Euroscene: If you are a Manchester United fan, you probably did not enjoy last Saturday's 3-0 drubbing by Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. Be comforted. It could be worse. You could be a Real Madrid fan.
Just at the moment, things would seem to be going from bad to worse at the world's most famous club. While Real's eternal rivals Barcelona proudly stand on the threshold of a possible Champions League and Spanish Primera title double, Real are looking at their third successive season without any silverware on the sideboard, their worst run in 53 years.
Last week, Real's decline and fall continued when the club's board ousted president Fernando Martin, just two months after he had replaced Florentino "Galactico" Peréz. As of this week, 83-year-old Luis-Gomez Montejano is holding the fort until such time, probably late this month, the club's 85,000 members get together to elect a new president.
With no one really in charge, forward planning is a little difficult. Who will be Real's coach next season? Certainly not AC Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti who has repeatedly denied a stream of media reports from Spain linking him with the job.
What about the future of players like team mascot Raul, David Beckham and left back Carlos Roberto? Caretaker president Montejano says that he will sign on the dotted line for those players already in negotiation with the club. Some of the five or six possible candidates for the Real presidency see it otherwise, however, calling on him to hold off and wait until the election.
Having taken over a club reportedly €500 million in debt, Fernando Martin was expected to introduce a brave new world of fiscal rectitude. He initially promised to get tough on both budgets and his star players. At his first news conference, he announced he would set up an independent commission to evaluate the players' conduct and commitment on and off the pitch. The new headmaster was going to wave his cane, maybe even tan the odd backside.
In the end, and a very short end too, Martin appears to have achieved little other than undermine his coach, Juan Ramon Lopez Caro, while at the same time totally alienate his squad of all stars. He promised he would appoint a new coach within a fortnight. Problem was he made that promise seven weeks ago.
He then named an impressive short list of seven would-be new coaches, all of whom seemed very different in footballing philosophy and several of whom quickly made it clear they had other plans for their futures.
In the meantime, Lopez Caro was left to wonder just what he was doing there. Hardly surprising, that under Martin, Real managed just two wins and seven draws.
As for the tough line with the players, he put that into action after a recent miserable 1-1 draw with Real Sociedad. He stomped into the dressingroom after the game and promptly cancelled the squad's Easter holidays.
All very impressive except that several of the players had already left the stadium and were belting down the "autopista" to their weekend homes. Captain Raul had to use his mobile and summon the not-too-happy troops back to base.
Next day, Martin continued on with his tough line, giving the players a dressing down at training. Having done that, he then undermined himself completely by handing his galacticos a day's holiday after all. Little wonder, sports paper AS carried a headline reading "Martin Puts On A Show".
Just to top up the Real Madrid fans' cup of woe, there came the admittedly not unexpected announcement last week that Zinedine Zidane will be retiring from football after this summer's World Cup finals in Germany.
Zidane will be 34 in June and he quite clearly is coming to the end of the road. Given the chaos around him at Madrid, however, he may be thinking that he is well off away from it.
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