Ramon Calderon was always going to be seen as the guy who couldn’t carry Florentino Perez’s lunchbox. Perez brought in Luis Figo, Zinedine Zidane, Ronaldo, David Beckham and Michael Owen. Calderon promised lots but is Arjen Robben the only success to his credit? He mishandled the Cristiano Ronaldo affair, lost out on numerous other signings from indecision. He hired Fabio Capello and no sooner wanted him fired. Let him go, hiring Bernd Schuster only to create an even larger power struggle in the board room as no one could agree on a long-term transfer market policy. They made impulse buys, they never identified their strengths and poorly patched up their glaring weaknesses, and ultimately they put the club into disrepute or can we just examine at the evidence brought to a Madrid court this week charging him and his successor Boluda with “destruction, suppression or concealment of public documents and using false documents.”


Now the Galactico ghosts of Figo and Zidane are returning, as I don’t think the 100 pound gorilla of Florentino Perez can suffer defeat in June’s elections. The public’s initial reaction is of relief. Here we go, someone imminently qualified to return Real Madrid to prominence; someone to right the damage inflicted by Ramon Calderon’s administration. Many though are skeptical. They remember that Real Madrid won nothing of note in his first time in charge of Real Madrid. They also remember what the likes of Johann Cruyff said about him. “He does not have enough knowledge about football to make decisions. He has to rely on others to make them and that’s why he needs all these other people to decide for him.” Granted, “what did we expect King Cule number 1 to say?”, but there’s a kernel of truth there. Real Madrid made glaring mistakes under Perez that were counter-intuitive to anyone who knew anything about football. Selling Makelele and bringing in Beckham and Owen? Neglecting defenders because there’s no market for their shirts? If Perez is going to right this ship and challenge he is going to need to address this correctly.

Late last year, the Cules were out for blood. Barça had just lost the league to Madrid. The talk was that after two disappointing years, Frank Rijkaard was getting the sack and that the disruptive elements in the club(Deco and Ronaldinho) were leaving. Instead of an experienced coach like Jose Mourinho, Laporta turned to ex-club captain and cantera coach Pep Guardiola.

Now, there’s little indication that Barça’s supremo has any more knowledge about the game than Florentino Perez, but he’s hired good football people around him and he has trusted in them to make the tough footballing decisions. The Catalans turned it around so quickly because they had a system in place and talent that had been nurturing in the cantera for the better part of a decade. Plus, they’ve had continuity at the top, a trickle-down effect that has allowed them to withstand the ups and downs of modern football management. This is what Madrid needs:

* Leadership: The first thing that people noticed about Madrid recently was what a complete tool they had running the club; they had no leadership. He said the wrong things in interviews. He negotiated contracts in the media; instantly tacking on an extra 10% to agent requests because he was bidding against himself. He argued with other clubs. He tapped up other players. Granted, those may all be part of the job in question, and Florentino Perez might actually be required to committ all of those himself, but he’ll be savvy enough not to be caught in the light of day doing them. The hole in Real Madrid’s ozone layer will be patched up immediately by Perez’s return. He just needs to set up the rest of his club managers.

* Finances: The Spanish Primera division like many of the top flight divisions in World Football is suffering the effects of the global recession acutely. Even the global brand name that is Real Madrid is not immune. The last time Perez took over Real Madrid were deeply in debt and suffering from a lack of capital and financial solvency. Perez turned that around significantly, using his real estate connections and governmental contacts to turn over land they owned, bringing in lucrative sponsorship deals and opening markets abroad for the Real Madrid brand. The net-worth of the company shot up exponentially. This new test for Perez will be more difficult than before, but his experience will be invaluable for a club that has lacked a clear business model for the last 3 years.

* Football Management: This is where the jury is still out on Perez. Like Barcelona, Real Madrid has a footballing philosophy in place to organize the club’s football operations, the transfer targets, and the cantera or youth team all for the service of the club. They have a history of playing attractive, attacking football, hardwired to their footballing DNA going back to the golden age of DiStefano and Puskas. They haven’t had the players to play that way, nor the will to impose themselves, and some would say that those days are over and a club needs to adapt or die, but not a great club like Real Madrid.

Perez had the right idea when he offered that role to Arsene Wenger, the sort of manager who can tap into the standard of artistry that the club aspires to, but Wenger’s place at Arsenal gives him the sort of security that he would never have at Real Madrid. Instead, Florentino Perez will return to Jorge Valdano who will bring his studied and artful intelligence to the club he played for. Valdano will have Zinedine Zidane to help him out but to me that’s more of a cosmetic appointment. I would prefer a guy like Ramon Rodriguez “Monchi”, the sporting director of Sevilla, or any one of the sporting triumvirate that runs Villareal, but again it takes a special character to run in the heels of Santiago Bernabeu and Perez will ultimately have the final say as to the brand of player that Real Madrid buys

* Coaching: This is where I’ll stop, as coaching is the most important assignment in Florentino Perez’s tenure and it would be unwise of me to give the selection of the first * Coaching: This is where I’ll stop, as coaching is the most important assignment in Florentino Perez’s tenure and it would be unwise of me to give the selection of the first team coach a small paragraph in this article. Suffice it to say I’ll give it more weight in next week’s article. Real Madrid 2.0: El Jefe del Bernabeu.