Miguel Ángel Ramírez (Medina) against the empire of Miguel Ángel Ramírez (Alonso, president of the Las Palmas Sports Union). The 38-year-old coach from Gran Canaria, coach of Sporting, returns to Las Palmas this Sunday to face the yellows and with the memories of his childhood. Bet on the promotion of those from Pimienta, but trust to emerge victorious this Sunday. He doesn’t see himself leading UD in the future. He assumes the criticism for the delicate situation of the Gijón club, on the verge of relegation. “When Pitu was there, I also read about ‘out with Pitu’.”
-The thing about Sunday is like measuring yourself against an organ of your body.
-In this world of football, you never know. It is as if Xavi Hernández or García Pimienta faced FC Barcelona with UD Las Palmas. It is so, we have to leave our land to dedicate ourselves to what we like. It’s your turn as a coach and it’s a situation you have to face. One is accustomed to differentiate [lo profesional de la personal] and to leave their land to be able to carve out their future.
-What will be the most special? Win the shield that was part of your beginnings or do it under the eyes of your family, friends or Tonono, your boss in the yellow quarry?
-I hope that the most special thing is to win. Because we need victory and the most emotional thing is now to sign the victory in Gran Canaria. But doing it on my land, before the club of my life, with my people, family, club workers, employees, managers like Tonono or UD players that I know very well. There are many links and they are special parties. I will try to help Sporting and add what we have to do.
-He directed Sandro Ramírez with Paco Lemes in Alevín C of UD Las Palmas.
-I had Sandro [Ramírez] I took Fabio to a second stage at the club. I am very friendly with Jonathan Viera, Kirian, Benito, Eric Curbelo… I train Álex Suárez as a cadet. There are many with whom I have coincided and then with others I maintain a good relationship.
-Manage all the rival’s information as if he were an FBI agent. He has almost given birth to the UD. They won’t forgive you for defeat.
-If it were that easy, no one would lose. It is a game and there are thousands of factors. It is true that it is a different week in terms of preparation. It is the team that I know the most and analyze in Second Division. Also, on an individual level I know them and I share that information with my family. I have warned them of what we are going to find. From that box, give them tools to compete better.
-What vital lesson did you learn from your time at Claret School, where you were a student, teacher, soccer coach…?
-Claret marks my life, because I started when I was two years old, I finished my second year of high school and then I returned as a teacher. El Claret, together with my family, forges my personality. In the same way, my way of living. To see and analyze everything. They have helped me become the person I am today. He is a fundamental pillar.
-He was an active member of the Pastoral del Claret. Is he still so believing and clinging to God?
-My family is Christian and Catholic. I am too. I belong to the Secular Claretian Movement and I consider myself a person of faith. In fact, I already have a relationship with the Claretians of Gijón, they are the ones who take care of my faith.
-He is the first coach from Gran Canaria to face UD with the shield of a team from outside the Archipelago.
-I looked at him this week, ‘I think I’m the first’, he repeated to me. That circumstance had never occurred. From there, I see it as the beginning of something good. The start of a new generation of Canarian coaches. Let it be the first presence of many. A start. That in the future, Canarian technicians can lead professional teams far from the Canary Islands. If I can open the door to other colleagues of mine, from my modest contribution, to be able to get out of there. I hope it is repeated many times.
-What factors do you attribute to the fact that there are no more successful Canarian technicians in First Division, Second Division abroad? Should they find their Olabe -the now sports director of Real Sociedad played a key role in Miguel Ángel’s visit to Vitoria, Qatar and Ecuador-?
– Different factors add up. It is important to go out, in the Canary Islands there is a very inbred competition and training. We have to expand, we have to go out in order to learn. To open our mind to other things. Being able to explore our limits. There is a double factor. Giving up your land and your people to leave, but also that someone gives you the opportunity at a certain time. But of course, for someone to give you the opportunity, at a certain moment, you have to insist a lot. Be there for them to give you the opportunity. I went out a lot, went to many courses, many congresses, many clubs to learn. You meet a lot of people and from there you generate those connections so that the opportunity is provided. If you don’t go out, if you don’t train… It’s more difficult for you to find it.
-He has been at Sporting for 65 days. Two victories in nine days. What do you think he has done wrong?
-[Reflexiona] I don’t know if I’ve been wrong about many things. We have found ourselves in a complicated context internally, and one that we are trying to change little by little. We are immersed in a transformation process. There is a very heavy backpack inherited from last year, in which we lived very close to the descent. There are fears and rejection of change, of trying to do different things. To get different results, you have to do different cases. You can’t do the same. I learn from the competition. I am learning about the elements that I have, but we have a significant handicap. We have many injured, I have to pull youngsters from the subsidiary who lack experience. It’s complicated. With the elements that I have, you try to learn to be more competitive above all.
