2000-2001 - CD Tenerife (Assistant Manager)
2001-2004 - Valencia CF (Assistant Manager)
2004-2007 - Liverpool F.C. (Assistant Manager)
2008-2009 - SL Benfica (Assistant Manager & Physical Fitness Coach)
2009-2010 - Valencia CF (Assistant Manager & Physical Fitness Coach)

Pako's wisdom start with his philosophy -

"Training is very important, I think that no matter how fit players think they are, the same eleven can't play every game. For me, training is the most important thing. It is our job to make the players understand how important the training is and sometimes players come to me and say that they have trained too much and need to play. When they say this, you know they truly do not understand."

Pako - Training Ground	Pako Ayestaran - Benitez - Alex Miller	Pako and Benitez

During this time he was instrumental in 'The Reds' winning the  Champions League and FA Cup. Valencia also won the Spanish League Title twice and the UEFA Cup. All amazing achievements.

I asked him a few questions that I hope you will gain interest from.

•Who were your sporting heroes and icons when you were growing up as a boy?

I did not have many, but as a footballer I liked the players who were able to build the game from the back , Beckenbauer and in the Basque football for me one of the best centre backs whom was able to break down the opposition by a building play, Kortabarria, who played for Real Sociedad in the seventies and early eighties.

•What do you believe are your 3 main strengths are as a trainer/coach?

Industriousness, there is no subtitute for hard work.
Enthusiasm. I really enjoy training and coaching each day.
Alertness. I know what I know but I know as well what I don't know. I'm quite open minded and always looking for ways to improve.

•Briefly describe your role as Rafa Benitez Assistant at Liverpool FC?

First task was to analyze the structure that was in place once we arrived to Liverpool and suggest the changes we thought could work for the benefit of the team, that as a consequence would be a benefit to the club. One of the basic ideas which had to be deeply incorporated into the organizations philosophy or ideology is that " the best for the club is the best for us " and not the opposite.
Organize and coordinate the structure created around the first team ( medical department, staff, cantine....etc) in Melwood, (Liverpool FC training facility) and with the help and collaboration of everyone connected with the first team, get the best from each one of them.
Once everthing was in place, start thinking about the best way to get the best from the qualities of the players. Analyze the characteristics of them , strengths and weaknesses and try to create the right planning for the improvement of each one of them as well as the collective planning of the team.

Related to the competition. Duringvthe first years I used to do our own team analysis using images by Amisco compettion analysis program, as well as data analysis of the game, comparing the individual, positional and team datas with references created by information from a data base which we started collecting in our years in the second division at Extremadura (Spain), late 90's. After our second year at LFC we incorporated a specific person to just do this analysis, and an another to do the analysis of the opposition with the same tool.

During the competition my role was to give them my own feedback about what I was seeing during the game.


•What other sports and athletes do you enjoy and admire?

I admire everyone who can reach their best because they work hard to reach the top of their own capacities. I enjoy most sports, I wouldn't imagine my life without sports. I loved the collectibe (team) sports such as basketball and handball and also I admire some individuals like the cyclist Lance Armstrong whom has become the best of their era through great sacrifice.

•You are one of most knowledgable and widely respected fitness coaches in Professional Football. Which players that you have trained do you believe had the greatest physical attributes?

I cannot see myself as a conditional coach, because the performance in football cannot be measured when isolating the conditional side. The concept of performance in football has to be related with the way the team approaches the game and how this resolves the situations of the game.

As a team we had great level of performance in most areas. I was lucky to train with many top professionals and it would not be fair to choose individual performances of only a few of them because I have worked with many who have a high level of professionalism and respect for the game. Therefore this allowed them to reach the best of their capacities and become the best they could be.

Im hoping to team up with Dan and the DMS11 again in December... See you soon!

James