**This article was created with the idea of educating those who are interested on knowing who Valdano is to Madrid so you better understand the idea of the real article I am posting “Valdano Leaves Madrid. Good or Bad?”, if you already know the history of Valdano or aren't too interested in it and just wanna get to the real article skip this one. **
Who is Valdano? A true Madridista would of course know the answer but let’s review it anyways, Valdano’s first involvement with the club happened in the summer of 1984 as a player, signed from Real Zaragoza to help reinforce a team about to conquer Spain and Europe with its flair and skills alongside “La Quinta de Buitre”. During his time with Madrid, Valdano won 2 Ligas (1986, 1987), 2 UEFA Cups (1985, 1986), and the now defunct Copa de Liga (1985).
Who is Valdano? A true Madridista would of course know the answer but let’s review it anyways, Valdano’s first involvement with the club happened in the summer of 1984 as a player, signed from Real Zaragoza to help reinforce a team about to conquer Spain and Europe with its flair and skills alongside “La Quinta de Buitre”. During his time with Madrid, Valdano won 2 Ligas (1986, 1987), 2 UEFA Cups (1985, 1986), and the now defunct Copa de Liga (1985).
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| Valdano (right) playing for Argentina in the 80's |
Much to the sadness of Madridistas he retired from the beautiful game in the summer of 1987, Madrid went on to win 3 more consecutive Liga titles to make it 5 in a row along with a Copa del Rey (1989) and 2 Supercopa España (1988, 1989) and thus the legendary “Quinta de Buitre” accomplishments were completed. Of course like every lover of the game he couldn’t stay away for too long and came back to the club of his most success in 1991 as coach of the Cantera.
Following “La Quinta de Buitre” success, Cryuff’s Barcelona went on to dominate La Liga between 1991 and 1994 as well as adding 3 Spanish Supercups in 1991, 1992, 1994 and their very first Champions League crown in 1992 with what is now known as “The Dream Team”. During this time Madrid only accomplished one Copa del Rey title in 1993, certainly unacceptable for a team that had just dazzled the entire planet with their beautiful brand of football. A change was needed, that change was Jorge Valdano.
After a very short spell as La Cantera’s coach Valdano left for a post as Tenerife’s coach between 1992 and 1994, in the summer of 1994 Madrid brought him back as the replacement for Vicente del Bosque at his first stint being a Madrid coach following his step in of Benito Floro’s position for the last 2 months of the 1993-94 season. During his time as coach Valdano gave the now legendary Raul Gonzalez Blanco his debut one chilly October 29, 1994 and subsequently the Liga title. He parted ways again in January 1994 after a series of bad performances. He came back to coaching 2 years later until 1997 for Valencia C.F.
Following “La Quinta de Buitre” success, Cryuff’s Barcelona went on to dominate La Liga between 1991 and 1994 as well as adding 3 Spanish Supercups in 1991, 1992, 1994 and their very first Champions League crown in 1992 with what is now known as “The Dream Team”. During this time Madrid only accomplished one Copa del Rey title in 1993, certainly unacceptable for a team that had just dazzled the entire planet with their beautiful brand of football. A change was needed, that change was Jorge Valdano.
After a very short spell as La Cantera’s coach Valdano left for a post as Tenerife’s coach between 1992 and 1994, in the summer of 1994 Madrid brought him back as the replacement for Vicente del Bosque at his first stint being a Madrid coach following his step in of Benito Floro’s position for the last 2 months of the 1993-94 season. During his time as coach Valdano gave the now legendary Raul Gonzalez Blanco his debut one chilly October 29, 1994 and subsequently the Liga title. He parted ways again in January 1994 after a series of bad performances. He came back to coaching 2 years later until 1997 for Valencia C.F.
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| Valdano (left) and Raul (right), Valdano is an important figure to Raul as the ex-Captain named his son after him. |
This would be Valdano’s last coaching job to date, making a return to football as Real Madrid’s Sporting Director (Basically the man that takes care of buying players) after Florentino Perez’s first presidential victory in 2000. The Galacticos era was born thanks to both Valdano and Perez, the men responsible for the highly controversial transfer of Luis Figo from FC Barcelona to the royal club of Madrid. The transfer policy at the beginning of course was referred by the media as “Zidanes y Pavones”, being that the purpose was to each year buy an expensive world class superstar (Such as Zinedine Zidane) and at the same time promote a Cantera graduate player (Such as Francisco Pavon), which was placed in effect the second season of Valdano’s stint as in 2001 the very name of the policy took effect, Zinedine Zidane was purchased from Juventus for a then world record fee of what would now be €75 million and Francisco Pavon was given his La Liga debut that season against Athletic Bilbao on October 6, 2001.
The limited showcase of talent from the youth team plus the skill shown by world class signings made the promotion of youth players into the team nearly impossible however, therefore with the purchase of Ronaldo Nazario in 2002 after his amazing performance at the Korea/Japan World Cup with then Champions Brazil and of David Beckham from Manchester United in 2003 the policy came to be known as “Los Galacticos” ("The Galactics" due to the number of stars in the team), one last Galactico addition was Michael Owen from Liverpool in 2004. In 2005 there were key purchases made of young very promising players such as Robinho and Sergio Ramos, they are not considered Galacticos however as at the time they were promising talents not stars, Valdano of course was responsible for all this activity.
