Fabio Capello suggests swapping Carlo Ancelotti for Rafa Benitez was ‘traumatic’ for Real Madrid and Florentino Perez is too hands-on.
Capello has spoken to AS about the situation of the club he has twice trained, with Zinedine Zidane now on the bench after Benitez was sacked only seven months after he was appointed.
“I don’t know why [Benitez didn’t succeed]. You have to be in the locker room,” Capello said when questioned about the ex-boss.
“If there’s no connection [between the players and the Coach] it’s difficult to succeed. Benitez has experience…It’s possible changing from Ancelotti to Benitez was too traumatic.”
Asked why so many Coaches have struggled at Madrid in recent years, Capello suggested the reason lay at the very top of the club.
“It depends on the President. He has strong influence,” he noted, with a laugh, AS adds.
“So many Coaches! Madrid is a very difficult place. If the President goes over the Coach to talk to the players about problems in the locker room, [the Coach] is dead.
“The players know! They tell each other: ‘The President asked me yesterday why this happens…’ And then they think the Coach isn’t worth anything.
“I always had a sporting director. The Coach makes the signings now, right? Normally that’s the case. If the team is decided by the President…”
Capello was then asked about Zidane, after laughing at the suggestion Perez might have called him to Madrid for a third time instead of the former World Player of the Year.
“I’m a pensioner! And Florentino doesn’t like anything that was with another President,” Capello pointed out.
“He wants to be the one signing, the one who decides and that has made things new. He doesn’t like anything that has to do with the past. He likes to be the one who has done things.
“Zidane has the necessary charisma, which is important. We’ll have to give him time. The players believe until you fail. They evaluate you every day.”
