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Spanish Debate: Juande Ramos - The Right Choice For Real Madrid?
Ewan Macdonald looks at the whirlwind appointment of Juande Ramos as coach of Real Madrid and asks if the former Sevilla and Tottenham man is the right option for the Bernabeu side...
09-Dec-2008 5:49:54 PM
Bernd Schuster has left the building, and he's passed Juande Ramos at the door. (If you missed it, you can read our report on Bernd Schuster being sacked by Real Madrid here.)
One could write an article - heck, one could write a book - on whether the hierarchy's decision to fire the German was right or wrong; if he's really to blame for Madrid's current woes; whether or not he should have been removed from his post earlier. But in fact in our Spanish Debate we have discussed such issues for months now. And while the battle will rage on for some time, one feels that it is time, at least for now, to look forward.
Real Madrid themselves certainly wasted no time in looking ahead as they moved ever-so-swiftly to install Juande Ramos as the new coach at the Bernabeu.
The trophy-laden Castile-La-Mancha native has recently left Tottenham Hotspur after a disastrous spell in north London, one in which he singularly failed to replicate his success with Sevilla. We must then ask: has he got what it takes to turn Real Madrid around?
Long Road To Glory
Unlike Schuster, Ramos enjoyed an undistinguished playing career, but a lengthy and impressive management one. While Schuster was a superstar in his day Ramos was some decades prior scrambling around the lower divisions with the likes of Elche and Alcoyano. A career cut short by a knee injury saw him enter the world of coaching, but not until the 1990s would he graduate to become a first team boss.
It was with the Alcoi side that he cut his managerial teeth, but not until his move to Logrones two years later would he win his first promotion. From there he was talent-spotted by Barcelona, whose B team he ran for one season under Bobby Robson.
From there it was off to the big time to boss the likes of Rayo, Betis, Espanyol, Malaga, and finally Sevilla, with whom he became renowned as one of the country's top coaches, leading the Andalucians to domestic glory in the Copa del Rey, continental excellence by winning the UEFA Cup (twice) and also a third place finish that brought Champions League football to the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan for the very first time.
His was a Sevilla team that combined local talent such as Diego Capel and Jesus Navas - not to mention the much-missed Antonio Puerta - with down-on-their-luck stars like Fredi Kanoute. Just as important, though, were canny imports such as Brazilians Dani Alves and Luis Fabiano. Such a side was able to play fearlessly against even the biggest teams, and although they could be leaky at the back they did tend to score one more than the opposition.
Tottenham Hotspur were duly alerted to Ramos' successes but, well, the less said about his tenure at White Hart Lane the better. Having his two striking talents sold under his nose in summer can't have helped, but his start to the 2008-09 campaign was still completely unacceptable, and thus it was no surprise to see him sacked. Yes, Gus Poyet played his part, too, but Ramos was unable to arrest the slide.
Real Madrid, remembering the fonder days at Sevilla, have picked Ramos up to lead them back to success. But can he replicate what he managed in the deep south?
Unique Culture
At Sevilla Ramos flourished thanks to a unique culture of what I can only call obstinance. President Jose Maria del Nido is known nationwide as a fierce negotiator who will not budge an inch if he believes that he can get a better deal for his club: Daniel Alves, who tried a year before his eventual transfer to force a move to Barcelona, learned this to his cost. In Del Nido Ramos had a staunch ally - until his unceremonious leaving the club for Tottenham Hotspur, at least, which the president greeted with wholly predictable disdain.
Perhaps more important was the input of sporting director 'Monchi', known to his mother as Ramón Rodríguez Verdejo. Despite having a rather gormless, simian appearance, Monchi has one of the finest minds in Spanish football. It was his scouting network - one of the most intricate in the world - that led Daniel Alves and other such talents to the gates of the Pizjuan; it was his eye for detail that helped see young talents thrust into the first team limelight at the correct moment.
