MTA sports director Jordi Cruyff about Oscar Garcia's departure: "We respect his decision"
At this morning's practice, Maccabi Tel Aviv took leave of Oscar Garcia, head coach of the last two months, and his assistants Ruben Martinez and Fran Sanchez. Immediately afterwards, Maccabi sports director Jordi Cruyff held a press conference to respond to questions by the Israeli sports press. Asked when he had heard of Garcia's decision, he replied: "I didn't find out in the last two days, I knew before. I think it's something that's been on his mind for a while, but he did communicate it to me and from there I immediately understood we have to move on to plan B and find ourselves a new coach, which we did, very quickly and that's it. I don't really want to go into to many emotional details because we have a very important game on Thursday and I do think that the whole club should start to focus on that".
Asked if he was disappointed about Garcia's decision, Cruyff said: "No, because when someone makes a personal, human decision I'm not one to judge that. I can only make decisions for myself and respect decisions that others make and obviously this is what I'm doing. Circumstances happen but for me my job is here, my commitment is here and as you see we very quickly found a substitute and we're moving on. So far it's a situation in Israel in general, I don't think you can make Maccabi more important than the whole situation in the last two months. But for sure we're in a moment that we're having difficulties here and there. But what doesn't kill you makes you stronger and the team just have to stand up and we'll just continue to work as we've always done. We're not going to be the first and for sure not the last club these things happen to and that's it".
Cruyff was asked to comment on the circumstances that led to Garcia's decision to leave: "The explanations I received from Oscar were more personal, about the situation, than anything else. But I do feel the best thing is to wait until he comes with some kind of announcement and to hear it. Anyway, whatever the reasons are it's now mainly about Maccabi and about Thursday. Anyway, he told me it was a personal decision and I respect that. I said before answering the last question I don't want to go too much into small emotional details, it's not the moment for that. We have to move on, we have a very important game on Thursday and that's what we're going to focus on".
Asked whether Garcia's personal circumstances should perhaps have been dealt with before he was hired, Cruyff replied: "No, there are some things that are out of our control. You can't make believe there's nothing happening. Games have been cancelled, the national team have to play abroad, all the Israeli teams have had to play outside Israel, so don't hide the facts. Be honest with yourself when you ask this question, that there is an obvious reason, that there is a situation in Israel. People will take it in their own way and I respect everybody's opinion. Now I don't think it's ever a mistake to bring a coach like Oscar to Maccabi Tel Aviv, never, and you will never hear from me that it's a mistake. He's also been very unlucky. The year he wasn't here things were very quiet and just when he came back it started again. The honest truth is that I cannot give an opinion if I agree or not or if I like it or not. I can only say that when any person working in a place does not feel comfortable and does not feel they can achieve the potential they have inside I can only say I respect that and I appreciate their honesty and I wish everybody good luck. And I think that in this case let's not judge it, let's say okay, everybody can make their own decisions in their lives and our job obviously is to move on, which we've done, to focus on the next game, which we will do".
Asked how the situation in the country was affecting him personally, Cruyff seemed quite unperturbed: "I'm quite calm. I think all the foreign players are calm. I see everybody's focused, has positive adrenalin and has the ambition to try to put Maccabi where they belong, which is playing European football. All the Israeli teams have suffered, because the statistics are very clear. It's possible that not one Israeli team will be playing in Europe, something I don't think happens very often, and of course it is a direct consequence of the whole situation. But still, we will try to do our job. We'll always play attacking football, very positive and try to get a result".
Cruyff also had a word to say about the process of selecting the new head coach Pako Ayestaran: "Obviously you have to take a profile of a personality, a positive person, somebody who will quickly analyse the situation and somebody with courage. That's what we found and we'll continue. When you are obliged in a week's time to make a decision, to look for a profile, including the current situation in Israel, you have to take many circumstances into consideration. Then you try to find two or three candidates who have a profile of somebody who can make a direct impact on the players. We believe the new coach can create this kind of impact. I'm confident and hopeful that from day one he'll have a presence at the club and that we'll feel his impact here. That's what we want and of course it's not an easy moment. Also if you look at what an assistant means in England then you probably know that an English manager is not always a field coach. So normally in England the role of a staff member is a little bit different than what we see in Europe. We can say he is used to training with big names in football".
Cryuff was asked who'll be in the technical area for match on Thursday night: "That's something we don't have to worry about, it will be taken care of. Of course it has to be with the help of various people because information is very important and I myself will obviously also be helping out with anything necessary and the decision about who exactly will be on the bench on Thursday you'll be hearing from us. The (new) coach will be present in Cyprus. He'll be in the stadium but that's it". Asked if he had spoken with the new coach about the current situation in Israel, Cruyff explained: "There are a lot of foreigners and everybody makes their own decision. It's a human one and I don't think we should judge that. You know, these things happen. Unfortunately it happened to us in this case but as I said we move on. We won't forget what Oscar has meant to this club, which has been a lot, and he will leave, at least with us at Maccabi, a very positive memory and we wish him all the best. I believe that is also an honest thing we should respect from Oscar. He could also have said we'll see how it goes on Thursday. But he's an honest guy, a direct guy. He said it can give the right impulse, the right adrenalin to the players. And we will know quite soon, only time can answer your question. Of course the players' fitness is super important and that's something you have, but obviously everybody has to prove himself in front of the coach and the best will play".
Cruyff was also questioned about his view on opening the league season at the weekend: "We will not use the excuse of our private situation at the club, that a new coach needs time, to delay a league in our favour or not. We will always make the decision what is best for Israeli football and the Israeli league so our opinion as a club does not have anything to do with a fact that serves our interest to start sooner or later. I'm telling you the players want to play football, that's what they really want to do".
Finally the Maccabi sports director was asked if all these changes had an impact on the objectives of the club as a whole: "Of course not. Maccabi Tel Aviv have the obligation as things currently stand to fight for every single title they play for. We will continue to do that 100%, let there be no doubt about it. We will compete, we will fight and as a sport director the main thing I can ask from the players is to give, every day, every game, every training, more than a 100%, the maximum to improve every day. That's still our focus, still our objective. Things could be a little bit easier but they're not, but as I said before what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, so we're going to try to be stronger".
