Club América and its loving management of hate

The man who lived 25 hours a day connected to football made a blunt revelation: “the hatred there is for him America club It is a deep feeling as deceptive, because It is not of resentment, but of a rejected admiration“, said ‘Panchito’ and gave a slight smile.

Francisco Hernandez Pineda He was born on May 14, 1927 in Toluca, State of Mexico. A man with a lot of class to play soccer, according to the chronicles of the middle of the last century, and a born vision to project success off the field, his best selling strategy always had a spherical shape.

Selected to play the World Cup in Brazil 1950, his paternal leadership was his best quality, which made him jump as an excellent footballer in long pants, first as technical secretary, an ancestor to the current sports director, and then as vice president (1969-1996) for this emblem that turns 105 in 2021.

His best shot was that of the proper advice and his best shot was that of the precise example for each of his spontaneous lessons, an inherent part of his vocation as an eternal teacher and which is a key part of the history of the Eagles.

“Soccer is played with the head and lands with the feet“, He said in his slow voice,” America awakens all possible emotions because it is made for it … Yes, Hector, all that is calculated, it is part of the club. All of us who are part of it, we know it and we live for it ”.

“THE MOST IMPORTANT TEAM IN MEXICO”

Don ‘Panchito’ it was preferably always called like that for the love he generated in those around himBut it wasn’t necessarily because he was kind. His strong character was demonstrated in different decisions, from which he never backed down.

“From the beginning, Mr. Emilio ‘El Tigre’ Azcárraga He entrusted the team to Guillermo Cañedo (de la Bárcena), the first president of the club, and he to me as responsible for sports destinations. There was no way to look bad ”.

– You had to create a strong team …

—No, there was no option, you just had to be the best and it was done. America is the most important team in Mexico. The Chivas Guadalajara may be the most popular team at some point, but the most important is América, because it is the only team that the fans themselves see him play, but also those who want to see him lose see it, they look for and pay. He is the only one capable of moving fans and anti-party members. Therefore, it is the most important equipment in this industry.

PLANTING A BRAND

‘The Tiger’ Azcárraga, an intense part of a dynasty of builders of a Dream Factory –Which was born with the radio soap operas in the XEW and then with the soap operas in Telesistema Mexicano, which would become Televisa– A difficult mission was proposed, to generate the image of a team that could be the creator of the stories of Mexican soccer. The best location already existed, the good of the story too, Chivas, but the villain had to be edited, a Frankestein with an ambidextrous profile and excellent pitch.

‘Panchito’ and Cañedo set out to put the necessary ingredients.

“Chivas wanted to have the best Mexicans. Sometimes it succeeded. Then you had to do the opposite, bring the best foreigners. At least, that was the initial proposal, which we try to maintain year after year. It is the sense of our brand”, He stated, although these excerpts from different conversations took place between 2010 and 2011, when he had not been part of the club for 14 years.

“Thus, we brought everyone, and the best of them, who was the first. He was a very interesting boy. He was not tall, but his real height was in the dimension of his game, he handled both profiles, ran with his head raised and projected huge game changes. He had enormous strength of character. Those were the times when Chilean players were not well known in the world. It was all in the wake of his World in 1962. Carlitos Reinoso he was the architect on the playing field, of what we projected outside of it. The perfect dumbbell. The philosophy of a game that should be for the fans. Here, shapes always matter ”.

The Araucanian would make the ‘8’ on his back shine like no one in the history of America (1970-1979). His masterful gifts and vision earned him the nickname ‘Teacher’, which would accompany him for the rest of his life.

In the same way, they would bring other of their compatriots, such as Miguel Angel Gamboa (1978-1980) and an Argentine issuer of bazookas as it was Osvaldo Castro ‘Blessed Leg’ (1972-1975) already a fine Paraguayan steering wheel like Hugo Enrique Kiese (1975-1978) – combined with top-class Mexicans, especially the idol Enrique Borja (1969-1977), snatched from Pumas in a controversial contract, but where the network breaker achieved three scoring titles.

CHISEL ON BLUE STONE

With such successes, ‘Panchito’ would repeat the clinical process to bring other players strongholds of the team.

