REAL MADRID | CRISIS - ONCE AGAIN

Real Madrid was run over last Saturday by FC Barcelona 0 - 4 in "El Clasico" & as expected its the end of the World for the former. The backlash has been so intense that President Florentino Perez has had to come out this afternoon in a press conference to back his Coach Rafael Benitez who has been hammered. The nasty rumour is that the dressing room has no faith in their Coach & desire that Benitez be "pushed aside", with Cristiano Ronaldo apparently one of leading callers.  The Portuguese player is also thinking elsewhere for next season & Benitez could be helping with his decision.

With these last claims there is no evidential truth, but media insiders say that its common knowledge in the "inner circles". President Florentino Perez has had to put out fires announcing his full support for Benitez. But we have seen this before, last year when Perez gave full support to Ancelotti when under fire he then sacked him later. 

The Real Madrid President has again put the blame this afternoon on the media, "which is out to get him". Sounds too familiar, its an old tactic to cover the numerous Football decision which have turned out to be mistakes. No one doubts that Florentino Perez is an expert business & finance man & has turned Real Madrid into the Worlds Richest Club, but he has no idea about Football. His period as Real Madrid President (2 periods) are full of big mistakes:

• letting go of Makelele ,
• letting go of Seedrof ,
• sacking Coach Vicente del Bosque,
• Signing Kaka...others, 
• Signing Luxemburg, Pellegrini,...others,  
• Not signing Luis Suarez, not good enough according to him,
• Sacking Carlo Ancelotti,
• PERHAPS - signing Rafael Benitez.

These are just a few in a long list of poor decisions.

What about Benitez? Like all Coaches it will depend if he can maintain victories. Winning is the only guarantee, not the hallow words of a President with doubtful credibility & at the whim of maintaining himself in power. The hard fact is that not only has FC Barcelona smashed Real Madrid last Saturday, Barça has been running over Real Madrid the last 10 years.

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FC BARCELONA IN CRISIS? WINNING WILL SOLVE THINGS

In Sport the defeat accentuates & distorts reality & also the emotional states of those who follow. Football is an emotionally charged Sport that runs smoothly with victory & goes off the "reality rails" with defeats. Spanish Football Club FC Barcelona has entered this week a "parallel Universe" of blackness, pessimism & doom. If three
weeks ago the Club was steaming ahead for titles & record breaking events, & their Coach Luis Enrique was the correct man to Captain the ship, today there is doubt, unease & Coach Luis Enrique is questioned. So what happened? What is going on?

There is no doubt that winning is the glue that keeps everything together & in order; it is the essence of tolerance, confidence & faith. The two straight loses, the first in Liga at the hands of arch rival Real Madrid, has disrupted things, set the Barça ship of course & worst, let loose a chain reaction of criticism from media, & apparently from the dressing room. This last is the most concerning, the most worrying as it exhibits a possible malfunction in the main engine. Spanish Sports media has today published some disturbing news about internal dressing room problems between Coach Luis Enrique & his players. To add credibility, it is not just Madrid based press, like "AS", but also the Barcelona based press like "Sport" & "Mundo Deportivo" which collaborates published events. 

To summarize, it is reported that:

• there is a "riff" between Football Director Zubizarreta & Coach Luis Enrique. The former does not understand the line-ups & team on-field attitude, while the latter reminds the former that he has not the players he asked for pre-season,
• there is a "situation" between Coach Luis Enrique & defender Gerard Pique. This is a political power play situation that could have serious consequences if not managed right. The defender had issues with Guardiola, & his off field profile does not help while his current form is below expected. All this has both “trains” on a collision course,
• dressing room conversations have been filtered to the press. The "informer" comments that the players do not understand their Coach on-field set up, that they went into the Real Madrid Liga match unprepared & that Luis Enrique does not speak to his squad. The news published in "AS" says that the players believe that their Coach may have a personal grudge with some players,
• Luis Suarez starting in the line-ups has upset some, his spot leaves out players like Pedro & young sensation Munir loved by fans. Some believe Suarez has not the form or physical rhythm to be a starter. Added to this the Ratikic today, Xavi tomorrow line-ups has some bewildered,  
• some see - Club Directives - the hard hand attitude from Luis Enrique as counter-productive, while others think that his authority was discredited after he asked Messi to be substituted & Messi told him no, he continued to play forcing Luis Enrique to change plans,

The list could go on with more points, but I have only highlighted the most significant. The string of defeats has opened up a can of worms, & there has only been two losses (not counting the PSG loss in Champions) & still its relatively early on in the season. Just highlights & reinforces how things quickly change in Football & how everyone see things that were not there or important before.

