He knows the world of football perfectly. In different aspects as well. He now serves as Athletic Director of Athletic, a position that entails a lot of public exposure and a good number of criticisms.
Were you surprised by Elizegi’s announcement regarding your decision not to run for the election?
Yes, I was surprised. If he did, he did it thinking that it was best at the time. Aitor is a person who has worked many these years, beyond the filias and phobias of each one. He has been very brave in many things. The assemblies have been very hard and he has suffered a lot. He has done a lot of good things, but most of the time we are left with the bad. The same will happen to me when I leave. More will be said about me for once I asked Nika (communication director) a question at a press conference than for everything I’ve done here; but this is so.
Will you try to close the renewal of Marcelino?
We have to do what we think is best for the club. We are very happy with Marcelino, a top coach, and his team. He is giving a spark to a team that is tailored to Marcelino’s football. We will do what is best for Athletic.
Have you already started talking to Marcelino about renewal?
No. Marcelino is very cautious, he knows what has happened these days and what he wants is tranquility so that the team works. The rest will come.
Is he happy here?
He is delighted. Him and his group. They are people who have fitted in very well not only in Lezama, but also in the way of life we have in Bilbao.
Has Marcelino surprised you since the time you have been working together?
It didn’t surprise me because from the first moment we had a very good feeling. We have said the things that we had to say to each other honestly and face to face. They had told me well about his methodology and on a personal level he is a soccer man like me. It is drenched in everything.
Weren’t you advocating the continuity of Garitano first and going up to Etxebe later?
I gave my reports, the club made a profound decision and acted accordingly.
How are the renovations of De Marcos, Balenziaga, Dani García and Capa?
Like all years. They are very good professionals and we have already started the conversations, as we have done all these years ago, and as always calmly.
Is the Capa theme ingrained?
In the same situation as the others. We started talking to him a long time ago, no agreement was reached and now many other things are happening, including a pandemic. We have asked you for a little time.
Follow the evolution of Imanol, Iñigo Vicente …
I am now an expert on the Dutch League (anticipated). Iñigo (Córdoba) has five goals. My obligation is to watch the games of Mirandés, of the Netherlands … Things are going very well for Iñigo and he is surprising because he is attacking, defending and showing that he has a goal.
Has Athletic touched Julen Jon Guerrero?
We have always been very attentive. I have a good relationship with the Guerrero family, we continue his career and see how he is progressing, but he has a contract with Real Madrid.
Are you worried about the situation of Bilbao Athletic?
I suffer a lot because the boys are very young and some of them suddenly reach a better category than last year. We have potential and I am sure that we will go from less to more. It worries me that they started well and suddenly they have become a little disengaged, but I am calm because they are a good team and they have a coach who is very hungry and very brave. In the end the results will come. Imanol is a trainer, which is what he is all about.
Is alternating teams like Nico Serrano and Agirrezabala, for example, good?
It is good, but stressful for them. It was for me and for the players who at that time were going up and down. Those who are in first-team dynamics are like more stress and have less rest, but it has happened a lifetime. The second and third teams are very affected by the first team.
In what sense?
The first team tells me tomorrow I need three players and then the chain begins. We do not want complaints from anyone, but everyone to focus on their work. Going up and down is difficult, but you have to do it.
Has Athletic’s environment changed from now to his stage as a player?
No. I don’t see it that way. You criticize when you have to criticize and applause is given when you have to. What you do notice sometimes is that criticism is not only because you have done something good or bad, but because you have liked someone or not. When criticism is constructive, you have to accept it and what’s more, you have to learn from it. I don’t waste much time with others.
Like those of those who say they don’t work much, that they don’t put in hours?
If I explained the day to day it would be fine, but there are things that do not have to be explained so much either. Good professionals already know what a sports direction is about, the work of Ayarza, of Bombín in the methodology … I know what we are doing, which is the same thing that my predecessors have done: working a lot and spending many hours in Lezama, why not it’s only first team. It is every day.
Former president Macua said a few days ago that he believed that Athletic did not need a sports director.
It seems to me a very necessary figure. There must be someone at the helm of the sports part of the club because many decisions have to be made every day. You have to talk with the players of the first team, with the coach of the first team, discuss with them and in the quarry, I don’t even tell him. There are more than 400 kids here, many parents, many representatives. Someone has to be in charge. In the end all things go through my table. From a boy who we have brought the child to the first team. Yes there has to be someone who is captaining the sports part and who assumes the mistakes and the successes.
What did you think of the resignation of Ricardo Hernani, director of the club’s sports commission?
Ricardo, who did a very important job, in addition to having a lot of personality, has a different concept of many things because he comes from another world. It was very good that he added his way of seeing football. Now Iker Goñi has entered and we continue working as always.
Will there be more cases like those of Remiro and Areso over the years?
Sure, because you don’t always reach agreements. When you think that you put everything on your side and the player thinks that he puts everything on his side … This is like life itself. We are also there to make certain decisions that are sometimes hard and make you angry, but there are things that we cannot reach.
Are you a supporter of the idea of the global quarry suggested by Jon Ander de las Fuentes?
We are very happy with the quarry that we have in Bizkaia and we continue to work a lot with the people of Navarre, Alava, and Gipuzkoa… That is our quarry and we have lived from that quarry and will continue to live for many years. Now that someone little by little is opening certain discussions with the partners, it would be good to make things clearer. It is very important that we understand that philosophy is what it is, although here it has sometimes been stretched.