Jordi Cruyff, the Yellow & Blue Head Coach addressed the media ahead of the final Matchday of the 2017/18 campaign at Bnei Yehuda on Monday at the Moshava Stadium, 21:00 and began by looking back at his last six seasons with the club:
“I don’t think I can mention one memory in general, but in football there are happy and sad days. When you leave a place normally you have mixed emotions, but I have a happy and proud feeling. There is always room for improvement. In general when I arrived here I said I wanted to be remembered as someone who was a plus and did more good than bad. The feeling I get is that I’ve done that. All good things have to come to an end.”
The final match of the season:
“We need to give it all for 90 minutes to finish the best we can. Everybody will finally get a well deserved holiday. It’s been a long time that the players have had some time off. The league made a good decision about the Toto Cup competition to give the players a break.”
The professional staff who’ll be leaving:
“Dani, Carlos, Juan, Domingo it’s our last week here, we are all leaving. I want to thank them for their effort, dedication and loyalty from day one. These guys have been here with us a Juan has been for 5 years and has been very loyal. The club has always given them appreciation and now it’s time to move on.”
Emotional last match:
“I don’t expect to be very emotional as the last home game was already, though Netanya Stadium won’t really be home. It’s a good stadium though. Tel Aviv has been late to react about stadiums and I believe that sports unite a lot of people. The mayor has really not stepped in and it’s about 2-3 years too late.”
Better chances at a true home stadium:
“Absolutely and no doubt about it the chances will be better. Just look at the statistics from when we were at Bloomfield compared to Netanya, but Beer Sheva took the points when they had to. Credit to them.”
Looking back on the season that was:
“There are things I need to look back and analyze. I am a self critic and there are some decisions that I’ll look back on.”
Advice to the new coach:
“I think he needs to come without too many opinions from all of the people around him and follow his intuition and heart. The same way I did. I listened to what my eyes saw for the good and for the bad when I arrived.”
Potential of the loaned players to be back at Maccabi:
“I think some of them, 3-4 players have the potential to be back in the first team. We took some Under-19 players and sent them to Ramle where they made the right step and then they went to other teams. They are now ready to fight and compete at Maccabi.”
Issue with Israeli youth football:
“There is a hole in the Israeli football education. You can try to ignore it but it’s there. In Spain there is Under-21 and other levels not like here where you end your education at Under-19. There is also the army factor. Ramle has shown that it’s a good place. The players are getting a sense of tough matches with emotions. Other clubs will understand that it’s either this way or you’ll lose players.”
Loaned player motivation against their club:
“The players are motivated when play against their club. We have followed them the whole way and many have had a good years. When they play Maccabi it’s just natural that they would be motivated. You’re young and you want to prove yourself every game.”
Arrival at Maccabi six seasons ago:
“I was the right guy at the right moment at the right place. People wanted to see what I could do. After the first season we won the title and it raised people’s attention to see where things would go after not having won the title for over ten years. We’ve had good coaches and it’s time for the club to continue to grow with other people.”