The limited showcase of talent from the youth team plus the skill shown by world class signings made the promotion of youth players into the team nearly impossible however, therefore with the purchase of Ronaldo Nazario in 2002 after his amazing performance at the Korea/Japan World Cup with then Champions Brazil and of David Beckham from Manchester United in 2003 the policy came to be known as “Los Galacticos” ("The Galactics" due to the number of stars in the team), one last Galactico addition was Michael Owen from Liverpool in 2004. In 2005 there were key purchases made of young very promising players such as Robinho and Sergio Ramos, they are not considered Galacticos however as at the time they were promising talents not stars, Valdano of course was responsible for all this activity.
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| Zidane (left) and Valdano (right) at a press conference |
The Galactico era was mainly seen as a failure by Valdano and Perez from the media, Looking at statistics the club was actually successful during this time as Madrid went on to win 3 Ligas, 2 Supercopa de España, 1 UEFA Champions League and 1 UEFA Supercup in addition to making the Copa del Rey final against Deportivo la Coruña in 2003, the main reason for being seen as a failure however was the fact that so many world class players on the team could not help the team win a title for four years in a row in which Valencia and Barcelona won the La Liga title twice each, the main reason for this however was that long time coach Vicente del Bosque was VERY STUPIDLY fired as in 2003, this was Valdano's decision with the reasoning that Madrid needed a fresh face. WRONG! As any team Madrid needed consistency, and Valdano's real reason for firing del Bosque was simply because he failed to deliver "La Decima", the tenth European crown that is, del Bosque of course won La Liga but this wasn't enough and he was sacked, they paid the price however as Madrid failed to replicate the beautiful brand of football that had just give them 4 domestic titles, 4 European titles, and 2 international titles in only 6 years and Valdano was RIGHTLY accused of this due to del Bosque's absence.
During Perez’s last year Barcelona took complete domination in La Liga and subsequently went on to become champions of Spain and Europe by the end of the 2005/2006 season. Perez resigned to his position as President, Valdano decided to go with him, the Galactico era seemed over. Ramon Calderon became president and after a couple of year of success where Madrid won La Liga twice in a row and the Supercopa de España the 2008/2009 campaign arrived, which saw Barcelona begin their current football domination on the world stage, Calderon is found to have rigged the elections and amidst the scandal resigned to his position as president too, Vicente Boluda took over however the problems continued most notably on the pitch as that season Madrid lost to Barcelona 2 – 6 at the Bernabeu in what is now one of the most infamous games for Madridistas, Boluda stated he would not continue next year, there was an interesting scene during the game, the cameraman points the camera to the VIP booth, in it was Florentino with a disappointing look on his face, ESPN en Español’s Mario Kempes stated “Perez looks upset, as if he cannot allow this to happen again, as if he needs to do something”, how right he was, because at that very moment, Perez decided to come back as president.
He won the race unopposed in 2009, and as expected he brought Valdano with him again as his Director General and presidential aide. May have a different title but it is the same role… Who am I buying? The second stint of Galacticos is born again spending a mammoth amount of about €250 Million in one summer on new players which included Cristiano Ronaldo from Manchester United (Current record of €94 Million), Kaka’ from AC Milan (€68 Million), Karim Benzema (€35 Million) and Xabi Alonso (€35 Million). Appointing Manuel Pellegrini as coach and saw Madrid end the season 3 points behind Barcelona, no trophies, and Pellegrini sacked, which brings us to the beginning of this past season and the signing of our current coach, Jose Mourinho.
During Perez’s last year Barcelona took complete domination in La Liga and subsequently went on to become champions of Spain and Europe by the end of the 2005/2006 season. Perez resigned to his position as President, Valdano decided to go with him, the Galactico era seemed over. Ramon Calderon became president and after a couple of year of success where Madrid won La Liga twice in a row and the Supercopa de España the 2008/2009 campaign arrived, which saw Barcelona begin their current football domination on the world stage, Calderon is found to have rigged the elections and amidst the scandal resigned to his position as president too, Vicente Boluda took over however the problems continued most notably on the pitch as that season Madrid lost to Barcelona 2 – 6 at the Bernabeu in what is now one of the most infamous games for Madridistas, Boluda stated he would not continue next year, there was an interesting scene during the game, the cameraman points the camera to the VIP booth, in it was Florentino with a disappointing look on his face, ESPN en Español’s Mario Kempes stated “Perez looks upset, as if he cannot allow this to happen again, as if he needs to do something”, how right he was, because at that very moment, Perez decided to come back as president.
He won the race unopposed in 2009, and as expected he brought Valdano with him again as his Director General and presidential aide. May have a different title but it is the same role… Who am I buying? The second stint of Galacticos is born again spending a mammoth amount of about €250 Million in one summer on new players which included Cristiano Ronaldo from Manchester United (Current record of €94 Million), Kaka’ from AC Milan (€68 Million), Karim Benzema (€35 Million) and Xabi Alonso (€35 Million). Appointing Manuel Pellegrini as coach and saw Madrid end the season 3 points behind Barcelona, no trophies, and Pellegrini sacked, which brings us to the beginning of this past season and the signing of our current coach, Jose Mourinho.
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| Mourinho (left) and Valdano (right) hiding their disagreements at a press conference. |
Ever since Mou was hired there were reports of many disagreements between him and Valdano, and now we are past the boiling point Valdano was let go of his position to the surprise of many on May 25th, 2011. Being such an obvious important part of Madrid's history was this really the right move for Madrid?
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