Yep, and usually he runs uncontested because most people can't afford the buy in to run for the presidency. You have to make a ridiculous deposit that is a percentage of the club's value to be able to run for elections, and Florentino is frankly the only one who can afford it. ALSO, if I may add. Florentino hasn't treated ALL our legends badly. Di Stefano was our Honorary President until he passed away. Butragueno is the head of our public relations, Zidane coaches our Castilla team. Hierro was assistant under Carlo Ancelotti.
Don't understand why he and the club are getting so much shit for Iker's departure. We didn't treat him badly and the door will always be open to him. We just want to move in another direction to a GK who isn't on his last years.
Overreaction much? Perez isn't going anywhere until he dies or changes his mind and step down. HE already made the rules so that its damn near impossible for someone to run against him.
The thing is, it is crucial that Rafa Benitez delivers La Liga his 1st year. That's been our main sticking pt the last 5 yrs or so, I'd say more than La Decima/Undecima. Given how the club is run, the lack of stability is often attributed to Florentino's attitude of "mixing things up". We find success, but not as often as we should given how stacked a team we have. 2 trophyless seasons in 3 years for a squad that costs close to 700 million (according to some sources) euros is very poor return on investment. I can see why many argue his policies dont work. We tend to paper over the lack of continued success by pointing to the club's financial state, or how lucky we are to have a superstar join us virtually every summer, or how we have no better candidates to run for presidency given how demanding it would be and this provides stability up top. If the above criteria is our bottom line, then we are doing fantastic. But getting success sporadically in a club like Real Madrid is just plain wrong.
I dont have a problem with Perez. He's doing the best thing for the club and if that means hurting some Egos then so be it. We would all love to stay in the 60's and 70's but time moves on.
Perez made a statement: Pérez stated that Casillas himself asked for a way out. Casillas asked us to leave, we wanted him to retire at Real Madrid but he received an offer from FC Porto and wanted to go there. We always had a good relationship and many reports published throughout these days are false. I have a lot of affection for Iker, contrary to what some people report. He always led by example and nothing changed. He also criticized the fans' whistles towards Casillas during the last few years. I've always said that I don't understand why some fans whistle our players. Our players deserve respect and they are part of our history. Casillas deserves respect from our fans. Those who called Casillas "mole" will miss him in the future. Pérez admitted that the club could've arranged this ceremony way better. Some people always try to take advantage from anything to hurt my position or hurt Real Madrid, no matter what happens. But this doesn't mean we've taken care of everything well. It's true that we thought about doing this ceremony with our players, but they had to leave to Australia. Florentino did not want to talk about Casillas' replacement. We are not thinking about our signings right now. De Gea belongs to Manchester United and we have nothing to talk about here. It will be impossible to replace Casillas because they will not be here for 25 years, that's why we will remember Casillas as a legend. "Over these last 25 years, he has earned our admiration and respect, always with impeccable behaviour. The best goalkeeper in Real Madrid's history and the best goalkeeper in the history of Spanish football is leaving." "Iker is leaving us because that is his wish. Nobody at Real Madrid has asked him to leave the club. He received an offer and asked us to take a look at it. Casillas has earned it that the club makes an effort and listens to the proposal. I understand Iker wanting to make a fresh start. I would have liked for him to finish his career at Real Madrid, but I understand his reasons", the Real Madrid president assured. "The Real Madrid fans will always remember Casillas as one of the most important players in the history of this club", he said. "Iker wanted a simple and austere send-off", he said, in reference to the player's farewell speech on Sunday. The president also announced that "we are working on organising a tribute game for him." "I wanted Casillas to retire at Real", the president insisted, who also compared the keeper's leaving to that of Raúl's: "Raúl also thought as Casillas has, that he could continue his career far away from Real Madrid. Iker has earned himself the right to ask for an exit from the club", he pointed out. "I don't know anything that has been said about Iker; I have always defended all the players."
The pressure is all on you now, Mr. President. Only time will tell whether this summer will be looked at as a disaster or a small hiccup unto greater heights. No more Casillas to blame, no more Mourinho or Ancelotti. His decision to hire a manager who can barely manage 5th place in the Italian league and can't even qualify for Europe doesn't exactly fill people with confidence. We have a captain who's not exactly enthused because we neither refuse to pay him what he wants nor let him go. Letting Ramos walk is another PR disaster waiting to happen for Florentino. Nervous times for all. This ESPN FC article sums up just how much pressure the events of this summer puts on Florentino. http://www.espnfc.us/club/real-madr...ure-on-real-madrid-president-florentino-perez
Once again, Forbes ranks Real Madrid the most valuable sports team in the world. This is the 3rd year they've been topping the list. http://www.espnfc.com/spanish-prime...al-madrid-top-forbes-most-valuable-list-again "The NBA and MLB may be hot right now, but the world’s most valuable team still resides in Spain. Real Madrid ranks first for the third straight year at $3.26 billion, edging out a couple of iconic American sports franchises in the Dallas Cowboys and New York Yankees, which tie for second at $3.2 billion." At least Real Madrid is racking in that $$$.
