“The Perfect Symbiosis”. “The Engineer and the Architect”. This is how he defined this Tuesday Antonio Jesus Lopez Nietopresident of Unicaja, at the press conference before the media about the first two pieces of the project in the medium and long term that the club wants to maintain until 2026. John Rodriguezsports director, and Ibon Navarrocoach, the basis with which the Los Guindos entity reaffirms that it is going for everything in national and European basketball.
“For me, as president of the club, it is a moment of satisfaction“. The top leader of the basketball entity was really happy about the announcement. “Juanma opted for Ibon and seeing Ibon work he knew that they were the men the club needed. Time has proven right. The continuity of the projects is what leads to future successes“. Because that is the main key on which both renewals are based and, as they assured, all those that are to come: ambition.
John Rodriguez He returned last August 2021 to his home. “I had great enthusiasm and a great responsibility to return to my club.” “As I told Ibon, I wanted him to come for a project, not to save the furniture. I think that is coming true. Everything was very good, but we know that we have some very nice challenges ahead of us. We are Copa del Rey champions , all the teams are going to want to beat us. This team is hungry, we must continue with the recipe: a lot of work, be humble and have ambition“, he explained.
Ibon Navarro, the executor of the plan, after beginning his stay in Malaga with a multitude of doubts, now has a winning project in his hands. “Thank Antonio and Juanma. When they call me, they ask me a series of things. In this business it is not easy to keep your word when the results, the pressure or the opinion go in another direction. This success, which perhaps has come too soon, has to prevent us from dying of success.. What we have done is going well. This already has a pretty solid foundation.”
The Cup has only brought the times forward, but the continuity of both was an idea that was clear in the club. And much more from a coach who long ago understood that “When you are comfortable, you begin to understand that it is the place where you have to be”. A key aspect in which the players and the staff have been of great importance because “they make you get through the bad times better or enjoy the good ones”.
The objective is nothing more than “to prolong the project over time”, assured the man from Vitoria. “Many clubs have very good seasons and then they fall. You have to stay, it’s difficult. Taxation comes in, you go from being a team at a bad time to being a champion team that everyone wants to beat… all that adds competitive difficulty You have to do it with work. The idea is that we continue to be competitive like this season, but it is not so obvious.. There are complications. This league is very competitive. The plan is to continue being there“. And that’s the most important message.
Role of the fans
Accepting a renewal when you have won the Copa del Rey a month ago can be easy, but it has not been the only aspect that has contributed. The fans and Carpena have been two essential aspects. “What I am most happy about, I am from Málaga, is how people are enjoying the team”said Juanma Rodríguez. “What we are most proud of is not the Cup, but how Carpena is in each game. Seeing children on the street wearing the Unicaja shirt is the greatest title”, added the coach.
Because playing with the “green tide” is one of the great luck that the coach has every day. “It’s fantastic, playing at home with these people is fantastic, it’s the host. A former trainer here told me that this is one of the best places to workthere are tools and conditions for us to have, not at the level of title, but of feeling, feeling of team, a club that competes against anyone”, concluded Ibon Navarro.
