The president’s man
YOU could probably come up with a list of reasons as long as your arm for why Zinedine Zidane was the wrong appointment to manage Real Madrid. He had a whole 18 months of managerial experience, most of it unimpressive, for Real Madrid’s B-team, plus another year as one of Carlo Ancelotti’s assistants on the first team.
After retirement in 2006, he showed little interest in coaching, spending a few years out of football entirely and then filling advisory and ambassadorial jobs, most of them at the behest of Real president Florentino Perez.
That suggested the Madrid supremo had appointed the ultimate “yes man”.
He had serious anger management issues as a player, evidenced by the fact that he collected 15 red cards in his career, the most notorious of course in the 2006 World Cup final.
He was introverted, quiet and softspoken, qualities that don’t generally fit with what is probably the most high pressure and political job in football.
The three men before him – Ancelotti, Jose Mourinho and Rafa Benitez – had won six Champions League titles between them and are among the greatest managers ever. They were all cut loose by the club.
What on earth could persuade anyone that Zidane could fill those shoes? Hadn’t we all witnessed what happens when legendary former players get thrust into top jobs? Weren’t we all sure that you needed a track record and experience and that a mere football pedigree didn’t make you a good leader of men?
Wasn’t this just another example of Florentino’s obsession with celebrity and Galactico status?
Well, so much for those theories, eh?
Zidane has accumulated more points per game than any manager in the history of Real Madrid, among those who have been in charge for more than a season.
He won the Champions League last season, La Liga this season and, Saturday night in Cardiff, could make Real Madrid the first back-to-back European champions since the great Milan side of the late 1980s.
Earlier this season I asked Ancelotti whether he was surprised by Zidane’s success.
“No, though I can see why others are,” he said. “Real Madrid is not like other clubs. The key to being successful there is the relationship with the players and the ability to structure a training session in such a way that you get your message across credibly and the players are receptive to it.
“You can only do that if they respect you. Zizou, because of the player he was and the fact he’s been there since 2001, commands that respect and enjoys those relationships in a way that, perhaps, Rafa Benitez, who had to start from scratch and only had a short time, did not, at least initially.
“But it’s not just a case of being liked and respected. You need to be able to teach and communicate. Some might have been surprised he’s done it so well, but he’s very charismatic, he’s been in a dressing room all his life and he knows these players and what they respond to.”
But what about experience? Tactical knowledge? Understanding of the game? Doesn’t that matter?
“It does, but at Real Madrid, it’s probably secondary,” Ancelotti adds. “Benitez had a lot more knowledge and experience than Zidane. But it’s not as if Zidane doesn’t know football. And I think sometimes the experiences elsewhere are maybe a little less valuable than the experience you gain at Madrid in a lesser role.”
Ancelotti’s point is that working at Real Madrid is different to working elsewhere, perhaps even at other massive clubs. You play every single game as a favourite (just about) and 95 per cent of them as overwhelming favourites, because you have far better players than almost anyone you will face.
The challenge is putting the players centre stage and giving them a light framework in which to operate. If you can do that, and they are fit and happy, you have done your job. They will take over from there. This is not a club – at least in its current incarnation – for tactical gurus.
This is not to minimise Zidane’s work in any way. He has made big decisions of the kind that previous managers have been reluctant to do. James Rodriguez, Florentino’s megasigning in 2014, has seen his playing time diminish year-on-year.
Ancelotti and Benitez, perhaps, felt they had to play him. Zidane has had no compunction about relegating him to the fourth or fifth option off the bench, behind the likes of Marco Asensio and Lucas Vazquez, less glamorous, but more effective, options.
Equally, he has stuck resolutely by Casemiro, the no-frills defensive midfielder who did not appear “box office” enough for the president and who Benitez only used sparingly as a result.
Zidane has proven the sceptics wrong and Florentino right. And by this time next week, he may have made history… again. The question will remain of whether he’s a great manager for Real Madrid or whether he’s a great manager, full stop. But in many ways, it doesn’t really matter.
IT is a sign of the times. Nobody likes rich people paying less than their fair share of taxes. And the easiest way for the authorities to gain consensus is to go after celebrity tax evaders.
Last week Spain’s Supreme Court turned down Lionel Messi’s final appeal in his £3.5 million tax fraud case.
He will need to pay that back, plus a £2.1 million fine. He was also jailed for 21 months, though he almost certainly won’t go into custody because, in Spain, sentences for non-violent first-time offender crimes are generally automatically suspended.
And on Friday it emerged that Cristiano Ronaldo had also fallen foul of the Spanish tax man, following the “Football Leaks” revelations.
In 2014, he tried to settle a tax dispute by paying £4.4m in back taxes. But the Spanish tax office suggest his bill should have been three times that. They want him to face criminal charges.
The knee-jerk reaction is universal condemnation of the mega-rich. And, rightly so. But it is also worth noting that it’s not as if Messi and Ronaldo dreamed up complicated off-shore structures to lessen their tax bill.
They did what everybody does. They paid nerdy accountants and tax lawyers a lot of money to pay the minimum they could get away with. And then they signed on the dotted line.
They still bear responsibility, of course. But the real problem is the jungle of loopholes, contradictory fiscal regulations and “grey areas” that all tax codes are riddled with.