Gurpegi’s reasons for leaving Athletic

Carlos Gurpegi took the floor Lezama to explain the reasons for his departure Athletic and park his career on the bench. One of the Andosilla had an offer of friend to continue directing pups after their promotion to First RFEF, however, chose to take a different path. “This is not a simple decision. I’ve been at the club for 26 years, but I don’t wake up one day and say ‘I don’t want to be a club coach. Bilbao Athletic’. It is a decision that comes from behind,” he explained.

It’s a decision that comes with the personal, with what Gurpegi wants in his life. He admits that he “loves to practice” and has a “great time” when he steps on the green and covers the bench. “I know what coaching gives me, but I know what I give when I am a coach. I need time to rest, stop, reflect and see what I want in my life. Enjoy my family, my children, my parents, who have been away from home for 26 years, and wait to see what my body asks of me,” the coach detailed.

Gurpegi He has a feeling that from “stillness” he “makes better decisions.” At what moment did you realize? You have to go back a year, before jumping Basconia in Bilbao Athletic. “When the last season ended, doubts started to appear.” An accumulation in which he also played a “career in sports, let’s say different” from others. “I have had very difficult moments that fortunately I overcame. But many times I feel like I haven’t taken off that backpack yet. And above all because training is not like playing,” he said.

Navarrese doesn’t feel completely satisfied despite “having a streak of 13 winning games, a good season.” He was not filled with it. “I felt that there was something inside that did not allow me to enjoy everything that was happening. As I said Mikel (González) when we first talked. If you go first and have an incredible time, my gut isn’t telling me ‘this is for you, this is what you need’, it’s because something inside me is asking me to take the time , stop and appreciate the other things in life.”

He also does not want to close any door. Navarrese made that clear. Now he faces a journey of introspection. “I am very clear about what I am giving up as a coach. I want to realize that not being a coach, what weighs more on the scale, what gives me more, what takes me away. I say this and maybe in October I’m cutting my hair at home and I want to die. That’s when I realized that I really wanted it for myself, for my family, what it entailed and went with it 100%.”

Valverde “is highly respectful” of the decision made by Gurpegi, as he admitted. He also pointed out that he feels a certain “sadness” because of the presence of the player from Gasteiz in the first team. And the relationship between the two red and white floors is “very fluid” this season. “That’s it Ernesto Being in the first team makes everything easier for us down there. He respects me, that if that’s what I need, go ahead.”