Athletic’s farewell gift to Valverde includes tribute to Jonan | OneFootball

Ernesto Valverde marked a poignant final outing as Athletic coach at San Mamés, with the club presenting a farewell gift that also honoured his late friend Jonan Ordorika.

According to El Correo, Valverde said in his press conference there would not, in principle, be a fourth spell in the dugout. After the match against Celta he was led to the coaches’ dressing room, where José Ángel Iribar joined staff including Mikel González, Aitor Iru and Alberto Iglesias, for the surprise captured in a video of just under two minutes. It was a tribute to the coach who has overseen the most games in the club’s history.

Before the 2023-24 season Valverde lost close friend Jonan, brother of singer-songwriter Ruper Ordorika, who died in August 2023. Valverde remembered him when he reached 500 top-flight matches, and during Copa del Rey celebrations on 11 April 2024 he rode the gabarra wearing a shirt in Jonan’s memory.

Ruper presented the gift, an electric guitar, a red and white Stratocaster bearing a Basque inscription, “Athleticen partez, gure bihotzetan betirako”. The club’s gloss was that it was from Athletic, to keep him always in their hearts.

The moment also nodded to Valverde’s passions beyond football, photography and music, and his occasional gigs with friends. He recalled that Jonan had been the first person from whom he commissioned a guitar, to warm applause. When Ruper joked the present was for making music until the next project and a return to San Mamés and Lezama, Valverde, who had already said he would not coach for a while, cut him off with a smile.

Source: El Correo