Florentino Perez stunned journalists and the Spanish football world with his performance at a press conference on Tuesday after claiming he was the victim of an “organized campaign” to oust him, writes Cabe Solgecol…
Perez called for new club elections and told opponents to come forward and challenge him and the board.
Real Madrid’s president claims that all of the club’s problems this season are the fault of the media and referees, and clearly believes that attack is the best form of defence.
Last week, Federico Valverde and Aurélien Choameni collided during training two days in a row, resulting in Valverde being hospitalized? According to Perez, it wasn’t a big deal, it was a storm in a teacup, and it seems to have happened every time in Perez’s 26 years of football.
He was more worried about the news of the conflict leaking than the actual disturbance, and vowed to resolve it, saying, “Leave it to me. I’ll solve it.”
Perez held a press conference to announce that he would not resign and would run for re-election, but his appearance appeared to be largely motivated by a fervent desire to set the record straight with the media.
“I made this decision because of the absurd situation of the campaign against me,” Perez, 79, said in a statement. “The result wasn’t the best, but something like this has happened before. But they are using it to attack me.
“Some journalists and people want to destroy Real Madrid,” he said. “I will always protect the interests of the members of Madrid.”
At one point, he insulted the male reporters in the room, calling them “ugly” and then announced that he was canceling his subscription to the ABC newspaper, citing its “agenda” against him.
The performance was straight out of President Donald Trump’s playbook on how to deal with “fake news” media.
Never compromise and never apologize.
No wonder Perez is keen to appoint Jose Mourinho next week.
Speaking of “someone special”, Perez did not want Mourinho to draw too much attention: “We are not at that stage of the process.”
To be fair to Perez, you can’t argue with his record.
Over two spells with Real Madrid that spanned approximately 21 years, they won seven European Cups and seven Spanish titles.
Tuesday’s performance put Perez back in the spotlight.
A rival presidential candidate must have been a member of Real Madrid for 20 years and must provide a bank guarantee equal to 15% of the club’s budget.
Perez has been the only candidate in the past four elections. The last time he faced a challenger was in 2009, so he won’t be leaving anytime soon.
His next press conference will likely attract an even larger audience. And the center of attention will not be on a 79-year-old businessman, but on a 63-year-old Portuguese manager.
Casillas: “I don’t want Mourinho at Real Madrid”
Jose Mourinho has been strongly linked with the Real Madrid job
Manager Iker Casillas has called on Real Madrid not to hire Mourinho as manager.
Mourinho is very likely to be appointed as Real’s new manager – 13 years after he left his first stint at the club.
In Mourinho’s final season as manager, he removed captain Casillas as No. 1 goalkeeper in one of his many difficult relationships with his players.
And while Casillas has no personal issues with the “Special One,” he said he doesn’t think he’s the right person for the job.
“I have no problems with Mourinho, he seems to me a great professional,” Casillas wrote in X.
“I don’t want him at Real Madrid. I think other coaches are better suited to coach the club of my life.”
“It’s my personal opinion, nothing more.”
