EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH FORMER VICE-PRESIDENT OF VALENCIA CF ‘JAIME MOLINA’

Valencian born and bred, Jaime Molina was a very active vice-president of Valencia CF during the most glorious period in its history (1997-2004). During this time, Valencia CF won the Copa del Rey, UEFA Intertoto Cup, UEFA Super Cup, the Spanish Super Cup, 2 LaLigas, the UEFA Cup (Europa League) and were consecutive finalists in the Champions league too!

What have you made Peter Lim sacking so many managers of Valencia CF over the years?

In my opinion, as always, the owner of the club (Peter Lim) has deceived (‘engañado’) all the previous managers of Valencia CF and will continue to do so. When managers ask him for new players that are needed to strengthen the squad, the owner promises he will provide the managers with the players needed…but then he doesn’t stay true to his word. The owner has done this time and again with Valencia CF managers. The problem is with owner of the club…not the managers.

Any concern from you that Valencia could be sucked into a relegation battle?

Yes, as a ‘Valencianista’, every season I am really concerned that Valencia CF could be sucked into relegation battle …ever since the club was taken over by the current owner, since October 2014!

You achieved great results in the Argentine market while with Valencia. Tell us a little about why you focused so much on Argentine players at the time.

The ‘Argentina’ influence for Valencia CF is that I have a business in Argentina so I travel to Argentina a lot and I know Argentine football very well too. In my own way, I was able to transmit this first-hand experience of Argentine football to the club.

How competitive was it when trying to sign players like Kily Gonzalez and Pablo Aimar? Yes, it was competitive. On one of my business trips to Argentina, I went with Paco Roig and we got Pablo Aimar to sign for Valencia CF in Argentina via contacts I already had with River Plate. However, I didn’t deal with the signing of Kily Gonzalez at all.

Felman, Kempes, Kily, Ayala… Why do you think Valencia aren’t signing Argentines these days? Is it simply the market is more competitive? Felman and Ayala were 2 great footballers from Argentina and also honourable players who sweated blood for the shirt of Valencia CF. These days, you can’t sign Argentine players that are already formed…you have to be following their progress as teenagers when they are in ‘juveniles.’ If a player is already established in Argentina they are already expensive to sign… and Valencia CF just cannot afford those sort of up and coming, “rising star” players at the moment…given the current state that the club is in.

Tell us a little about the impact of Aimar at Valencia. How big a coup was it for the club to sign him at the time? He’s won the World Cup with Argentina as part of the coaching team; can you see Aimar eventually coaching in LaLiga – maybe even Valencia?

Yes, Pablo Aimar was a great signing. As a player, he was great for Valencia CF in an historic time for Valencia CF. He was the best and biggest and most expensive signing for Valencia CF at that time. Since then, there have been more expensive signings for Valencia but they have not justified their price tag with results. In contrast, Pablo Aimar more than justified his fee (‘sobradamente’) for all that he achieved with Valencia CF… in terms of winning Ligas and the UEFA cup and getting really far in the Champions League too. (Valencia CF got to the final of the Champions League in Aimar’s first season in 2001).

Aimar is a really good person and was a really great player and that is a perfect combination in terms of his potential for working with people. However, I’m not sure I would see him as a manager in La Liga or any league for that matter, more as an assistant coach perhaps…

Tell us about Jaime Orti as president of Valencia. How was he as a leader? Does LaLiga miss such characters today? What about the orange wig – can you tell us about that?

God rest his soul, Jaime Orti was the best president that Valencia CF has had. Orti would not have sold Valencia CF to Peter Lim if he were still alive and in charge of the club. When Jaime Orti was president, Valencia CF played Champions League football on the whole. In English, you would say that Orti “walked it like he talked it.” First of all, Orti was a great fan (‘seguidor’) of the club. Secondly, he was a great director of the club too. Finally, he was a great president of the club. The orange wig was a detail to revindicate the colours of Valencia CF.

How ambitious was Orti for Valencia? Can you tell us some of the big names he tried to sign during your time together?

I’m sorry but I can’t give you names off the top of my head. I would say the big names were the players on the pitch who won 2 Ligas and the UEFA Cup with Orti as a president. Orti may have made some signings later on but it was the players who formed the team who really impressed in that period, rather than individuals.

Let’s clear this up – was it Orti who created the word ‘Galácticos’? Or Florentino Perez?

In my opinion, Jaime Orti was the one who invented that description or word ‘galácticos’. I remember him using that word quite a lot at the time. He wanted fighters (‘luchadores’) and ‘galácticos’ in his team too. The term was really was very much his invention.

What do you make of today’s LaLiga? Is it competitive enough? Have Atlético Madrid essentially been the modern answer to your Valencia?

‘La Liga’ is for presidents who are ‘listos’ (clever, cunning, astute). The more astute presidents are demonstrating this with their notable classification positions high up in la Liga table at the moment. Yes, La Liga is competitive for presidents who are clever. However, for a club like ours…with the president we have…we are always going to be one of those mid-table clubs with the fear of relegation breathing down our necks.

Yes, Atlético Madrid is the modern answer to the Valencia CF of my era. Atlético Madrid have been really intelligent by giving continuation to their manager. Various times, there have been ups and downs with Diego Simeone but the club have stood by him and backed him too and this has helped push the club forward. In my time at Valencia CF, we did the same with Benitez in difficult times. We stood by him and it paid dividends in the end.

We’ve seen huge foreign investment in English clubs like Manchester City, Newcastle and Chelsea. Yet we don’t see the same investment for LaLiga clubs. Why do you think that is? Would you support a takeover like Newcastle or City for a LaLiga club?

We don’t see the same investment for La Liga clubs because most of the big owners of the big English clubs are foreign multi-millionaires (many times over) who can take their cheque book out any time they want. In contrast, La Liga has very few owners of clubs who can do this…to spend money… out of their own pockets!

Regarding a takeover, Valencia CF is a very established club with a really long history. It has a lot of ‘entidad.’ The club has a lot of followers via Radio and Television and loyal fans who fill the stadium too, every week. This is a gift for a team or an investor. However, the current directors have not known how to make the most of it.

Personally, I would be against another foreign investor buying Valencia CF, given what has happened with Lim, which has been a really bad experience. For better or for worse, Valencia CF should be run by Valencians or at least Spanish investors. ‘We’ see football on the pitch… we’re not looking at numbers all the time and we also have a ‘sentimento’ for the club too. This feeling for a club is something that a president who is not Valencian or Spanish can never really feel. An example of somebody who feels the “colours of a club” would be the former president of Valencia CF Paco Roig, who is Valencian. He was a great president for Valencia CF and had a lot of feeling for the club too, which I believe he still has too actually. He was the one who introduced me to Valencia CF to join as a director and I became a vice-president.

What’s your view of the Super League? What would it mean for a club like Valencia?

Personally, I wouldn’t like it… even if Valencia CF were in the position to qualify for the Super League. Amongst ourselves, the Spanish, we understand each other better… and that isn’t always easy… (laughs)! With foreign clubs who have a distinctive mentality and language and so on…it would be very difficult to understand one other. It’s just not a good idea to have a Super League, in my humble opinion. If the president of Real Madrid were not the distinctive figure of Florentio Pérez, I don’t think the Super League would become a reality. Knowing what he is like personally and also publically in the world of football, I wouldn’t write Florentino Pérez off… from pushing for a Super League further down the line again. He has it in him!

Interview by Will McCarthy