positions of responsibility and being a member and an ‘athletizale’ you see that the tremendous changes that are taking place in football are going much faster even than we are capable of learning and appreciating. We are at a kind of crossroads. You sit down with some friends, you share concerns and you wonder why we don’t get together and try to design a project, an idea in order to get through these critical moments in football in order to put Athletic in a better position than it is. We believed we could do it and step by step we took the leap. A jump that excites us, excites us and we think that we can leave Athletic in a better situation than it is.

Did you decide to lead the candidacy or were your friends?

It was born from me and we started to work with these friends assuming, I don’t know why, that it was me. The same because I put it on the table or because I have had positions of responsibility and I have a certain mettle, a certain rennet.

Did you have the opportunity to be a director with other boards before?

Yes and I didn’t say no. One of the candidates who proposed it to me was later the one who backed down because it was not the time. I did say yes to some.

How do you carry the label of being the PNV candidate?

I do not know of any political party that identifies any candidate. Will be an error. Precisely if there is something that unites all of Biscayan society, it is Athletic. Therefore it does not make sense, nor does it benefit you, nor is it true. Will be an error. That someone uses the topic trying to weaken your option seems poor to me and, I will say more, that they tell me which person who is running for president of Athletic does not have any label or any history. Athletic unites all Biscayans and the team that accompanies me is plural, of all sensitivities, transversal.

Do you have the feeling that in the end what is going to count in these elections are the names?

I have always been involved in Athletic, but now I am seeing certain things that you would not see without this story. It would hurt me if the partners did not appreciate the real proposal of what you say you are going to do, which seems to me the most important thing. This is my project, these are my contents, these are the people. It would make me sad that in the end it would tilt because of a famous face or whatever it was because it would be bad for Athletic, but the name of people does have weight, especially that of the coach of the men’s first team.

Does Athletic need a top coach?

We are who we are, a unique team. With our philosophy, what we have to do is try to incorporate the best Basque players and the best coaches there are, if possible. Top coach yes, but not just any. Top coach who loves academy football, who has worked and loves working with the academy, who has that experience, who wants to come and respects Athletic’s philosophy and values.

What has surprised you the most so far this campaign?

Note that I have been in political contests, but the Athletic thing surpasses it. You go down the street and they tell you ‘president, let’s see if you win’, they ask you for a photo. Something that has never happened to me in my life. The penetration of what Athletic is in society as a whole, whether or not they are members, is truly impressive. What happens in Athletic affects, without a doubt, all areas of life for Biscayans.

Is his rival Arechabaleta or Uriarte?

I think it’s going to be a tough election. The three of us have options, I mean it. What happens this week I want and I want it to be important in order to decide who will be the future president of Athletic. Names will be called, there will be people, there will be crises. This is very hard.

Not even half of Athletic’s members went to vote in the last elections. Isn’t something like that very sad?

Half of the partners more or less is usually the tonic. June 24 is a complicated date because it is the beginning of summer, there is a certain fatigue due to the pandemic, complicated by the economic outlook that is coming after the summer and, to be honest, I do not know how many will vote. Hopefully it is one hundred percent, but if the tonic has been the 50th and given the conditioning factors of the date, I suppose it will not be higher.

In the influx of public to San Mamés, after the restrictions, a certain disengagement of members and fans was also noted.

Everything influences. The pandemic has done a lot of damage, also at the level of uprooting due to fear and fear; but I think we have too much monkey to go back to before. It was seen in the Cup against Madrid and Barça.

Isn’t it crazy that Athletic is looking for three coaches and three sports directors?

It’s the system we have. At first I advanced that a consensus candidacy would have been good because the rojiblanca family was quite stressed, but congratulations to whoever presents himself. There are three candidates and if Marcelino disappears, we all want to bring the best coach, the product becomes more expensive… It’s a shame.

How do you go about applauding a so-called top coach?

There have been some cases that have been paid for being linked to a candidacy, it has not happened to me. It is much better to negotiate the incorporation of a coach from the men’s first team once you are president, but… Ramón Planes, for example, has preferred to opt for our candidacy, rejecting offers from other Primera clubs because he is in love with Athletic.

A hundred professionals or semi-professionals from Lezama, however, do not know their future!

That’s terrible. The choice of election dates has not been the most successful because on June 30, 130-140 professionals from Lezama will end their contract and the new president, when the 25th arrives, will find, among other things, that ballot . People need to know the future of him. It does not seem to me the most accurate date and some toll will be paid for sure.

Shouldn’t Lezama be left out of the elections?

Much respect to all the professionals, those from now and those from before, because Lezama has been producing good footballers for 51 years and is a benchmark for many clubs, but there are things to improve. We must find a formula to ensure that the continuity of the fundamental nucleus of Lezama is greater than the four years of the president. To change everything once a new one comes is to lose a bit of the common thread, the soul, the DNA of what Athletic is.

Do there have to be five women at the head of the same number of Athletic women’s teams?

If the question is you have to, you don’t have to. For me it is important and it is a wink because they are girls and good professionals. They know and love this. It is a way of really betting on an investment in women’s football, of empowering women in all areas. I think they are the best. Ainhoa ​​Tirapu’s proposal excites me.