I arrived in Eibar on January 24, 1969. I was a 17-year-old boy from Langreo whose sister told him that she had passed through here on her honeymoon and there was work.

So I came and went straight into a shotgun factory, Laurona.

A colleague named Javier Iturralde.

He was a manager of the club and since I was a football fan, I watched all the

Langreo

games

, I loved it, he told me to enter the club.

Overall, a month after arriving in Eibar I entered the club as a manager and as a delegate of the second youth team.

You know, take care of the trips, the chips ... A bit of everything, think that then it was a Third Party team and some years even Regional.

I usually say to the newcomer and maybe he complains about something: "Hey, I've seen Eibar in Regional, eh."

And now in First, mind you.

I was a youth coach for 10 years, then I left it and became assistant coach with Juanjo Arrieta.

When we went up to Second B, in '86, I was there.

Being second coach is not like now, of course.

I was in charge of helping the coach, but also of managing trips, acting as a delegate ... Everything that was needed.

Even buying the shirts.

One year, the English Court of Bilbao got us some from Barcelona.

Do not think that they were as easy to find as now, that you buy them in any store.

Well, they got them for us.

Two for each player for the entire season.

The women of the managers, they were other times, they dedicated themselves to unstitching the shields of Barça and then sewing those of Eibar.

And palante.

In the promotion to Second, in 88, he was also second to

Alfonso Barasoain

.

I was there for four years and then due to work issues I had to step aside a bit.

Sure, you think that I was still working at the company and we would train at seven in the afternoon.

I have worked in two or three weapons factories and then in one of electrolytic baths, the kind made of nickel.

And there were times when I couldn't combine it.

I was never an Eibar coach, but I was at

Ermua

and

Lagun Onak

, one year each.

At that time I made friends with

Mendilibar

.

When he started training, I was at Ermua and he at

Arratia

, we saw each other in the mornings in Vizcaya watching matches everywhere.

And I already knew him from before, from when he played in the youth team of the

Cultural de Durango

and he came to play here at the Ipurua annex against the team that I trained.

So see if we've known each other for years and if I've watched football.

I don't know if there will be anyone in Eibar who has seen more than me.

That if the juveniles played, the fry ... There he went.

Well, and that many times you had to take them by car.

They called you from the club "Hey, the fry is playing tomorrow in Oñate, can you take them by car?"

As well.

SDEIBAR

I always did it for the love of art, not even being second in Second did I charge a penny.

I was going to see the opponents, I was going to

Zaragoza

to see Aragon, and I did it in my car, what I was charging was gasoline and just right.

Until I started as a utillero, in 2009, I never got paid from Eibar in 40 years.

And it wasn't something I was looking for either, huh.

With that crisis that came, they decided that there were too many people in the company where I worked and it was my turn.

And nothing, I found myself on the street when I was 58 years old and at that age and unemployed I began to get used to the idea that perhaps I would no longer work.

I imagine there were many people like me everywhere who would think the same.

The call of Eibar

I

had a friendship

with

Fran Garagarza

, the sports director, for many years, before he worked at Eibar, when he was a carrier, in his courier company.

Total that one day we met in the street and he said to me "Man, Zapi, how are you, do you take the relay late or what?".

And I said no, that I was unemployed.

We talked for a while but he didn't say anything else to me either.

After two days a counselor called me, who had been there years ago, when I was coaching the juniors, and he told me to see if I could go through the counseling where I worked.

There I went.

"Hey, we had Council yesterday and Fran told us about your circumstance and, hey, we'd love for you to come in. A utility worker just left and we need someone."

And hey, I'm delighted, and more so with what has come after, with the promotions and so many years in First.

I am highly valued here in Eibar, but I speak with other Primera utilleros and ... The work we do is not valued.

The utility man, apart from cleaning boots, putting on shirts and others, has a role in the dressing room, because we spend many hours with the players.

When one is injured, who is next to him in the locker room while the others train?

Or when they change him and he leaves for the locker room pissed off?

Well, the utility man!

There you are, encouraging him.

You get along well with everyone but at some point you also have to call someone's attention for whatever reason.

One enters the dressing room pissed off, kicks something, breaks I don't know what ... Well, you have to "uh, you, kid, take care, eh. Not here, eh. I respect you that you're pissed off by what Whatever, but you respect the dressing room conditions, huh ".

But they are things that happen.

When we went up to Second and First, I began to contact all the utilleros in the category, to speak with them when they came and such.

And everyone was surprised, they told me that they had never had a relationship between utilleros from different clubs.

I began to move the subject with the Athletic one, to collect all the numbers.

I did a WhatsApp group and now we are calling each other with every problem we have, to talk about what those who come to the field need, also about our personal problems ... That did not exist before and it is a beautiful thing.

"I saw you on the Robinson Report!"

We invite all the utilleros to eat something at the txoko de Ipurua when they come.

We put things in the changing rooms and then there we are, half an hour or an hour talking about our things.

That is sacred.

Well, now with this Covid roll they have screwed us.

And they regret it eh !: "Damn, Zapi, we can't go to the txoko ...".

It is something that I have implanted here because the club has let me do it.

And that the one that looks good is the club, not me.

In the end, the one who invites is Eibar, not the utillero.

As long as they speak well of Eibar wherever they go, that's fine for me.

And that's how I've been for the last 12 years.

When I turn 70, on February 12, it is already decided, I will retire.

I'll still be here, but travel, training ... Obligations, no longer.

There is a colleague, now another is going to enter, and I will be there to put him into operation, but without obligation.

If I can give you a hand in anything at the club, I live here 100 meters from the field, well I'm delighted.

That with 70 years there comes a time when you have to make decisions.

That I am very comfortable, I have had a great time, I have enjoyed it ... But there comes a time when you have to say up to here and dedicate yourself to other things.

Let's see if they take off our mask and let us travel a bit, that's what I want now.

I have a lot of places with known people to visit and now that we are physically well, me and the woman, well, we take our gear and spend 15 days here, there, wherever.

The idea is that.

You thought about it a few years ago and, would I see Eibar in the First Division?

At the Camp Nou, Bernabéu, Manzanares, San Mamés ...?

And now I'm going in there and it's like my house, I know all the hiding places.

You have that.

Who was going to tell me that I was going to be preseason in Austria or on a tour in Las Vegas?

Once I was in Valencia crossing a street and a guy rolls down his window, very nice, and he says to me: "Hey, Zapico, I've seen you in the Robinson Report!"

That an uncle from Valencia recognizes me, you!

That stays there for you and you say, oysters, life ... How lucky I have been.

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