Pako Ayestaran (pictured) is presented with a Santos warm-up jacket at a press conference that introduced him as the club's new head coach on August 22, 2015. (Photo: Mexsport)
TORREON, Mexico – Liga MX Champion Santos introduced Pako Ayestaran (full name: Francisco Martín Ayestarán Barandiarán) as its new head coach at a press conference on Saturday.
The 52-year-old Spaniard replaces Pedro Caixinha, who resigned August 15 after a 2-0 loss to Club America a day earlier.
“I believe that life is not perfect and times are not necessarily perfect. We wanted this process to begin on a regular basis, but at times, when things go erratically, it gives us the opportunity to make them perfect,” said Alejandro Irarragorri, the Santos president. “We have built the infrastructure, the processes, prepared our people to remain faithful to a methodology, to a process, to ourselves more on the process than our results.”
Ayestaran was an assistant to Rafael Benitez at Spain’s Valencia (2001-04) and English Premier League side Liverpool (2004-07), when they won La Liga (2001-02, 2003-04) and UEFA Champions League (2004-05) titles, respectively. In 2013, he took the managerial reins at Mexican second-division outfit Estudiantes Tecos, leading them to the 2014 Clausura crown. Most recently, he guided Maccabi Tel Aviv to the Israeli first division title, the Israel State Cup and Toto Cup (2014-15).
“Fundamentally, we share values,” Ayestaran said. “It is a club, as the president said, based on processes. He said arriving at results based on processes is the only way to know you get it and can repeat it. For its part, here is a club that is committed to helping many communities. This value is close to mine. They are the main points that convinced me to come here.”
After the press conference, Ayestaran and club officials were in attendance for the Guerreros’ 1-1 draw at Monterrey, a result that left it in last place in the 18-team Liga MX Apertura.
Santos returns to Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League action on Tuesday, when it visits Saprissa in a top-of-the table Group A clash.