Barcelona is closing the gap significantly every year though. I saw a Forbes article a couple of months ago saying that they will overtake us in 3-4 years time.
It depends. We actually had less growth than last year because of our abysmal season. If Barcelona outperforms us for another season or two, I see them overtaking Real Madrid sooner. Bet Uncle Flo will feel that though.
Well, we pride ourselves on being the biggest club in the world, which is signified by our history and financial power. If we lose the latter to Barca then that's quite telling.
That's the shameful thing - Barcelona shouldn't even be in our stratosphere in terms of finances or popularity (they historically weren't...).
Barcelona is very popular and I think they are more popular than us. When there are discussions, Barcelona seems to get a lot of mention than Real Madrid. My buddies who don't watch the sport know of Barcelona but they never heard of Real Madrid. Also, their players always get mentioned as legends but nobody ever mentions Real Madrid legends. Our two legends are Ramos and Iker and one of them left. Raul doesn't get mentioned much when people talk about club legends and I haven't seen people refer to Cristiano as a Real Madrid legend. People view Madrid as a team that buys and sells so they don't consider many to be legends of the team.
Historically, Real Madrid had the more immaculate appeal. We have always been the club of refined taste, garnished by players, coaches and presidents who were gentlemen. The Galactico policy as people call it has long been around, it's not something Florentino invented, it had been pioneered by arguably the greatest president in this club's history, Santiago Bernabeu de Yeste. We were historically known as the club that plays attractive football, gathers the very best and brightest footballers on the planet. We have had multiple golden generations of our own, but currently we're experiencing a downswing in that sense. Our philosophy is very vague, because of the constant changing of players and managers with no real identity. On the other hand, Barcelona has been experiencing a golden generation. They had arguably the most talented players of a generation come through their academy. They have their own former players building a philosophy that has them playing the brand of football that arguably spawned a world beating play style, that fundamentally changed how teams approach the game. They're taking our own trademark style of playing beautiful and exciting football and sensationalizing it, further insulting us with their "Mes Que Un Club" propaganda. Real Madrid has always had a great rivalry with Barcelona, but they were always the little brother who would never be as good as big bro. It seems the little brother is making up lost ground, and we need to start working at the grass roots level if necessary if we want to keep our edge and stay the greater team throughout history and in the future. Barcelona is creating history at an alarming rate, we're limping to add layers to our own. Florentino needs to be reminded that we must be successful first, the money will come on its own after that. As a matter of fact, I don't see Florentino weathering another regime change. If the current management fails us, we would've expected as much and Florentino & his board of Directors will have a lot to answer for.
Perez is ruthless and commited to excellence. He will show coaches and stars the door in a minute if trophies are not being won - and sometimes even if they are. And though Perez tries to do the right thing with these farewell ceremonies, they come off as clumsy and insincere. But no one can be surprised at this point by how Perez conducts business. The real question is whether the loss in stability is worth it. Barcelona is not quite as ruthless and they are doing pretty well. A better way to say it is they handle the exit of their coaches and stars in a smoother manner.
Or maybe they're surrounded by less inflammatory pro-media? Marca and AS are supposed to be pro-Real Madrid newspapers and lately they shoot us in the foot more often than not. Amount of drama they generate is ridiculous these days. I'll quote what a character in True Detective said: "[A journalist told him] He would rather be first and wrong, than right and second.". Sums up the journalists quite nicely.
I don't think it is entirely up to journalists, though they are a factor. An argument could be made that Perez has a few allies in the press as well. As does Barcelona. Any way, I have said this before - Real Madrid are never boring.
This is a legitimate point, although I agree it isn't the whole story. But as long as Catalans desire independence from Spain, I think it's fair to say that Barca, who has always exploited this to their advantage, will continue to generally enjoy the support and protection of
The war by AS against Florentino is getting to be to much. They interviewed FIFA agent Santos Marquez who had this to say about Flo: -He doesn't like black players. He isn't racist but just doesn't like black players. -He didn't want Eto'o because he was black. -He fought with Carlo over Bale and he thinks Bale is the best player in the world. He plays favorites. -Benzema is another favorite of Perez. -He hasn't told the truth in years and has kicked out his closest friends and best players. -He makes every decision himself without seeking advice. He thinks he is god. -Before folks could speak out against him and give him advice but now no one can speak out against him. -Iker didn't want to leave and was ok with being 2nd choice but Perez forced him out.
Nothing new here. Perez has many faults which I despise him for and these are among them, but this isn't some war by AS, most people who follow the club know these are the accepted truths.