Everything indicates that the "Mourinho era" at Real Madrid has come to its end. Scorched earth some claim, a created disaster area like a recently passed Hurricane. The "Special One" came to put back the glory back onto Real Madrid & will leave with only a Spanish Cup, Liga & Spanish SuperCup title. Not bad at all for any other Club, but not with Real Madrid that measures success with Champions Leagues titles, none with Mourinho, only three straight semi-finals. This can be debated elsewhere.
The Spanish Cup Final was the "last straw" for many, with a loss & thus a dry season of no titles, a "rude" non-appearance to pick up the runners-up plate in front of the King of Spain, a divided dressing room with player rebellions & a "media war", all further darkening the image of the Club again. I say again because there has been a long string of infamous acts in the last three years with "Mou" ( eye poking Barça Vilanova for example) that have blemished the Club & its History; all in the name of victories, knocking off FC Barcelona & attempting the desired 10th Champions League title. All was fair in war...but why not now?Everyone blames Mourinho, but what about the Club President that hired him? That same Real Madrid President Florentino Perez that said publicly ..."Mourinho is the Best Coach in the World, a Coach that represents that values of Real Madrid months back?
Today, local media speculate that the Club may actually announce the sacking of Mourinho this Monday or Tuesday. Others say that Mourinho will carry on until the last two Liga matches before announcing a mutual goodbye. Some players will pop Champagne corks along with their allied media partners which have worked so hard to "crush Mourinho", but again, what about the President of Real Madrid? Squeaky clean Florentino Perez , is about to face Club Presidential re-election without opponents. How is this possible under such "devastating" institutional Club turmoil?
Here is my humble theory.
Mourinho let known to President Florentino Perez early this year that he would leave. Both then made a "secret pact" of, you rub my back & I´ll rub your back. President Florentino Perez with Presidential elections in June had to avoid at all costs being seen as the "bad guy" & thus "suggested" to Mourinho the he become his protective shield, "the public bad guy" in case of a non title season. Accepting this role Real Madrid would facilitate the departure for Mourinho without much drama & if in the course Mourinho would have won a title, better for him as he could leave with some pride & honour. Although the last was not possible Mourinho continues with his "Oscar performing role" to shield the President of Real Madrid Florentino Perez.
How do you become the bad guy overnight? How do you make things so to ease the decision to leave or even sacking? You turn against a local idiol, the Spanish International Captain & Real Madrid goalkeeper Iker Casillas. This & add Cristiano Ronaldo in the equation who is the masthead of the Club & all the fans. Add the ingredients of some "non appearances" in front of a King , a red card to stay off the bench in coming games, & you have a tsunami that has levelled the Club & the public claiming his head. Its simple.
The Iker Casillas affair will one day see the true light. There are rumours that Casillas was a "supergrass" to the press wanting to "destabilize" his Coach which is unacceptable & unprofessional, if this is true it is correct to punish & I would go further to say leave the Club. Plus the goalkeeper was failing in form so he needed to be motivated. Cristiano Ronaldo gave two "shits" at the start of the season for Real Madrid with his "I am sad" comments as he - if correct as speculated - wished to leave the Club & go to Paris St Germain & thus had his head elsewhere which lowered his performance. Sergio Ramos was simply playing bad Football & was part of the blame in important defeats in Liga, the man needed a "serious call & notice". The local media which had been "rubbed up the wrong way" since the arrival of Mourinho now had the fuel needed to build an anti-Mourinho campaign & thus finally served their revenge. But is Mourinho really the blame for everything ? If Mourinho was so bad & damaging why did not the President of the Club take action earlier?
Mourinho will go & another Coach will arrive. If things goes well & important players are´nt messed with, everything OK, but if things go bad the players will again dictate the future & affairs of the Club. Yes, the players. Club Presidents as politicians work to stay in power & make sure that the "shit" flys off to hit others. Club Presidents are always "squeaky clean" & very popular.
