By Antigoni Zachari / info@eurohoops.net
Pepu Hernandez, ex head coach of the Spanish national team, was interviewed by Podermos’ Secretary General, Pablo Iglesias on the latter’s TV show “Otra Vuelta De Tuerka”. The following highlights were posted on elconfidencial.com.
In a long conversation during which they discussed various topics, Iglesias related Podermos to Estudiantes and asked the coach to relate Spanish teams to the country’s political parties.
“I would say that the People’s Party is like Real Madrid and the Socialist Workers’ party is like Estudiantes” Pepu Hernandez answered, to which Iglesias agreed.
The coach was also asked about his relation with the ex president of the Spanish Basketball Federation, José Luis Sáez, and he was harsh: “He’s a complicated man. I had conflicts with him and for me is it’s good news that he’s no longer in the federation. I recognize some of what he has offered, though he lost the change to give Spanish basketball the structure of a champion. He could have invested in order to strengthen the product. Instead, he lost an extraordinary amount of time and money, so, yes, I blame him for that.”
Pepu also spoke about his key to his success with the Spanish national team. “Faith in the team was the key, which wasn’t lost even through hard times.” He brought Pau Gasol as an example. “When he was in Memphis, some of his statements went like ‘me, myself and I’. It was when we won the world championship when Pau began talking about his team and not himself.”