Former captain and and member of our backroom staff Xisco Campos spoke to club media to reflect on his first season working with Jagoba Arrasate, progress in the academy and the club's growth.
What is your assessment of your first season on the first team staff?
I think it has been a privilege. I was new, but also the coaching staff was new and I think that little by little we got to know each other and in a very natural way it has been a very positive year in terms of work, on a day-to-day basis. And then, it has been a great learning experience. I have joined a staff where there are many people with a lot of experience and for me it has been a great learning experience, both from the technical staff that the club had, as well as from Jagoba's staff that has come. I am very grateful to be in the day-to-day and working with these people because they are people with a lot of experience.
What is it like working with Jagoba Arrasate?
I think the coach is a very close person. The human aspect is taken care of very much and I think it is something fundamental because to get to know the footballer I think you have to know the person first. Each person is different and I think the coach takes care of all the details. He is a very close coach and he is also very close to us. He takes great care of the human aspect. And on a day-to-day basis, relations have been very fluid and this has been what has really marked being on this staff, which is professional, but what comes first and foremost is the human aspect.
Is there a moment you cherish most?
When you see that you can help, provide solutions and, above all, when the players thank you for it. I think this is our role: to try to help from the outside, they [the players] already have enough pressure. These moments, not one in particular, but I think that the collective moment and the moment of helping on a daily basis are the ones I keep.
How do you evaluate the season?
I think it is a good season, very good. I believe that we must not lose perspective or humility. Humility must be well understood. We are not better, but we are not below anyone either. We can always compete, but the priority objective is always to stay up. We always have to look at this base and from here, grow. Obviously, maybe in the heat of the moment, having the opportunity we had to get closer to the top, you have the feeling that you have been left with that thing. But I think the season is very positive. The team has competed at all times and has had the opportunity to be with the people at the top. In the end, that is football. The result is not always what you want, but I think the team has been competitive at all times.
This year Jan Salas and Marc Domenech have made their debuts and David López has consolidated his place in the first team. This is also one of your objectives, isn't it?
I think the club is doing a very good job at the grassroots level, at all levels, and is trying to get players to approach and help the first team. This year there have been results. It's not easy, it's a process. In the end, I think the players at the base have been able to help us and I think it is an objective of any club to have home-grown players, who in the end have an important feeling of belonging and that has to be generated. And I think it is very positive that our players come out and can help. Besides, I believe that the coach has an appreciative look towards the base. He has said many times in press conferences that he believes and understands that it is important that there are people from the island, and he gives them the value they have.
Unfortunately, Mallorca B could not stay up...
In the end it has not been an easy year for the reserve team. I think it has been difficult for us to compete and endure results. I think that young teams don't have that experience, which is acquired during the competition, and this year we have been penalised. It will be an apprenticeship. There will be players who will have this learning process. We have to be self-critical, rebuild our aims for next year, rest, recharge our batteries and come back with more strength. But I think that even if the results have not come, the process is useful. That is to say, we have players in the base who are not used to losing a lot. They are not used to having complicated situations and I believe that if you manage it well, these difficult moments can help you, in the future, to face situations of this difficulty, because in professional soccer not everything is rosy, not everything is easy.
We are in the West Stand of the Estadi Mallorca Son Moix. I imagine you would have liked to play with the stadium already refurbished, right?
It is clear that we have made a radical change. And it was a request, not only from the players when we played here, but also from the fans. To be able to bring them closer. In Segunda B we only had one ground and we had to win the draw to be close to the fans. Now everything has changed. Now everyone is closer, more involved and they feel much more involved.
The stadium is one of the proofs of the growth that Mallorca is having and that you have experienced in recent years.
I think the growth of the club is undeniable. We are growing at all levels and I think we have to continue in this line. Knowing where we come from, not losing our essence, but continuing to improve. Therefore, I think it is undeniable that the club tries to improve every time and every year, tries to solve all those things that can be solved at the level of the stadium, the sports city, something that the club is also fighting to try to improve every season. Every year things are done and also at the level of people who can add to Mallorca.