Presidential election time coming up soon at Real Madrid & that means lots of promises & fanfare. Today Spanish Sports paper "AS" talks about current President Florentino Perez & his long-time desire to make the team more "Spanish", that is, less foreign players & more local product. Its an idea that comes up every election time & never really gets done.
This time around Perez has in mind a couple of local material names for next season. The first is 20 year old ISCO of Malaga FC, the pearl of Spanish Football, plus recoup 21 year old right-wing defender Carvajal currently at Bayern Laverkusen.
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| Isco: Malaga FC |
With the latter, why did he leave originally? In fact many home-grown talents have had to leave the Club of their lives to latter return & play: Arbeloa, Diego Lopez, Granero are just a few. In the case of Isco, what about inhouse youngsters like Morata, Jose Rodriguez, Jese etc. , whom are given little time or opportunities?
It´s a great idea to give Real Madrid a more Spanish flavour, but I don´t believe it. Heard it all before & the idea never gets put into practice. The "foreign Coach" at the realm nearly always opts for the International composition & leaves the local product "sucking bench" & eventually leaving. Its the characteristic of this Club called Real Madrid, that all the great World players end up playing at the Club ( like Barcelona ) & not always the "Best Spanish players".
Election promises & marketing. Its sound great but Real Madrid fans don't get too excited about it all.
REAL MADRID will celebrate Presidental Club elections in June. The current President Florentino Perez is known to base his campaigns with the promise of bringing over big time actual names. Spanish Sports daily based in Barcelona "Sport" reports that there are three names on the Florentino Perez campaign bill: CAVANI, DAVID SILVA & GARETH BALE.
All three names had been sounding on & off for months & some seasons now, eg David Silva.
This & the persistent rumour that Coach Jose Mourinho will leave the 30th of June give readers an insight into the possible new looking REAL MADRID for next season. However, the history of Florentino Perez indicates that his bets are even higher than most & his winning strategy is to explode into the hearts of the Real Madrid voting members with a "Galatic" signing.
There are few "Galacticos" on the market that are not already secured by their current Clubs: Messi & Iniseta ( FC Barcelona ) , Falcao ( At Madrid ), Rooney (Man United) , Aguero ( Man City ) ...& Neymar ( Santos) . I would not discount either Falcao or Neymar joining the list of the three players already mentioned.
In reference to Neymar, it is a done deal that FC Barcelona has a pre-agreement & the Brazilian will most likely end up at the Spanish Football Club. But Neymar has a history of changing his mind & his inner circle do like the money, so Real Madrid with Florentino Perez at the forefront may make another last attempt to convince Neymar & thus unable him to deliver his election bomb.
Stay tuned!
As predicated & expected, candidate SANDRO ROSELL (pictured) has won the FC BARCELONA Presidential Club elections by a landslide. With 100 % of the votes counted 61% has voted Rosell with candidate Benedito coming in second with 14 %.
The chart below shows the final voting results:
The note here is that the candidate of outgoing President Laporta - Ferrer - finished last in the voting. This indicates that the most successful President in the history of FC Barcelona titles wise was also one of the most unpopular. A paradox indeed.
Sports daily "Mundo Deportivo" gives us this cartoon of the 4 candidates of which FC BARCELONA Club members are called today onto the ballots to choose who will be their next Club President.
From left to right : hot favourite Sandro Rosell, Marc Ingla, outgoing Laporta favoured-man Jaume Ferrer & Agustí Benedito.
The election campaign has been "dirty" & at times personal as each candidate lacked the "signing factor" to base their arguements. This time around there are no big player signing promises & this has had the affect of concentrating the debate & attacks on the actual candidates in order to allow each to differentiate themselves from the other. Candiadte Sando Rosell is the hot favourite but the "dark horse" is Benedito who is seen as identifying closer with the "common base" as Rosell´s excellent personal relationship with Real Madrid President Florentino Perez could take away some votes.
Stay tuned, Barça fans, the new FC BARCELONA President will be known tonight.
