“I leave with a lot of pain and sadness. It is difficult, but one has to make the decision with integrity and leave, let someone else in my place do things in the best way and be able to get Brown out of this situation.” Pablo Vico will stop being a coach Brown from Adroguéthat position he held during 26 years, the last 15 as the coach of the first team. Next Friday he will direct his last match against Estudiantes de Rio Cuarto, in Córdoba.
For Vicó, Brown de Adrogué is everything. He started out of the pension like a watchman. Later, he was in charge of the tennis courts, the technical director of baby soccer and in 2009 he was named as the first team counselor. Furthermore, since his arrival at the club, he has resided in the little house on one side of the stadium’s playing field. Lorenzo Arandilla.
“On Saturday, when I return from Córdoba, I will look for a new place to live. It’s all talked about. When you make a decision, there is no turning back. “I apologize to the fan and Brown’s partner for not being able to get the team out of this situation.”he is sincere with a hint of sadness.
Until now, Mr Ramon Vicó led the team in 569 matches, in which he achieved 204 victories, 185 draws and 180 defeats. Last March 21, when he completed 15 seasons in office, he surpassed 14 of Victorio Spinetto in Vélez, 12 José María Minella in River and 9 Guillermo Stábile in Racing, and became the longest serving coach at the head of an AFA club.
However, as Brown’s head coach, Vicó achieved two promotions. The first to the National B tournament in the 2013/2014 season after 15 years of staying in the Primera B Metropolitana and in which he debuted with a victory against Independiente in the Liberators of Americawhen the Red had descended. The second was in November 2015, when he once again managed to climb to the second category against Deportivo Morón.
“The promotions marked a trajectory. Don’t forget that with a low budget, which is not that big, we made history. We beat Huracán, Talleres de Córdoba, Unión de Santa Fe and Independiente de Avellaneda,” he stressed in dialogue with Infobae.
-How do you evaluate the football present -the team is last in Zone B, with one win in 13 games-?
– It is not the right one nor the one we are used to. For 15 years the results were always positive. We have two promotions, 566 games, it is the coaching staff that spent the longest time in an institution. We have four tickets to the Reduced, two semi-finals. In the National Championship, which was so famous that the big teams were there, we beat them all. It is a quite important career and today things did not work out for us and in order not to harm the club, I prefer to step aside. I want to apologize to Brown’s fan and partner. Before harming Brown de Adrogué, let’s take a step aside. It’s what’s appropriate, isn’t it?
– Is it possible for you to review your decision and stay?
– When you make a decision, there is no turning back. There is a little wear and tear after 15 years at the same club. Right now, we want to leave because we love this institution. Since things are not working out for us, we want to take a step aside. There are 25 games left and maybe another technical director comes and takes it forward. Today we don’t have that luck. It is a decision made, no matter the final result. It will be my last game at Brown de Adrogué.
-How does a coach who was at the same club for so long leave?
– I’m leaving with a lot of pain. It’s difficult, but you have to make the decision with integrity and leave, let someone else in my place do things in the best way and get Brown out of this bad situation. If we win in Córdoba on Friday, we will leave the relegation zone. I hope this is the case, but if it is not, the new coach has 25 games to take the team forward.
– Are you retiring as a football coach?
– No, I have to work, I am not financially saved. We will try to take a break and analyze the offers that come to us, see which is the best and most convenient. We are not going to get involved in any offer in which you have to leave after the third or fourth game. In this way, you lose a little prestige. I have to keep working. I must move forward and I have enough strength to do so. Today was one of my last workouts and one of the best, because my teammates couldn’t believe it. We were so involved knowing that it is my last game that everyone was amazed by how I was doing.
– You live in the little house next to the playing field. Will you continue there or will you look for another place of residence?
– I have the endorsement of the president of Brown (Adrián Vario) to stay and live at the club, but I am not going to do it. The president told me that this is my home, and that he will never stop being it. What corresponds is that I go looking for a place to try to get back on track in life, and also in football, which may or may not affect me.
– Do you have a place to live in the meantime?
– I’ll find you right away. What I’m looking for is an apartment with one room, kitchen and bathroom, that’s enough for me. I don’t want to get away from Brown. I have a house in Domselaar, but it is far away; I can’t go there, it’s too far.
– Are you going to talk to president Adrián Vairo about leaving the club house?
– No, no, I already talked about it all. There is nothing improvised. I told him I was leaving the club.
– When are you going to move?
– Don’t know. I will do it on Saturday when we return from Córdoba and I will look for a place to leave my belongings. In less than a week I will be looking for a new place to leave Brown.
-What was the most important moment of your time at Brown?
– The promotions marked a trajectory for us. Don’t forget that with a budget that is not that big, we made history. We beat Huracán, Talleres de Córdoba, Unión de Santa Fe, Independiente de Avellaneda, etc. We had many important triumphs that mark your destiny. We take them out Red of the Argentine Cup on the Lanús field. This coaching staff did important things.
– And the most complicated in these 15 years?
-This moment is the most complicated of my 15 years at the club. I want to apologize to the fans and members because things did not go the best way. Before harming the club, I prefer to step aside. It is something that speaks of my good will. I spoke to the president and told him I was leaving.
– Was the decision mutually agreed with the president of the club?
– It was a decision made and I communicated it to the president. They called me from many sides to stop me from doing it, but this is it, there is no going back.
-What do you remember from your first years as a coach?
– I grew up in Brown de Adrogué. I directed the Lower Divisions and in interim positions until they gave me the opportunity to be a First Division coach to put together a team. This happened 15 years ago, when we have been fighting and getting good, average and bad results, like now.
– What will you do from now on?
– I hope to analyze proposals if they reach me. If not, we will wait until something arrives and my things are sorted.
– Are you ready to manage any club?
– I have a coaching staff that is in a position to be able to do it. And quickly, because I think they also want to continue working.
– Have you ever been bitten by the bug of directing a First Division team?
– I didn’t have offers, but I did have comments. ‘This one or that one loves you,’ they told me. But nothing formal. It was not at a small table that we sat down to corroborate the good and the bad that they may be offering me. I can’t say those teams, I don’t like to say them (laughs).
– You spent your entire life in Brown de Adrogué…
– Exact. The best memory as a coach was the promotion, and as a footballer, the day I made my debut in Brown against Sportivo Barracas, we won 6 to 1 and I scored five goals. They are the two best memories I have in this club.
-And in your personal life, from so many years of living in the club, what memories do you have?
– There were beautiful things and others that were sad, bad and ugly. When one does not achieve an objective and a necessary result, sadness takes hold, like what I am going through now at Brown. That’s why the two promotions and seeing how the Brown people celebrated in their own way remain in my memory.
-How will you take your last game as coach of Brown de Adrogué?
– It will be in Córdoba. I’m going to give her the same desire as always, as if she were in Arandilla. And I will try to achieve a positive result to get Brown out of relegation.
– After so many years, don’t you deserve a farewell at Brown Stadium?
– Yes, but that doesn’t happen to me anymore. Today I tell you that the farewell match could not happen because people are a little angry because the results are not given. I hope that at some point it happens.
– You sound very angry, have you received any insults in recent days from the fans?
– I’m not saying that they insulted me, but when you don’t get positive results, things get complicated. Everyone wants to see a winning Brown and I’m happy when that happens. When the team won, it made me very happy to see the happy home fans. So, we did something positive.
