Last week, Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane announced his resignation from the club. The manager was two years into his second stint in Madrid. Zidane spent five years with Real Madrid as a player before announcing his retirement. He returned to the club as an adviser to Florentino Perez, became assistant coach to Carlo Ancelotti, and managed reserve team Castilla, before taking over the first team in January 2016.
As manager Zidane won three straight Champions League titles from 2016-18 before resigning the first time. However, the boss was back managing Real Madrid ten months later. But the second stretch with Real Madrid was nowhere near as successful as the first. With less success has also come more pressure for the manager.
Initially not much was said regarding Zidane’s resignation and the reasons. There was no farewell press conference, only the news he was out. However, on Monday, the manager penned a surprise letter published in the Madrid-based sports newspaper Diario AS.
In his letter Zidane openly criticized Real Madrid and blamed leaked messages to the media and lack of trust as the source of his departure.
Zidane on his resignation
“I’m leaving, but I’m not abandoning ship and I’m not tired of coaching,” Zidane said. “In May 2018 I left because after two-and-a-half years, with so many victories and so many trophies, I felt that the team needed something new to stay on top. Today things are different. I’m leaving because I feel the club is no longer giving me the trust I need, it isn’t offering me the support to build something medium-to-long-term.
“I know the demands at a club like Madrid, I know that when you don’t win you have to go. But a very important thing has been forgotten here … I’m a born winner and I was here to win trophies, but beyond that are human beings, emotions, life, and I have the feeling that these things haven’t been valued.”
2021 Struggles
Tension has been at the head of his time at Real Madrid since a disappointing 2019-20 season. Following that the manager led the club to a La Liga title. However, this season Real Madrid suffered defeats in both La Liga and Europe. The lack of success brought strain on the relationship between Zidane and the club President.
“I want what we’ve done together to be respected,” Zidane continued. “I’d have liked my relationship with the club and the president in recent months to have been a little different from that of other coaches. I wasn’t asking for privileges, of course not, but rather a bit more memory. Today the life of a coach on the bench of a great club is two seasons, not much more. For it to last longer, human relationships are essential.
“That’s why it hurt me a lot when I read in the press, after a defeat, that they were going to sack me if I didn’t win the next game. It hurt me and the whole team because these messages, intentionally leaked to the media, created negative interference with the staff, they created doubts and misunderstandings.”
While the recent seasons were difficult Zinedine Zidane praised the Real Madrid players saying they are.: “fantastic lads who were with me to the end … when things got ugly, they saved me with great victories.” He also thanked Florentino Perez for bringing him to Real Madrid.
Issues with the media
However, lack of trust wasn’t the only issue for Zidane. The french manager also made note of the “controversy focused” media.
“I’ve done hundreds of news conferences and unfortunately we’ve spoken very little about football,” he said. “Without meaning to criticise or teach you lessons, I would have liked it if the questions weren’t always directed towards controversy, that we would have talked more often about the ball and above all about the players, who are, and always will be, the most important thing in this game.”
Real Madrid has yet to name a successor for Zinedine Zidane. The former manager also expressed his desire to coach is still there.
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