Zidane aims dig at Florentino Perez
Zinedine Zidane recently resigned from his post as the Real Madrid manager, and the Frenchman has now sent out an open letter to the fans reflecting on his decision.
The former Real Madrid manager hinted that he wasn’t happy with his relationship with the club hierarchy over the last few months.
Apparently, Zidane was disappointed with the deliberate media leaks throughout the season when his team was struggling. There were several reports claiming that the Frenchman could be sacked if the team’s performances do not improve.
According to him, those reports affected the morale of the squad negatively.
Zidane’s open letter hints that the leaks were initiated by the club hierarchy, and he has urged the club to value human relationships more going forward.
The Frenchman also revealed to the fans that the players did their best this past season despite failing to win major trophies. He also claims that the club does not have faith in him to lead the side, and therefore he has decided to walk away.
It seems that the former Real Madrid midfielder’s open letter is a veiled dig at the club president Florentino Perez and it will be interesting to see how the fans react to this.
Perez is already under a lot of pressure because of the financial stress at the club and the way his plans for the European Super League fell apart.
Zidane is undoubtedly one of the most successful managers in Real Madrid’s history, and it will be interesting to see if the club president can bring in a quality replacement who can deliver trophies next season.
De Bosque backs Zidane
Meanwhile, former Real Madrid manager and the Spanish national team coach Vicente Del Bosque has claimed that Zidane has handled his departure with grace and dignity.
His open letter has caused controversy, but Del Bosque believes that it is a matter of interpretation and that the Frenchman has always been a good representative of the club.
“He did it well, with good taste,” said Del Bosque about Zidane’s letter.
“I’m sure you have to read between the lines, but he’s proven himself a Madridista.
“He has always been a good representative of Real Madrid, doing so with elegance and representing the badge in the best way possible.”
Zinedine Zidane’s open letter in full
Dear Real Madrid fans.
For more than 20 years, from the first day I arrived in Madrid and wore the white shirt, you’ve shown me your love. I’ve always felt that there was something very special between us. I’ve had the huge honour of being a player and the coach of the greatest club in history, but above all, I’m just another Real Madrid fan. For all these reasons I wanted to write this letter, to say goodbye to you and explain my decision to leave the coaching job.
When, in March 2019, I accepted the offer to return to Real Madrid after a break of eight months, it was, of course, because president Florentino Perez asked me, but also because all of you asked me every day to do so. When I met any of you in the street, I felt your support and the desire to see me with the team again. Because I share the values of Real Madrid, this club belongs to its members, its fans and the entire world. I’ve tried to follow these values in everything I have done, and I’ve tried to be an example.
Being at Real Madrid for 20 years is the most beautiful thing that’s happened to me in my life, and I know I owe that entirely to the fact Florentino Perez backed me in 2001, he fought to get me, to bring me here when some people were against it. I say it from the heart when I say that I will always be grateful to the president for that. Always.
I have now decided to leave, and I want to properly explain the reasons. I’m going, but I’m not jumping ship, nor am I tired of coaching. In May 2018, I left because, after two and a half years, with so many victories and so many trophies, I felt the team needed a new approach to stay at the very highest level. Right now, things are different. I’m leaving because I feel the club no longer has faith in me that I need, nor the support to build something in the medium or long term.
I understand football, and I know the demands of a club like Real Madrid. I know that, when you don’t win, you have to leave. But with this a very important thing has been forgotten, everything I built day-to-day has been forgotten, what I brought to my relationships with the players, with the 150 people who work with and around the team.
I’m a natural-born winner and I was here to win trophies, but even more important than this are the people, their feelings, life itself and I have the feeling these things have not been taken into account, that there has been a failure to understand that these things also keep the dynamics of a great club going. To some extent I have even been heavily criticised for it.
I want there to be respect for what we have achieved together. I would have liked my relationship with the club and the president over the past few months to have been a little different to that of other coaches. I wasn’t asking for privileges, of course not, just a little more retrospect. These days the life of a coach in the dugout at a big club is two seasons, little more. For it to last longer the human relationships are essential, they are more important than money, more important than fame, more important than everything. They need to be nurtured.
That’s why it hurt me so much when I read in the press, after a defeat, that I would be sacked if I didn’t win the next game. It hurt me and the whole team because these deliberately leaked messages to the media negatively influenced the squad, they created doubts and misunderstandings. Luckily, I had these amazing lads who were with me to the death. When things turned ugly, they saved me with magnificent victories. Because they believed in me and knew I believed in them.
Of course I’m not the best coach in the world, but I’m able to give everyone, whether it’s a player, a member of the coaching staff or any employee, the strength and confidence they need in their job. I know perfectly well what a team needs. Over these 20 years at Real Madrid, I’ve learnt that you, the fans, want to win, of course, but above all you want us to give our all: the coach, the staff, the employees and of course the players. And I can assure you we’ve given 100% of ourselves to this club.
I’d like to take this opportunity to send a message to the journalists. I’ve given hundreds of press conferences and unfortunately we have spoken very little of football, though I know that you love football, this sport that brings us together. However, and without any desire to criticise or lecture, I would have liked the questions not to have always been about controversy, that we might have talked more often about the game and above all the players, who are and always will be the most important thing in this sport. Let’s not forget about football, let’s care for it.
Dear Real Madrid fans, I will always be one of you. Hala Madrid! Zinedine Zidane.
Zinedine Zidane’s open letter in full