However, said this, it is important that Luis Enrique manage things correctly this week, & most importantly win in next Wednesdays Champions League game against Ajax. The above "conflicts" if true are to worrying about, especially if there is an "insider" filtering to the press (worst if a player), something to root out as soon as possible. Lastly, the apparent power struggles & conflicts in the dressing room could "destroy" the Barça season if not solved. The last similar example happened with rival Real Madrid in the last season with Jose Mourinho, the players-Coach riff, nearly ripped the Club. 

The remedy is simple & crystal clear, win games. Football operates in cycles & it is Barça´s turn now as it was the turn of Real Madrid 3 weeks back.  Winning will fix everything, it always does. Lets hope for FC Barcelona & supporters that there is not more behind the scenes that meets the eyes, no players plot in the Shakespearean sense to rid their Coach. It may sound theatre but it has happen before, it’s another power struggle solution for the good of the Club.   

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REAL MADRID PRESIDENT LIKELY TO RESIGN OVER SCANDALS & CORRUPTION

The shit hit the fan & on REAL MADRID President RAMON
CALDERON´s face. The apparent scandals, favourtism & corruption
that have been brought out to the public eye - specially by Spanish Sports
paper "Marca" - is so heavy with evidence that it is speculated that
Calderon will announce tomorrow his resignation from the Presidency.
Having said this, Calderon is still saying he is not moving, unless his
Board force him too, & this is what the press tonight speculate that the
Real Madrid Board will do tomorrow: force it´s President to resign.

Spanish Football & Sports made the comment of the scandals here
a few days ago - go down the posts & see - with serious accusations
of corruption & commissions. However, the straw that broke the camels
back was the voting of the Clubs 2009 Budget last December 2008 were
evidence supports that Calderon & his "men" brought in false non- Real
Madrid members into the Clubs assembly to assure that he won the
voting on for his 2009 Budget. People were seen voting who are not part
of the Club & without rights that allied with Calderon, something he has
denied all this week alleging he does´nt even know them at all.

False! Marca has published photos of the false Real Madrid members
with Calderon family members & with the actual President.
























With the heat burning on his ass, Calderon has called an
extraordinary morning meeting tomorrow of his 12 team directive
Board where media speculate tonight that he will announce his resignation.
Papers like "Marca, AS, El Mundo..." say his own Directive team
has forced the situation threathening to resign in block if he does´nt
go. The fact is that the evidence has mounted up so much that it
makes it nearly impossible for Calderon to stay & a Club of Real
Madrid´s status cannot withstand such scandals any longer.

It´s cited that the current Vice- President VICENTE BOLUDA will
take over & later decide if the current team continues onto the due
election date in 2010, or anticipate the elections for this year.

It is hotly rumoured that ex-President FLORENTINO PEREZ will
run again & try to comeback as the "new messiah". The rumours are
that he & his team have been working in the shadows & say that they
may have tied for next year CRISTIANO RONALDO & /or KAKA.

Deep shit, huge CRISIS at this moment & a more than likely resignation
by President Calderon tomorrow. Stay tuned & see what happens. Will
he stay against all Clubs desires or resign as speculated? Tweet

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THE REAL MADRID CRISIS 2008: THE REASONS

The Barcelona based daily “Sport” run an article today on the main
factors that have lead to the REAL MADRID Crisis. The fact that it
comes from “Barcelona” gives the reader a clearer & more insightful
analysis than a “Madrid” based daily as the latter is influenced by the
Real Madrid gravitational pull.

Here are their reasons:

1.Disuniting in the Real Madrid dressing room: The accumulation of
“stars” creates friction & the “scared cows” ( Raul, Guti, Casillas…)

influence Club decisions, including "indirectly" line-ups.

2.Bad Summer Planning: Real put all its “eggs in one basket”, the Ronaldo
Cristiano basket. When the player announced he would stay at Manchester
Utd it was too late to react.

3.Bad physical preparation: this is a cause of the numerous important
injuries up till now (Van Nistelrooy, Diarra, Higuain...)

4.No confidence in their youth sides: Real rely on “outside players” not
in their in-house youngsters.

5.The top level directive power struggles: Football Director Pedga Mijatovic
vs Miguel Angel Portugal. Both destabilize the President Calderon, plus
have zero communication between them.

6.An angry social & fan base: demanded change

7. Bernd Schuster decided to “leave the ship”: He auto excluded himself
when he realized that the Club wasn’t 100% behind him (didn’t adhere
to his petitions). Apparently, Real Madrid were talking with Juande Ramos
4 weeks ago & Schuster knew it.

8.The shadow of Ex-President Florentino Perez: it’s rumoured that
Florentino Perez is waiting for the right moment to return as the
“messiah”. His strategy of "Crisis building" is destabilizing the Club.

As we can see, the Club is in REAL deep shit. It’s going to take a lot of hard
work from new Coach Juande Ramos, a few high spending transfers with the
accompanying economic deterioration & plenty of luck to keep this ship
afloat.

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