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Ramos... Becomes No 10.
Former Spurs manager Juande Ramos became Real Madrid’s
10th manager in the last 10 years today, when he agreed to replace
the sacked Bernd Schuster until the end of the season.
Such is the life expectancy of a Los Merengues coach, that,
frankly, Ramos will be lucky to last until then. There isn’t so
much a revolving door at the Bernabeu as an ejector seat.
Here’s how Ramos’ nine predecessors fared:
Bernd Schuster
June 2007-December
2008
P75 W44 D9 L22
Tasked with bringing beautiful football back to the Bernabeu, he
landed the club’s 31st title in his first season. Was promptly
sacked four months into second, though, after as poor start left
the team fifth in La Liga.
Fabio Capello
May 2006-June 2007
P50 W28 D12 L10
The stated remit for Don Fabio’s second spell at Real was to end
the club’s three-year long trophy-less spell by winning the league
title. He did, but was sacked anyway – primarily for the efficient
but boring playing style with which he achieved success.
Juan Ramon Lopez Caro
December 2005 – May
2006
P48 W23 D13 L12
A journeyman Spanish coach who was originally employed to look
after Madrid’s B Team, Lopez Caro was elevated to first team coach
bur proved powerless to stop the rot of the Galactico era.
Vanderlei Luxemburgo
December 2004 –
December 2005
P45 W28 D7 L10
The brilliantly-named Brazilian is perhaps best known for
introducing the ambitious but deeply flawed ‘Magic Rectangle’
4-2-2-2 formation. He eventually resigned following a poor start to
his second season and a disastrous 3-0 home defeat to
Barcelona.
Mariano Garcia Remon
September 2004 –
December 2004
P20 W12 D4 L4
He may have won six Spanish championships and three cups with
Madrid as a player, but the former goalkeeper nicknamed ‘The Cat of
Odessa’ lasted barely three months as manager, being sacked due to
a perceived lack of success.
Jose Antonio Camacho
May 2004 – September
2004
P6 W4 D0 L2
A former team-mate of Remon’s who played 414 times for Los
Meringues, Camacho enjoyed even less success as manager, resigning
early doors after a 3-0 Champions league defeat to Bayer Leverkusen
was followed by 1-0 reverse at Espanyol.
Carlos Queiroz
June 2003 – May 2004
P59 W35 D11 L14
Poached from Old Trafford during his first spell as Fergie’s
assistant, Queiroz fell foul of president xxx’s infamous Galatico
policy. Forced to pick players he didn’t want and also to sell
Claude Makelele against his wishes, the current Portuguese coach
won the Supercup in 2004 but was still sacked after 10 months for
his La Liga failings.
Vincent Del Bosque
November 1999 - June
2003
P233 W127 D56 L50
The most successful Real Madrid manager of the modern era, Del
Bosque won two Champions League titles (2000 and 20002), two La
Liga titles (2001 and 2003), the Spanish Supercup (2001), European
Supercup (2002) and Intercontinental Cup (2002). Amazingly, even
that haul couldn’t shield him from the notorious Bernabeu
in-fighting, and Del Bosque left after rejecting a move upstairs to
become technical director.
John Toshack
February 1999-November
1999
P37 W19 D9 L9
The Welshman won the league during his first spell at the Bernabeu
in 1990, but his second spell was less noteworthy. He did manage to
raise a few smiles in his press conferences, though, mainly by
offering up literal translations of quirky English phrases like Hay
más posibilidades de ver a un cerdo volando por encima del Bernabéu
(translation: 'you're more likely to see a pig flying over the
Bernabéu').