Juande, of course, played a massive role, keeping such a disparate squad largely on the same page, dealing with the media with genial charm and just the right measure of honesty, and of course selecting line-ups that, particularly in defence, often had to be adjusted due to injury. Plus his roots with the smaller clubs meant that he was more than used to working within constricted budgets: something vital to any boss in Seville.
In other words he brings with him a wealth of experience and talent, but talent that can only be used to its optimum when conditions are right.
It Takes A Village
It is fair to say that Madrid, while one of the wealthiest and most powerful clubs in world football, do not share quite the same ethos as Sevilla.
While Sevilla's scouting network must by necessity focus on the foreign and/or the unsung, Madrid have the pick of the globe. They do not need to scout Argentina for the next Ezequiel Garay: they can wait for the defender to blossom at Racing Santander and then buy him. Sure, there is still an emphasis on young heroes and the odd obscure name - just look at Gonzalo Higuain, who despite being a star in Argentina was relatively unknown in Europe prior to his arrival - the squad dynamics will be very, very different.
That's one difference in terms of sporting direction. Another is that he may find himself having a more adverserial relationship with current technical director Pedja Mijatovic than he did with Monchi (or if not adverserial, at least not as close.) Pedja has put together a talented squad at Madrid, but it is one very much in the image of both him and president Ramon Calderon: Schuster, it is abundantly clear (although he'd never admit it) was seen at times as something of an afterthought.
Having to deal with a squad laden with stars and egos, though - in contrast to Sevilla, where even the prescence of hot-blooded Andalucians and the fiery Fredi Kanoute seemed not to dampen spirits too much - could be Juande's undoing. For a man whose sole adventure with a "large" club in the form of Spurs ended in failure to be thrust into perhaps the biggest pressure-cooker in world football is a risky gambit.
Yet it is one that can and should pay off. His talents as a coach and a motivator are simply not open to question, at least not easily. His knowledge of the Spanish and indeed European game is exemplary. And Madrid certainly have the funds to make his ambitions come true in a way that Tottenham Hotspur could not. What is required, though, is a concerted effort from all sides to get behind the new man. Juande should make it easier for Madrid to do so than taciturn, mischievous, and enigmatic Schuster did. If the club can repay such an act then they will be onto a winner.
Ewan Macdonald, Goal.com
One could write an article - heck, one could write a book - on whether the hierarchy's decision to fire the German was right or wrong; if he's really to blame for Madrid's current woes; whether or not he should have been removed from his post earlier. But in fact in our Spanish Debate we have discussed such issues for months now. And while the battle will rage on for some time, one feels that it is time, at least for now, to look forward.
Real Madrid themselves certainly wasted no time in looking ahead as they moved ever-so-swiftly to install Juande Ramos as the new coach at the Bernabeu.
The trophy-laden Castile-La-Mancha native has recently left Tottenham Hotspur after a disastrous spell in north London, one in which he singularly failed to replicate his success with Sevilla. We must then ask: has he got what it takes to turn Real Madrid around?
Long Road To Glory
Unlike Schuster, Ramos enjoyed an undistinguished playing career, but a lengthy and impressive management one. While Schuster was a superstar in his day Ramos was some decades prior scrambling around the lower divisions with the likes of Elche and Alcoyano. A career cut short by a knee injury saw him enter the world of coaching, but not until the 1990s would he graduate to become a first team boss.
It was with the Alcoi side that he cut his managerial teeth, but not until his move to Logrones two years later would he win his first promotion. From there he was talent-spotted by Barcelona, whose B team he ran for one season under Bobby Robson.
From there it was off to the big time to boss the likes of Rayo, Betis, Espanyol, Malaga, and finally Sevilla, with whom he became renowned as one of the country's top coaches, leading the Andalucians to domestic glory in the Copa del Rey, continental excellence by winning the UEFA Cup (twice) and also a third place finish that brought Champions League football to the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan for the very first time.
