Interviews
Q&A WITH OLTRA
17 Aug 2011
José Luis Oltra talked with Murcian paper La Verdad; this before facing Murcian club FC Cartagena in the opening matchday at Segunda. Depor’s coach talked of what he expects to meet on Sunday.
Q: Deportivo has now more than 21,000 socios. A good sign after the relegation
A: It's a responsibility and an added incentive, because it is very important to have the support of our own people. Our fans are ahead, because they’re responding greatly in a situation that is often traumatic. Here people have assumed the situation and what we have to do now is to return that love and that effort with work and results.
Q: Did you think hardly in accepting the offer of Deportivo?
A: They called me when I was out of Spain, I was out for an offer and was willing to go back and meet with the president and reach an agreement, because it is a challenge and an opportunity to coach a great team like Deportivo.
Q: Do you feel the pressure of been forced to promote, yes or yes, an historic team?
A: I naturally assume the goal and the role that the club has on this year. I'm the type of person who thinks that it isn’t useful to talk a lot about what Depor was. What is going to help us is the hard work. We need to train at the top and do the right things on the field, because that’s where we will be able to get what we want.
Q: How did you find the club after a traumatic relegation?
A: Frankly, good, because the main asset is the fact that the fans have responded extremely well and that they are pushing us up. The players were fine and having the intention of returning the club where it belongs. The entity is calmed, knowing it is an important year, but doing things right and focusing on doing our best.
You have Primera players at Segunda; is it an advantage or a disadvantage?
A: Now we are a Segunda club, beyond the path of the players at Primera. For me to have players who have only fought at Primera is an advantage, because they, supposedly, are quality players. Now we have to adapt to the league and face the nuances. In any case I think it is an advantage to have players of a great level and they should make a difference.
Q: Scared of a long period of adaptation?
A: It’s up to us that this period will be longer or shorter. We already warned the players about what we can find. The results will determine if we adapt faster or slower.
Q: You know Segunda División, although the system of promotion has changed, do you like the playoff?
A: I think it has more positives than negatives things. It provides an opportunity for more teams, the competition stills alive until the end, because there will be more teams with possibilities. It avoids suspicions of those teams that within the last matchday have nothing to do, because almost everyone plays for something... the same playoff is very exciting. The competition is strong and unchanging. We have the experience of last year and we must try to meet the target in the best possible way.
Deportivo, Hércules and Almeria are down now. The historic Murcia has been promoted. Besides, there are teams that missed the promotion at the last minute, do you expect a hard competition at Segunda?
A: It's going to be very equal. And you didn’t talk of Cartagena. Now you start and of the twenty-two teams, fourteen want the promotion and the rest don’t want to suffer too much. Nobody wants to go down. Everyone thinks positively and that makes things harder. It's a very competitive league and becomes eternal. You must be very consistent from the beginning.
Q: What is the recipe of Oltra for Deportivo?
A: I don’t think there are recipes or at least I don’t have it. I will try to put my grain of sand and bring my view of football to the club. The shortest path to victory is to play good football, to be balanced and go game by game, because everything else is selling smoke.
Q: What do you think of the new Cartagena?
A: I followed its trajectory. In addition, Paco Lopez is a coach that’s my friend, because we were partners at Mestalla. I think is a very important team. It is a candidate for the promotion, because it has been working well within the last years. It has completed major changes to its squad and also to its coaching staff. It has everything: experience, quality, it has major players, and fights for the promotion. You could say that is a direct rival. Usually there are a lot of fans at the stadium and they push a lot. It is a complicate rival and a candidate to have in mind.
Q: Paco Lopez has earned the confidence of the fans in a short period of time. Tell us something new about the coach of Cartagena.
A: Paco is a good guy and a great coach. He lives with passion his profession. It's a methodical guy and a well prepared coach. It seems normal to me to see that he has won the respect from the beginning. He is honest, humble and hardworking as it was Juan Ignacio [the former coach of Cartagena], who was also my friend. I think that both have a similar profile, each one with their ideas.
Q: What do you expect from Sunday's game if it’s finally played?
A: A game against a major rival. A difficult and equal clash. The winner will be the team that can impose its style of playing. External factors will also influence as the heat, but I don’t want to insist on such conditions as the temperature will be the same for both teams. I expect an open game, a match of power, tough for both teams.
But it calls the attention the fact that it will be played at noon at the middle of August.
A: At the end of the day the ones in command are the television companies. They watch their interests and have chosen us to play at that time. We must assume it is the same for everyone. But in a sporting sense, for the teams and the fans, it is not the best time, because it depletes Cartagena, Tenerife, Deportivo or Manchester United if it had to play in that slot. We maybe venturing. Maybe it will be a cloudy day and even cold, but usually in Cartagena the heat is always there.
Q: We talk of a game that can be played on Sunday or that can be postponed. The menace of strike seems to be more serious in this opportunity
A: The players are defending what they believe is right and I think they are right in 80 or 90% of what they are demanding, and as the positions are very conflicting... nobody likes these things. It is not the ideal thing, but if you want to reach an agreement you have to force it. Then another debate is the demagoguery of what the players earn... One thing is what the contract says, but more important is what they lose at the end due to the lack of payments. That can’t be tolerated. The clubs must take care of those who don’t make their payments. So in the end the clubs that avoid their obligations will be forced to pay. The collective agreement or the bankruptcy are important issues and I respect the decision of the players. They don’t like the strike, but must do it. The League must act and reach important agreements.
Q: Will alter much your plans if the game is not finally played on this Sunday?
A: It's not the ideal thing, but all the teams are starting the competition in equal conditions. Another thing is to make a break when the competition is already started, when you already have inequality and can speculate with the changes on the dates. In this way we all know what lies ahead before starting to compete.