Mistakes were made last season, but memories of Mark Viduka and Mateusz Klich’s Leeds United renaissance have kept Victor Orta driving on.
The director of football’s first season at Elland Road ended in a disappointing 13th place, after which he weighed up his future in West Yorkshire.
However, the history of the Whites, his memories of matches such as those against Deportivo La Coruna, and sheer belief in this project helped Orta resist Spanish offers.
Orta can think of nothing worse than stepping away from United and watching their promotion from afar, without his input.
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“Last season, for me, the situation is leave because things don’t go really well, but I don’t want to defend last season,” he told Sky Bet.
“I made a lot of mistakes too, but we are creating a fun that is difficult for the fans to understand.
“And I understand because the results are the results.
“We are working in football and I need to understand this, but this fun, for example Mateusz Klich, that was last season more than criticised and now is more perhaps top-three favourite player and I understand the fans.
“They complain (about) me all the time I made mistakes. Again, I have offers to go back to Spain and I say no.
“I spoke to wife about this and she said ‘Victor, don’t be stupid. If you believe in what you are making, don’t stay in Spain watching Leeds United promoted and you are away’.
“I said ‘Wow, it’s true’.
Discussing why he came to United in the first place, Orta reflected on past memories of the Whites in Europe, Viduka at Real Madrid and, of course, the famous tie with Deportivo.
“My decision, the first is about history, about the feeling of putting this team at its real level.” he said.
“Obviously, the board convinced me and I have options to go back to Spain, but when you hear Leeds United, I hear Viduka, I hear the spirit, in my mind I am watching him playing in the Bernabeu, the amazing game versus Deportivo La Coruna here.
“I grow with this team. Valencia semi-final. I grow with this team in my life.
“When I start to know the history about the club in the 60s, in the 70s, the power of this is a challenge you say ‘wow’.
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“I’m really proud to say I always work in these kind of clubs if I have the option.
“When this club calls you, you need to listen and this is the circumstance and they convinced me to arrive at the project.”
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