-Did Molinón’s whistles hurt against Mirandés?
-They had already warned me about how the Molinón public was, which is very demanding. But it is also the Estadio de Gran Canaria, marching first in the table and against Ponferradina, after 20 minutes, whistles. In the end, we see it normally. People want to win from minute one. And if it is not like that, I show my discontent, it is the law of life. Now there is no Roman circus, but the circus is football. As a species, we haven’t evolved much. We need to go to a place to download the ‘day to day’ of our backpack. It is accepted naturally. Hopefully Sporting can reverse this situation. As for the team, when they do well and compete, the whistles turn into applause. But we like to wallow in the negative. They have also applauded us and it is not said. We love to hype the negative and the toxic.
-You are four points from relegation and have the umbrella of the Orlegi Group, do you feel alien to the guillotine? Is he untouchable until 2024 or is he aware that if he loses on the Island he could be in danger?
-I believe in two things, no matter how much the Orlegi Group brings me, the coach is always subject to the results. It is a maximum law in high competition sport. But I also know that the Orlegui Group does not make decisions based on results. The decision with the Pitu [Abelardo] it was not a question of results only. They have a history in Mexico, in which they do not make decisions based on numbers but rather on the evolution of processes. Although I recognize that in elite football, the results rule.
– Do you feel harmed by the shadow of ‘Pitu’ Abelardo? Did you expect a little more patience from the fans and those around you?
-When the ‘Pitu’ was there, I also read comments that ‘it was the Pitu’. I am lucky to meet coaches with a past at Sporting and all of them have experienced the same situation. So Miguel Ángel Ramírez is experiencing the same situation that all the Sporting coaches have experienced. Nothing has changed. The press is like that with everyone.
-The title with Independiente del Valle made you lose consciousness and the layoffs with Inter and Charlotte brought you down to earth? Did you go from Rolls-Royce to Panda?
-The situation has been different in the three clubs in which I was. An international success that few coaches can achieve after many years of experience. Added to the experience of a club that is not based on the independence of the results, but on a project vision. In Brazil [Inter de Porto Alegre]I knew that I was going to experience the reality of all the coaches in Brazil. Which was to last very little, but I agreed to pay that price of the pressure of ‘if I lose they throw me out’. Live it and make it count as growth. In Charlotte, he was oblivious to results. It was not a sporting decision, we were in the playoff. It was a management of the sports director, a personal confrontation. I learned. In football, sometimes there are interests and egos that are above sports. I have learned from everything. Ever since I decided that I wanted to be a professional coach at Independiente del Valle, I know that I will have more failures than successes. The soccer coach has more layoffs than successes. This is very difficult.
-Pacuco Rosales says that until you are fired ten times, you are not a coach.
-I am very far from that figure, but I am aware that it will arrive. I have an anecdote with Iván Rondo, former coach of Real Sociedad, who told me Miguel, look, they are going to kick you out. It is a reality, to you and to everyone. We don’t know when. The question is: who do you want to be while you are? It doesn’t matter to me if they fire me after the game against UD Las Palmas or if they renew me for three more years, I live from day to day. I try to be a better coach every day. I am lucky to be able to live from this experience. Of every minute. To grow with this group. I don’t care when they kick me out, I’m not going to stop enjoying every second of each stage.
-Would you like to lead the UD? Do you see it as a challenge being from Gran Canaria?
I don’t know, I’m not sure. It is going to be very difficult for a Canarian coach to train UD. I think for the good, it would be fabulous. But when it comes to bad, I don’t know how willing I am for my people to bear the pressure that comes with that responsibility. I’m not clear.
-As a canary, do the volts rise from the discharge of the electric chair from the UD bench?
-The canary with the canary is more aggressive and demanding than with the one that comes from outside.
-How does Miguel Ángel Ramírez (Medina) get along with Miguel Ángel Ramírez (Alonso)?
-Yes, I have had different encounters… All casual. On the street or restaurants. We greet each other respectfully and ask how we are doing. Nothing more of that relationship.
-How will you combat the weapons of Pimienta and an injured UD after the derby?
-Las Palmas cannot have the initiative or carry the weight of the game. We will try to make them feel uncomfortable, that from our aggressiveness we can cause mistakes and insecurity. Don’t feel domineering. Take away that role.
-Bet on the promotion of the UD with Pimienta. Do you consider them one of the big contenders?
-For me yes, I have seen them all year very solid. Extremely regular. At the moment when the injured recover and are what they really are, they are fearsome. They have players who are hard to stop.
-Viera is he still the Messi or Maradona of Segunda?
-In shape, he is not a Second Division player. He is First. If he is level with him, the UD always wins.
What about Jony?
-It is a physical issue and injury relapse. It has not been regular. He is depleted and now injured. He has been very unlucky this year.