His was a Sevilla team that combined local talent such as Diego Capel and Jesus Navas - not to mention the much-missed Antonio Puerta - with down-on-their-luck stars like Fredi Kanoute. Just as important, though, were canny imports such as Brazilians Dani Alves and Luis Fabiano. Such a side was able to play fearlessly against even the biggest teams, and although they could be leaky at the back they did tend to score one more than the opposition.
Tottenham Hotspur were duly alerted to Ramos' successes but, well, the less said about his tenure at White Hart Lane the better. Having his two striking talents sold under his nose in summer can't have helped, but his start to the 2008-09 campaign was still completely unacceptable, and thus it was no surprise to see him sacked. Yes, Gus Poyet played his part, too, but Ramos was unable to arrest the slide.
Real Madrid, remembering the fonder days at Sevilla, have picked Ramos up to lead them back to success. But can he replicate what he managed in the deep south?
Unique Culture
At Sevilla Ramos flourished thanks to a unique culture of what I can only call obstinance. President Jose Maria del Nido is known nationwide as a fierce negotiator who will not budge an inch if he believes that he can get a better deal for his club: Daniel Alves, who tried a year before his eventual transfer to force a move to Barcelona, learned this to his cost. In Del Nido Ramos had a staunch ally - until his unceremonious leaving the club for Tottenham Hotspur, at least, which the president greeted with wholly predictable disdain.
Perhaps more important was the input of sporting director 'Monchi', known to his mother as Ramón Rodríguez Verdejo. Despite having a rather gormless, simian appearance, Monchi has one of the finest minds in Spanish football. It was his scouting network - one of the most intricate in the world - that led Daniel Alves and other such talents to the gates of the Pizjuan; it was his eye for detail that helped see young talents thrust into the first team limelight at the correct moment.
Juande, of course, played a massive role, keeping such a disparate squad largely on the same page, dealing with the media with genial charm and just the right measure of honesty, and of course selecting line-ups that, particularly in defence, often had to be adjusted due to injury. Plus his roots with the smaller clubs meant that he was more than used to working within constricted budgets: something vital to any boss in Seville.
In other words he brings with him a wealth of experience and talent, but talent that can only be used to its optimum when conditions are right.
It Takes A Village
It is fair to say that Madrid, while one of the wealthiest and most powerful clubs in world football, do not share quite the same ethos as Sevilla.
While Sevilla's scouting network must by necessity focus on the foreign and/or the unsung, Madrid have the pick of the globe. They do not need to scout Argentina for the next Ezequiel Garay: they can wait for the defender to blossom at Racing Santander and then buy him. Sure, there is still an emphasis on young heroes and the odd obscure name - just look at Gonzalo Higuain, who despite being a star in Argentina was relatively unknown in Europe prior to his arrival - the squad dynamics will be very, very different.
That's one difference in terms of sporting direction. Another is that he may find himself having a more adverserial relationship with current technical director Pedja Mijatovic than he did with Monchi (or if not adverserial, at least not as close.) Pedja has put together a talented squad at Madrid, but it is one very much in the image of both him and president Ramon Calderon: Schuster, it is abundantly clear (although he'd never admit it) was seen at times as something of an afterthought.
Having to deal with a squad laden with stars and egos, though - in contrast to Sevilla, where even the prescence of hot-blooded Andalucians and the fiery Fredi Kanoute seemed not to dampen spirits too much - could be Juande's undoing. For a man whose sole adventure with a "large" club in the form of Spurs ended in failure to be thrust into perhaps the biggest pressure-cooker in world football is a risky gambit.
Yet it is one that can and should pay off. His talents as a coach and a motivator are simply not open to question, at least not easily. His knowledge of the Spanish and indeed European game is exemplary. And Madrid certainly have the funds to make his ambitions come true in a way that Tottenham Hotspur could not. What is required, though, is a concerted effort from all sides to get behind the new man. Juande should make it easier for Madrid to do so than taciturn, mischievous, and enigmatic Schuster did. If the club can repay such an act then they will be onto a winner.
Ewan Macdonald, Goal.com
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