THE REPORT | Víctor Orta: “I'm a football freak and I'm not ashamed”

Spanish football no longer only exports footballers and coaches. Now its sports directors are also beginning to be listed. Some have even reached clubs in the ever-weighted Premier. The most unique case of all is that of Víctor Orta (Madrid, 42 years old). With no past as a footballer or as a coach, his career as a sports director began at the age of 25 and after passing through Valladolid, Sevilla, Zenit, Elche and Middlesbrough, he arrived in historic Leeds. His bet had a first and last name: Marcelo Bielsa. He signed him and together they celebrated his promotion after 16 years.

What does a chemistry student, who was a sports journalist, do as a sports director of a Premier and also historical club like Leeds?

I also wonder sometimes. I studied chemistry until fourth. I have seven subjects to finish. My approach to football was like that of a true fan. My brothers covered my face with the Mexico 86 stickers and told them the names of all the players and which team they played for. I went to the hotels of the teams so that they signed the photos of the special of the League of Don Balon. That was my first approach to football. I made my own database. A friend took me to a radio station in Valencia and I began to collaborate with the media. Later, with a representation agency until Carlos Suárez crossed the cables and asked me to share with José Luis Pérez Caminero the sports management of Valladolid at the age of 25. There were players in that locker room that I had asked for autographs.

And dived on his head despite having no experience. You were then what is now called a soccer ‘freak’.

I always believed in myself. I thought I had knowledge and that I could contribute things and until today. I'm a freak and I'm not ashamed. My lifelong friends have been calling me for many years. The day I lose my love for football, I will dedicate myself to something else. I have passion since I wake up.

How does it fall into Monchi's networks?

We met when he was a representative and we began a relationship of respect and admiration on my part. He offered me to go as technical secretary to Sevilla. Caminero told me that at 26 he couldn't be teaching in a club, that he had to be learning. Go learn from the best. It was seven years of learning, of being innovative. I never had any limitations. Monchi is written with the 'M' for mentor. He was my mentor. I still maintain the methodology that we had then. Minimize the risk in hiring players.

From Seville to Zenit.

I fell into a great organization with cultural limitations difficult to overcome. It was the club with which I worked the least independence.

He returns to Spain, to Elche.

I stay with Emilio Vega, the technical secretary, the person along with Monchi who has influenced me the most. I created my first working group, many are still with me. An extraordinary technical group that took that forward without paying since January and I am left with a city that gave me everything. The anger was that if the media had allowed us, we would have made history in that club for a long time.

Another jump abroad. The Middlesbrough.

I was in the mood for an experience in England. The season that I arrived we were promoted to the Premier, I arrived in January with what little merit I have. I met Karanka, who was the first to teach me the secrets of English football. I was soaked in everything. The following year we descended, but it helped me a lot for this second experience at Leeds. I made many mistakes that I have learned from.

Leeds calls him and he doesn't doubt it.

He doubted whether to go back to work in Spain. There was a chance, but Iván Bravo, who was a counselor at Leeds, called me and when I hung up the phone I knew he was going to say yes. For a football mythomaniac, Leeds has a brutal weight. I thought of helping to wake up a sleeping giant in the second category. The first year we competed until January and we realized that we had to change the first project, which was to promote in five years.

And that's when he goes for Bielsa.

We set ourselves the goal of ascending as soon as possible. In Leeds there was a historical pressure that special people had to handle and we changed the strategy in choosing the coach. We had to invest in one that would make a difference and I went for Bielsa.

A soccer ‘crazy’ is going to look for another world-renowned ‘crazy’ with that nickname.

I don't know if we are crazy, what we have is passion for our work. I work very comfortable with Marcelo, I don't see anything abnormal. It makes me a better professional and a better person. A luxury.

When you went to get him, did you not think that he is so special that he is one of those who decides to leave the clubs and leave them lying …?

I never had that doubt. He always had a very honest and sincere relationship with me. I felt empowered to create an environment around him that was conducive enough for him to feel comfortable not to leave.

Three aspects, what have you learned from Bielsa in these two years?

Always review the models even if they are successful; doing things that legitimately benefit the future, not looking for shortcuts or shortcuts and that taking advantage of time is a tool to optimize work.

And how do you explain that a whole football director of a Premier club celebrates the promotion as just another fan and also with the flag of a fictional country taken from a radio program?

There are times when people influence you and this is what happened to me with the program La vida moderne de la SER. I listened to him and I was happy when he was at his worst. I had a hard time my first year at Leeds and that program improved my mood. I bought the Moderdonia flag from a colleague, Alberto, who was also listening to the program. He told me to put it away and take it out when we ascended. It was a tribute to the people who make your life better without knowing it.

How many disciples of the Orta doctrine work alongside you at Leeds?

I would be nobody without them. I am the tip of the iceberg of extremely loyal and professional people who love and understand football like I do. They are my eyes and without them, without Gaby Ruiz, Salas, Alberto Cordero, Peral, Rodrigo García, Alex Davies, Andrea Iore, Graig Dean… I would be nobody. There are 16 in total.

Is it true that I would not work in any club where the sports director was not at the heart of decision-making …?

