Real Madrid: Who is in for the ‘White’ throne?

There have been seven changes at FC Porto, eight changes at Chelsea and five changes at Intenazionale – these are the changes in managers since Jose ‘The Special One’ Mourinho resigned as manager at all of the three clubs. Internazionale has won zero league titles and Chelsea has won one league title since Mourinho left the respective clubs. Hence today, Real Madrid are in similar turmoil as Porto were in 2004, Chelsea in 2007 and Internazionale in 2010. It is important for Real Madrid to not only think what is next, but more importantly, who is next.

Mourinho is a manager who needs criticism as much as he needs appreciation to be ‘The Special One’, as the world knows him today. No manager takes more criticism for his style of play or his outbursts or the way he handles the media like Mourinho does. Mourinho leaves behind fans that might hate him but cannot control themselves from loving him for what he does for their club and what he gives to the club. Mourinho leaves behind a squad which is so competitive that if they are not wearing the same colour, they might turn into their biggest enemies. So let’s try looking into what kind of new manager we need by looking into what all he needs to fight in order to be successful at Santago Bernabeu.

Meet the expectation

Mourinho will be a big disaster at Real Madrid keeping in mind he is a defensive minded player taking over a team consisting of Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema, Gonzalo Higuain, Kaka and Mesut Ozil – this is what was said when he signed for us in 2010. With Real Madrid accepting the tactics of ‘defence is the best form of attack’ and scoring 100 plus goals in three consecutive seasons under Mourinho, those critics are right now hiding under their blankets. With the past three seasons, Mourinho has raised the expectation of not only the board at Bernabeu but also the whole family of Madridistas around the world. In football, if there is anything harsher than Roman Abramovich’ decisions, then it has to be the expectations of the fans of the most successful club in Europe. If the new manager is able to handle this pressure of expectation, then he will also have the opportunity to write his name in the history books by becoming the manager who brought ‘La Decima’ (the coveted 10th European title) to the home of Los Merengues.

It is ok to love

Mourinho, at all the clubs he has managed, has been successful in inculcating his fighting and competitive spirit into all his squad players. This surely has some drawbacks, but at the same time brought the best out of all the Real Madrid players. Even though most of us will think that it was wrong to bench Iker Casillas, but it also made it possible for Diego Lopez to fulfil his successful transition from the bench of Sevilla FC to being the custodian of Real Madrid’ goal. Even though there might have been many success stories when it comes to this in-team competitive spirit, I still feel the new manager will need to remind the squad that it is ok for you to sometimes love your fellow team mates and let the reduced competitive spirit be fulfilled by the Santiago Bernabeu faithful (except when we play Barcelona).

Make those beyond the football field believe

One thing that made Mourinho successful enough at Real Madrid was to keep President Perez, the board members and the fans happy (even at the cost of Jorge Valdano). The new manager needs to continue this trend if he expects to get a good transfer kitty and also enough time to prove himself, as I do believe irrespective of how good a manager is, all of them do need time to put in their system into the team. One of the things that earned Mourinho extra happiness points was his way of handling the media. No doubt, there cannot be another manager who loves the media spotlight like Mourinho does (I am sure same must have been said when Brian Clough was still in business) but the new manager needs to continue being the shield for his team when it comes to handling media pressure.

Handle the young ones well

We consider Raphael Varane, Zinedine Zidane’s retirement gift to Real Madrid but his success at Real Madrid is all thanks to Jose Mourinho. The new manager will have to make sure the growth of young players at Real Madrid is not hampered, and Varane is not the end of the list. Players like Morata, Jese and Casemiro should be given enough opportunity to become great players with the potential they have and at Real Madrid, and not at Valencia, Sevilla, Getafe or more recently at Leverkusen.

Continue with the principle of ‘team player first stars after that’

Real Madrid needs to continue having mangers with strong character. We don’t need sponge holding up the temperature controlled seats in Real Madrid dugout. We need rock solid managers in that post, and that is exactly what Real Madrid got when we signed Mourinho. When a team has players like Pepe, Ronaldo, Ozil, Casillas and Ramos who are established stars on the international stage, you need a manager who will make sure that they are reminded about playing for the team first and then playing for individual honours. Sir Alex Ferguson didn’t become the greatest manager in the world just by cuddling his players or being fairy god father for his players; he also needed a ‘hair dryer’ to keep things right in his dressing room.

Defeating Barcelona is the best trend

Nothing makes Madridistas happier than defeating their not-so-friendly rivals, Barcelona. Mourinho not only took the La Liga title away from Barcelona (even if it was for a season) but also brought back the confidence to defeat Barcelona, which seemed lost for a long-long time. The new manager needs to keep in mind the loyal faithful of Real Madrid might forgive you for losing the La Liga title but a loss to Barcelona is never forgotten at Santiago Bernabeu.

The above mentioned requirements for a new manager might be difficult to be found in one manager, but a manager fulfilling four of the above requirements (including defeating Barcelona) can make him successful at the hot seat. Frankly speaking, if the new manager is not ready to accept that he would be taking over a very successful manager of the modern era and is not ready to learn, I am sorry fellow Madridistas, we are in for a bumpy ride.