I would like to be the first to thank Real Madrid and Florentino Perez in particular for basically handing next seasons La Liga trophy into Barcelona's hands. The signing of Jose is a massive, massive own goal and made for all the wrong reasons. As you will all know, it is dangerous to make a decision, especially an important decision, without a clear head. You should always try and be objective and leave emotions to one side. You should never make decisions in the heat of the moment which is exactly what Perez has done. It starts off right back when he first decided to take another shot at the presidency, an election with one candidate, and listens to his friends and takes their advice. Last time around I screwed up because my ego clouded my judgment. This time I am going to take a step back and let my man Valdano take the football decisions and I shall do what I am good at, make shady deals and turn a profit regardless of any thought to ethics. Here Valdano enters the frame, chooses Pellegrini for the role of coach (much to the dismay to Florentino, who wanted Wenger) and they set about trying to purchase the best talent that is greedy enough to take the bait. To be fair, Valdano does a great job and for about €300 million in comes, CRgay, Javi Alonso, Kakation and the rest of the mercs.
Pellegrini does a great job also but fails to beat Barca on two occasions. Valdano manages to convince Perez to keep faith with Pellegrini, even after the Copa defeat but after the second trouncing by Barca at the Bernabeu his fate was sealed. Perez now has doubts that he should have listened to Valdano so much and the little devil on his shoulder starts to chip away and the ego starts to return.
Then, and for me this is the pivotal moment, Barca play Inter and Perez can see the hatred we have for Jose, but more importantly, he see's how much Jose can get under our skin with actually not having to say anything. He has done more than enough to fill another life time in the past! Watching Jose run up and down the touchline a Camp Nou was too much for Perez and he would have called him as soon as he got to his office, now Valdano is just another voice spewing out white noise. Perez has the bit between his teeth and he is making decisions, Valdano will not be carrying on with HIS project any further.
Why is it such a bad decision? By bringing Jose to Castle Grey-Skull, Perez has lost the only voice of sanity in his entourage. With Valdano gone that ego will run unchecked and now there will be no go between the board and the coach. Jose will be promised the world in terms of control but it will never happen, Perez is back and as soon as the crowd start to turn on Jose (and they will especially as Barca will keep on winning) he will start calling the shots and picking the team like the good old days. Will Jose accept that? No chance. Fireworks all round.
The other and main reason for me that Madrid have handed us the title is that I believe that the only team that can stop Barca is Barca themselves. That is why all great team's cycles come to an end. It is very rarely because one of their opponents suddenly become brilliant overnight. No. It is because they lose their way, their motivation, their dynamic as a group. My fear for next season was motivation. Madrid could not have given us more of a reason to be fired up than signing Jose. For that I thank you with all my heart. Next season we will do the double and it will all be down to one man.
Thank you Mr. Perez.