In football there are a lot of different models of success. Clubs where the president commands, clubs where the general director commands and clubs where the sports management participates in important decisions. I know I perform on these. It is not for ego. The most important thing is the synergies with the coach and with the club (owner or general manager) who always have the last word. The three parties must have the possibility of vetoing a signing so that when that player crosses the door there is unanimity. Then God will say. What can you say to a management like the president of Real Madrid? Nothing. Quite the opposite. All the ways to be successful are valid. The same as on the field of play you achieve success with different styles. Like Italy in 1982 or Brazil in 1970. One title each.

The Premier inside is as we see it from the outside and from a distance.

It has an extraordinary organizational level. Everything to the millimeter. For a Spanish mentality too to the millimeter. It has a brutal exploitation of content.

How is Brexit going to affect English football?

The new regulations are in place for January. For the signings it will be by a point system. Depending on which League you come from, if you have been international or not, you will have a scale. Now a Spaniard will be like a Japanese. I think the Scandinavian countries have been penalized too much.

Has Rodrigo (Valencia) been the most important signing you have made in your career?

It is the most expensive, of course. Everyone told me it was impossible and that motivated me more. We explained it very well to the player, we moved, we convinced him.

In Leeds there are four Spaniards, Casilla, Diego Llorente, Pablo Hernández and Rodrigo. Would you like to have more?

I like quality, I don't look at nationality. We have Germans, Italians, Portuguese… There are majority English because I love how these players work on a day-to-day basis. They are obedient. That is why I always thought that Bielsa's way of working would work well with a large core of English players. And they drag the others to work. I always give an example: if a coach tells an English footballer to jump off a bridge into a river of frozen water, he first jumps and from below, asks why he had to do it. If he is of another nationality, first ask or do not shoot. In England there is still respect for the coach.

His Leeds suffered a good beating at Old Trafford on Sunday, Manchester United inflicted a severe defeat (6-2).

We knew that with our style and the quality of the rivals one day something like this could happen to us, but this same style has led us to where we are. With an identity recognized by our people and it is the one that will continue to take us far. The team believes in him. We are on our level. You have to keep your feet on the ground. In the Premier of every three teams that rise the average is that 1.8 descend the following year. When the objective is promoted the first year is to stay to stabilize the project. The second year can calmly be more ambitious.

We conclude, as a sports journalist on leave, how would you title this interview?

There is still much left of the boy Victor Orta who went to ask the players for autographs at the hotels.

Txiki, Zubi, Longoria, Pitarch, Ribalta, Cagigao …

There are not many, but they are noticed. Francis Cagigao, what began as a scout for Arsenal in Spain in 1996 and ended up as technical secretary and head of scouting of the London club (he has just signed for two years with the sports director of the Chilean Federation), can be considered as the pioneer in the matter. Txiki Begiristain, Víctor Orta and García Pitarch they have stepped on their tracks in the Premier. In France, Andoni Zubizarreta carried out an exercise of prudence and knowing how to be the maximum technical manager of the Olympique de Marseille. At 34, his position has been inherited by Pablo Longoria, ex Valencia with Alemany and Marcelino and who also went through Juventus, Sassuolo, Atalanta, Recreativo and Newcastle.

Javier Ribalta, now in the Zenit of Saint Petersburg, is another of the sports directors with an international cachet with 12 years of experience in foreign clubs: Manchester United, Juventus, Novara, Milan and Torino. Pogba, Dybala and Morata are among his three most interesting bets.

Txiki Begiristain. His seven years full of successes as Barcelona sports director (2003-2010) opened the doors to Manchester City's sports management in 2012. It comes from the hand of Ferran Soriano executive director of the club. During his tenure, the English club has won four Premier League, two FA Cups and five League Cups. The list of players signed with their final approval is eternal, while it has only had three coaches: Mancini, Pellegrini and Guardiola.

Zubizarreta. Almost four years (2016-20) in a complex destination. “My experience at Olympique de Marseille can only be described as positive and enriching. After my stages at Athletic and Barcelona, ​​where I knew well where I moved, everything was new there. It is always good to know other cultures, another language, another way of understanding football very different from the Spanish one, no matter how close the two countries are. I went to a special club, that you have to understand, know its customs, with a different hobby from others in France. It has been four years in which I have felt good, I have worked with my team the best I could, without making noise, calmly ”.

Garcia Pitarch. 'Suso ’wanted to satisfy his concerns with two international challenges. First at Baniyas (United Arab Emirates) in the 2014-15 season where he signed for three years, but lasted one and a half. “I had to sue them before the Lausanne Court of Arbitration and ask to terminate my contract for non-payment from day one. I couldn't leave without that resolution. If I left, I would not comply ”. He was compensated at Aston Villa. He came to the Championship and rose. “The Premier had always been my dream. The internal functioning of the clubs is completely different from Spain. At the moment the sports directors do not have the relevance, nor such direct treatment with those who rule the clubs as in Spain. There, absolute power is held by the CEOs and the figure of the manager is gradually being lost because all coaches no longer have the power of that old manager. The sports director is on the way between being a scout chief, but without the decision-making capacity and influence that we have in Spanish football. You are conditioned by the coach and the last decision is always made by the CEO ”.