Txiki (3): "Champions win couldn't save Rijkaard"

In his first interview to a paper in two years, Barcelona sports director Txiki Begiristain talked to Catalan sports paper Sport about the past months and the current situation of the club.


(you can read the earlier part of this interview here and here)



Players out, manager out... But you're still there although there are people who point at you.
I don't run away from my responsibilities. I'm in part responsible for the failure of the last seasons.

After everything that has happened, you didn't think about styepping down?
I never thought about it. What I did was analyzing the problem and making a proposal to get out of the crisis. And I received the support of the whole board.

President Joan Laporta has gone through very difficult moments: an institucional crisis, a confidence vote... If the preseident would have left, would you also have left?
I would have felt so desorientated that I sure wouldn't have the powers to continue.

How do you see Laporta now?
He's extremely motivated. For him, like for all of us, this is the start of a new era. New manager, new board members, new project. He wants to regain the time we've lost.

You're talking about the past two years?
Only if we look at the football level, because the club kept growing and kept getting better in the other aspects.

When did you get aware that things were going wrong?
After the 4-0 against Getafe in the Spanish cup.

So why didn't you act then?
We thought that the people who had led us to winning two leagues and one Champions league deserved another chance. We gave them our confidence but they failed.

Ronaldinho was the symbol of both the best and the worst of that team?
It was very hard to tell him that he wouldn't be able to stay at the club. If you think about everything he has given us... But we thought we couldn't get him back on track. We needed change at all levels and we had to do this.

You also had to inform Rijkaard that he would have to leave. This was the most difficult decision you 've taken as Barcelona sports director?
Yes, it was. I suffered a lot, it was an unpleasant moment, very hard. I would have wanted to tell him at the end, in June. But the 4-1 against Real Madrid forced us to accelerate the decisions.

Would Rijkaard have stayed if the team would have won the Spanish cup or the Champions league?
No. Both him and the players we had selected had to leave the club because their cycle had come to an end.

When was this decided?
In February or March. It hurt to let Frank go because he had done so much for Barcelona. Every club in the world was jealous of the wonderful coach we had. He gave us some excellent years, with great football, with trophies... The end was very hard.

It has been said that he, Deco and other players had a bad influnce...
I respect everything they gave us and I don't want to hit out at anyone. They were great, we won trophies, so you have to thank them and say goodbye in an elegant way.

Wasn't it a shame that this team only shined for two years?
Without any doubt. That squad was able to even surpass the Dream Team. I though they could win four consecutive leagues - the third was was actually one goal away - and several European cups. The collapse of that team happened too early.


This was the third part of this interview. The fourth and last part will follow in the coming days with Txiki talking - amongst other things - about the situation of Henry and the summer events surrounding Eto'o.

You can read the earlier parts here:
Txiki (1): "Messi is the best player of the planet"
Txiki (2): "The players are very loyal to the coach"