Toni Jimenez relishing Girona return

Saturday’s pre-season friendly against Girona will bring back fond memories for goalkeeping coach Toni Jiménez, as he returns to the club where his coaching career began.

After initial early spells working behind the scenes at Girona and his first club, EC Granollers, former stopper Toni spent more than two years in the Catalan city coaching the keepers at ‘Blanquivermell’ before he was invited to join the coaching staff at Espanyol by Mauricio Pochettino in 2011.

“It was my first job as a goalkeeper coach,” Toni recalled. “I was there for two-and-a-half years. It was a lovely experience but it was hard because in my first season we made ourselves safe on the final day in the last minute of extra time. It was amazing. Then Mauricio called me to work with him at Espanyol and I’ve been with him until now.”

Espanyol had been one of several Spanish sides that Toni represented during his playing career before he hung up his boots in 2004. Toni was determined, however, to get back into the professional game and the chance to start his coaching career at Girona was a key opportunity for him.

“For me it was very important because from finishing my career, for three or four years I wasn’t working within professional football,” Toni said.

“To start again inside the game for me was very important because the atmosphere and situations within the professional game, I live for.”

The transition into coaching did not seem to faze Toni, with our likeable staff member joking that the biggest difference between playing and coaching was just the amount of goals he conceded!

“The biggest difference was I did not concede any more goals!” Toni smiled. “Actually, that’s not true because when your team, your keeper concedes, you feel that. We work with a lot of passion and we try to transmit that passion. Our keepers have a lot of passion. They love their club and their football.”

Saturday’s trip to Girona will mark the culmination of our pre-season fixtures and Toni believes that the game will provide a good test for both clubs.

“For now, for Girona, it is amazing to be in La Liga. Girona is a great and beautiful city but it’s difficult for the football club to achieve that success. I think the city deserves this situation because it is a very, very good place,” he said.

“For us, when you play away, you need to have a lot of focus because the atmosphere won’t be the best for you. Whenever we play away, we always have very good support in the Premier League. I think the quality and level of Girona in La Liga is very good for our preparation.”