Pepe Mel: "The main objective right now is our first game"

'The main objective right now is our first game,' stated Pepe Mel in his official presentation as a new UD Almería head coach. He did not speculate on UD Almería's chances for survival and calls for a change of mentality of the players, expressing their confidence on the pitch and enjoying playing football. He has signed a deal until the end of the season in a top-tier team doomed to relegation. When asked about it, he responded: 'The runs of results in football are not chosen; They are what they are. The only thing I saw was a squad of footballers, my aptitude, the fact that I was going to coach in Primera Division in a great city and in a great Club. João made it clear, I was coming for 10 matches and it seems good to me because I think it's fair. May UD Almería know me how I am, how I work and I also know what the Club is like.'

Mr Mel comes to refresh the team and on that note, he pointed out: 'Two managers have already been here this season and haven't been able to achieve the main objective and in the end that is frustrating and your message is less powerful. Maybe this is one of the reasons why I'm sitting here. I come with all the joy in the world, with all the positivism and trying to convey what I think football is. This is a job that no one is forced to do; It's a vocation. If the footballer enjoys on the pitch and shows it and the fans have fun because let's not forget that this is a show where people pay to see it. We're going to try to play these 10 games bearing all that in mind.'

Speaking of the UD Almería fans, the Madrid-born coach highlighted that he was surprised, despite the team's situation, to see so many fans in the stadium in every match, which means a lot. So much so that he stressed that they are in debt to the fans.

Pepe Mel was talking about the squad that he met and on that subject, he explained that 'their faces were serious. It's normal. I've also experienced it as a footballer and many of my head coaches were fired. The footballer also feels guilty that there was people who lost their jobs. You have to come with joy and convey that they think that that they are the children who they were before, who used to play in the street kicking a ball. We have to return to that football, so they can have fun, and feel like players and protagonists. I believe that this sport was made to enjoy, not to suffer. That is what I tell the footballers.'

Regarding the next meeting against UD Las Palmas: 'We're going to compete against a great team that's doing very well, but we have to prove ourselves that we enjoy our work.' Furthermore, they are rivals who he knows very well. He was there in the driving seat for four years: 'They had just been relegated from the Primera Division and they are a team with veteran players and they wanted to refresh the team. It was my task for three years and now I can say proudly that 95% of the footballers who are going to face us on Sunday were taken on by me from their Academy.' Pepe Mel doesn't know yet the UDA Academy lower ranks but he has already announced that Marcos Peña Will be named inthe squad list: 'He seems like a very good footballer to me. I reckon that homegrown players must be given an opportunity, otherwise football is worth nothing.'