“We try to bring all of them like this. Then I repeated the procedure with the ‘Mister’ José Antonio Roca when he was the strategist (1970-74), and later with Reinoso himself, when his turn came (1981-84).

“This is how we brought the Brazilian ‘Batata’, (the Argentines) Héctor Miguel Zelada (goalkeeper), Ruben Omar Romano and Eduardo Bacas (midfielders), our scorer (Norberto) Outes among others … and to ‘Russian’ Brailovsky. We were really going for another player, but we saw that this boy had something special, he was skilled and very intelligent.

“We came for the player, we saw him in one game and in another… and in another. Then we would come incognito to see how he behaved without him knowing that they saw him. Then, we would go to their homes, where they lived, as a surprise, to talk with the neighbors, ask them what it was like, then with their family. We ate with them.

“They were surprised, because they didn’t know why we were doing that, but what mattered is that we did. We were not hiring a player, but a person, a human being. When you hire someone, you also do it with everything that is him off the field. We could not be wrong ”.

‘Panchito’ always followed this strategy, traveling with the technical director on duty and continued until 1996, so he still participated in the design of the historic team of the ‘African Bees’ led by the dutch Leo Beenhakker, champion without crown of the 94-95 campaign, which broke offensive records and rival goals.

HIT OF NOSTALGIA

In the final stage of his life, ‘Panchito’ did not leave football by mistake. Now without his office in the club’s facilities, he hired restricted television channels to watch world matches from the comfort of his home.

“Have you already seen the Ferencvaros game? There is an excellent 10. The only thing he lacks is to face a little more ”, once said the man who emulated the Italian-Argentine missionary Renato Cesarini, the true soccer-field teacher to whom they owe different schools of Argentine soccer and even that of Pumas in Mexican soccer with his participation in the second half of the sixties.

Just like him, ‘Panchito’ ordered a fronton to be made at the Club América facilities so that all the first team players and basic forces could train and improve their individual technique.

“We managed to improve everyone. Well with ‘Bigback’ it cost us more work.

The man who as a manager participated in the design and execution of two representative teams in the history of America, that of the early 70s and the 80s, to obtain a total of 17 titles – eight leagues, three Mexico Cups, one Champion of Champions, four Concacaf Champions and Runners-up Cups and two Inter-American Cups–, he was happy because at 83 years of age he had returned to America.

The then president of the club, Michel Bauer (2008-2011), looked for him to have him as an advisor and viewer of the children’s categories.

“I am like another child who goes to the school in America, very happy,” he said a week before falling ill.

On January 20, 2011, this columnist had the opportunity to chat with him. This time it was not the usual hour and a half of phone chat once a week. It all boiled down to about four minutes as her voice was muffled and weak.

“I feel bad. My lungs hurt. Notice that I was in Michel’s talk with the coaching staff, but they had very strong air conditioning. He didn’t want to interrupt, because it was a scolding he was giving his people.

“I beckoned to a boy who was walking around, but he couldn’t turn him off. No way anymore, ”he said and promised to be in better spirits the following days and continue the talk.

After January 24, 2011 there was no compensation time. ‘Panchito’ waved his hand on another pitch.

External sources: Author’s columns in El Heraldo de México, MedioTiempo.com, ESPN and Fan Data from CID Consultoría

Who is it Hector Quispe?

Journalist and consultant. He runs CID Consultoría, a house of solutions in figures and content focused on the fan and their identity; He is an MBA in Direction and Management of Sports Entities, from the European University of Madrid; He has a specialty in Sports Journalism from the Press and Democracy Program of the Universidad Iberoamericana. He coordinates the Diploma in Digital Sports Journalism at the Carlos Septién García School, and teaches classes in Marketing and Communication for Sports Brands, at the Universidad Anáhuac. His analysis is consulted by different media around business and sports: Playboy Latam, Red Forbes, MedioTiempo, Expansión, El País, Fox News, Telemundo, Televisa: Noticieros, Foro TV and TUDN, among others. He is co-author of the book “How to do Sports Journalism. An Ibero-American vision ”, and publishes this column every Thursday on the multiplatform of Indigo Report.

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