Accompanied by the Club’s chairman, Tino Fernández, and the Board of Directors, Pepe Mel was unveiled in Riazor’s press room, as RC Deportivo’s new coach until the end of the season.

Mel’s first words to the press were to explain who he has brought to work alongside him in Deportivo: “Roberto Ríos, whose football experience began here when he was a boy, because as you know, his father trained Dépor. He is here as my assistant coach. I have also brought fitness coach David Gómez, and José Antonio Gordillo, who besides helping us on the field, he is also our analyst. I want all the training sessions we do to be recorded, because there is no better way to show a footballer who is right. Sometimes it’s not enough with words, but an image doesn’t lie. It’s important for me to record the trainings, and that is why”.

The new Deportivista coach confessed “it’s difficult to say no to Dépor when you spend a year watching football from your home, or in a stadium as a spectator, longing to be part of it. That doesn’t mean we haven’t said no to other things. But you have to say yes to Dépor”

He said he couldn’t wait to get to the training grounds and “meet the medical staff and physiotherapists to find out how the players are physically, because I will personally take care of their mental health. The main thing to play football is to have a clean and clear mind”.

After having watched many of the team’s games this season, he stated, “first of all, Dépor has always been in the games, maybe not in Leganés, because there comes a time when one gives up. Gaizka has done the work he wanted to do, but sometimes things don’t turn out the way we want. But that doesn’t mean that what he’s done is bad”.

In his opinion, “it’s the footballer who has to connect with the people, not the other way round. It’s the players that have to connect with the spectators in Riazor so that they reciprocate by cheering and applauding what they do on the pitch. The player has to understand that”.

Furthermore, he highlighted “if any professional football coach is presented with the Dépor squad and you say to them ‘would you like to train them?’ I’m telling you that 100% of Spanish coaches would say yes. That says it all”.