Pamplona (EFE).- The coach of Osasuna Magna Xota, Imanol Arregui, will not continue in the Navarrese entity after 22 years in charge, in which he has managed to turn a small team into one of the historic futsal players at the national level .
“Next season I will not be the coach of my club. I need air, to breathe, because, if not, it will end up taking its toll on me”, Arregui indicated at a press conference, who has had the support of the president, his brother Tatono Arregui, as well as his staff, family and friends to communicate the news that no Xota fan wanted to arrive.
The decision to leave the position was made months ago and it happened because the team did not go down to the silver category. “It is a very hard decision, they have been hard months. Here absolutely everything is personal, I don’t know how to do it any other way”, he continued.
After achieving permanence three days ago with a 0-0 draw against Betis, the coach pointed out that nobody was thinking about his departure, but “I think I have to do it, it’s time. I have always been stretching and I have put the club above me and everything I am I absolutely owe to Xota”.
It will be like a ‘hooligan’ in the stands
“Next season I will be like a ‘hooligan’ in the stands. Surely I’ll have a worse time than below, because I can’t do things upstairs. I really need it, those next to me know what I’m talking about. They have been three very hard years, but we have managed them thanks to the spectacular costumes I have”, the man from Irurzun noted.
After starting at Xota as a goalkeeper at the age of 15, Arregui continued playing until he was 30, when he decided to retire to take charge of his hometown team in the 2001-2002 season. He has been one of the great architects of the club’s growth during these more than 20 years, in which he touched glory in 2010 with the league runner-up.
“I have suffered a lot, but I have had a great time”, he recalled about the “good and, above all, bad moments”. The 52-year-old from Navarre has asked for “more support” for the club, because “we really are playing with fire.”
“We have played finals, semifinals, Cups, very big things, but I prefer my first year. It was the host. It was a team that had always fought not to go down, we were rabbits, me the most. There were many doubts and we finished fifth, it was very big, special ”, he recalled about his first experience on the bench.
“I believe that there are more important things than money in this life”
Arregui has assured that he has “left his life”, putting the club “before me” and “it will always be like that. There have been many moments in which he said: I have to go. The year of the pandemic was going to leave me because it was very hard and disappointing in many personal aspects.
“I think there are more important things than money in this life. I have had many offers, but I have never said from whom, because I don’t care and because I have always said no. Most of me decided on the first call and I have never regretted it, I thought it was what I had and what I wanted to do”, he recalled about the countless calls from other clubs received over the years.
The locker room did not know his decision until yesterday: “Nobody else knew it than Roberto Martil (captain). There was absolute silence, in the end I’ve been here my whole life and they don’t understand this without me, but the important thing is the shield, not the name behind the shirts”.
His brother, Tatono Arregui, has commented that “a complicated stage is opening up. These are moments to make decisions of all kinds. It’s time to work, knock on doors, choose who will drive the boat. Imanol emanated all the best that has gone through the club. There was a special chemistry, but it is evident that he has to fly”.
The coach will take a few months off to later participate in various clinics in Spain and abroad. Training the lower categories of the entity is one of the options when he puts on the work overalls again.
