MADRID: Jose Mourinho is to leave Real Madrid after three turbulent seasons and without achieving the one major target for which he was contracted: to win what would have been the club’s record-extending 10th Champions League Cup title writes KEIR RADNEDGE.
Confirmation of the 50-year-old’s departure at the end of the Liga season on June 2came this evening from president Florentino Perez after a board meeting at the Estadio Bernabeu. The last straw had been the 2-1 defeat by neighbours Atletico in Real’s own fortress in last Friday’s Spanish cup final.
Perez told a press conference that a mutually-agreed parting of the ways had been signed and sealed although Mourinho had three years to run on his extended contract.
“No-one has been sacked, this has been mutually agreed,” said Perez. “It’s not ideal that he should be going but after three years we both came to the conclusion that this was the moment for a parting of the ways.
Pressure point
“It’s the right time to start a new era. There is no question of any financial compensation. Mourinho is the coach who has lasted longer than anyone else in the Primera. To see out three years is not easy, particularly in an institution with as much pressure as this one.”
In three years the Special One had won the Spanish league in 2011, the cup and supercup in 2012. He has labelled this past season as the worst of his top-flight career and is now free to move on with Chelsea favourites to lure him back to Stamford Bridge.
Ancelotti will be the second Italian coach in Madrid’s 111-year history after Fabio Capello who two Spanish league titles during his two stints in charge. The former Milan and Chelsea boss will also be the ninth coach in the presidential reigns of millionaire developer Florentino Perez.
Vicente Del Bosque was already in charge when Perez took over. He was also the most successful of the eight, winning seven titles in his 1,031 days in charge.
Next came Portuguese Carlos Queiroz who lasted 273 days and won the Spanish Supercup, He was followed by the short-tempered Jose Antonio Camacho who walked out on the club he had served loyally as player after only 20 days.
Former goalkeeper Mariano Garcia Remon – known as the ‘Odessa Cat’ from his playing days – stepped up as caretaker for three months before Madrid gambled on Brazilian Vanderlei Luxemburgo. He started in January 2005 and was sacked in the December without having won anything.
Transfer strategy
Caretaker this time was Juan Ramon López Caro, previously boss of lower division nursery club Castilla. He lasted six months before being superceded by Chilean Manuel Pellegrini who fell out with Perez over transfer strategy.
Next came the Special One who succeeded in snapping the domestic command of Barcelona but with a personal style and style of football which arousd the ire of both the media and a significant section of fans during his 1,007 days. Three trophies were not enough to make up for the one which escaped him.
In the end a majority of the fans took sides with goalkeeper-captain Iker Casillas who was considered the leader of dressing-room unrest and was dropped by Mourinho. Casillas and Spain defender Sergio Ramos were reported to have urged Perez to sack Mourinho in midseason.
The controversy surrounding the cup final defeat was exacerbated by a storm sparked by the fact that Mourinho, who had been sent off, did not accompany his team during the medals presentation by King Juan Carlos and Spanish federation president Angel Maria Villar.
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