Читать книгу The Real Madrid Way - Steven G. Mandis - Страница 14
ОглавлениеREAL MADRID was founded in 1902. The club’s origins can be traced to the introduction of soccer to Madrid by academics and students, including several graduates of Cambridge and Oxford. The founders’ inspiration for selecting white as the color of the team’s jerseys was a successful English amateur club, Corinthian FC. Real Madrid is often referred to as Los Blancos (“the Whites”) or Los Merengues (“the Meringues,” a dessert made from whipped egg whites) in reference to its jersey color. The first club crest had a simple design consisting of a decorative interlacing of the three initials of the club, “MCF” for Madrid Club de Fútbol, in dark blue on a white jersey. The first change in the crest occurred in 1908 when the letters adopted a more streamlined form and appeared inside a circle.
“Real” (which is pronounced re ' al) means “royal” in Spanish. King Alfonso XIII of Spain granted the title of Real to the club in 1920 and added a royal crown to their emblem, and around ten years later the club added a purplish band to its emblem.52 Over time, the crest was modified for various reasons and it became full color, with gold as the most prominent color, and the purplish stripe becoming a little more blue.
Although today Real Madrid is closely associated with championships and was named “FIFA Club of the 20th Century,” they were not a dominant team in their early years. Real Madrid won their first Spanish league La Liga title in the 1931–32 season, almost thirty years after their founding.53
The club won La Liga again the following season, but with the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936, professional soccer ceased to be played in Spain. After the war ended, Real Madrid was in very poor shape, while other clubs, such as Athletic Bilbao, Atlético Madrid, and Barcelona, had very good results on the field.54 In 1943, forty-eight-year-old Santiago Bernabéu, a former Real Madrid player and captain, was elected president of Real Madrid—a position he would occupy until his death in 1978.
Bernabéu’s family had moved to Madrid when he was very young. He loved soccer and became a regular spectator at Real Madrid’s games.55 Like most Spanish children, he played soccer, but he started to demonstrate extraordinary ability, work ethic, and competitiveness at a young age. His skills in the playground reached such lore by 1909 that, at only fourteen, he was invited to the Real Madrid junior ranks. At age seventeen, he was promoted to the senior team, playing as a striker. Eventually, Bernabéu wore the captain’s armband for a few years before retiring from playing in 1927. After his retirement, he continued to be associated with the club until 1935, first as a director, later as an assistant manager, and finally as coach of the first team.
Even with Bernabéu’s charisma, once he became president, success on the field and in business did not come immediately. For example, Barcelona won La Liga in 1945, 1948, and 1949. At first, Bernabéu began to implement organizational changes, which took years to complete and produce results. He restructured the club at all levels, in what would become the normal operating structure of professional soccer teams in the future, giving every section and level of the club independent technical teams and recruiting people on merit who were ambitious and visionary in their own right.
In 1947, Bernabéu wanted to get the best players for Real Madrid. To pay for them, he did something innovative at the time. He took a huge financial risk and built the biggest soccer stadium to increase ticket revenues, predicting that the best-playing stars would not only win there but would also draw large crowds to the stadium to see them do it. To finance the stadium, which would one day be named after him,56 he sold bonds to the club members and fans. At the time, many thought it was “too much stadium for so little a club.” Bernabéu’s gamble paid off, and with the larger ticket receipts, Real Madrid was able to afford better players. Real Madrid won La Liga in 1953–54 over defending champion Barcelona. It took Bernabéu ten years to win his first La Liga championship as president (the club’s third Spanish title).
Not content with his success, in 1953, Bernabéu again did something on a scale that was unheard of at the time. He embarked upon an ambitious strategy of signing the best world-class players from abroad, the most famous being Argentine forward Alfredo Di Stéfano, and built the world’s first truly multinational team. After Bernabéu signed Di Stéfano (1953) and his Argentine friend Héctor Rial (1954), in successive years he signed French midfielder Raymond Kopa (1956), Uruguayan defender José Santamaría and Argentine goalkeeper Rogelio Domínguez (1957), Hungarian striker Ferenc Puskás (1958), and Brazilians Canário and Didi (1959). The remaining players were talented Spaniards (including Luis del Sol and Francisco “Paco” Gento). It is important to keep in mind transfer fees, salaries, and bonuses of players in those days were very small in comparison with today. As a matter of fact, Di Stéfano was never considered wealthy by today’s standards.
Chamartin Stadium, located in Madrid, was inaugurated in 1947. In 1955 its name changed to Santiago Bernabéu Stadium.
When Di Stéfano and Rial joined Real Madrid, they not only brought their remarkable skills, they added a “Latin American” style of play. In the 1960 European Cup Final, four of the eleven starters on Real Madrid were from Latin America—two from Argentina, one from Brazil, and one from Uruguay (two other Latin American players were regular contributors/substitutes).
Soccer’s popularity spread rapidly during the mid to late 1800s as British sailors, traders, and soldiers introduced the sport to different parts of the globe. In the alleys of Argentina,57 the immigrant neighborhoods of Uruguay, and the favelas and beaches of Brazil, the philosophy of how a soccer team won was as important as winning.58 The constraints of poverty promoted creativity, imagination, and invention. For example, they tied up newspapers and rolled up socks to make balls to play soccer. Also, their passion for and artistry in music and dance expressed in the natural rhythm and movements of tango, samba, and salsa seemed to transcend to their soccer. Latin American teams played an open, free-flowing, and attacking style of soccer. The players were artists and, in many ways, created with technical showmanship, flair, and a freedom of expression.
In contrast, at the time, European teams utilized discipline and order, denied the opposition space to move, encouraged direct passing, and emphasized a clinical and cautious approach. Their focus was simply on winning, and in some cases, not losing.
Di Stéfano used his elegant playing style, soccer intelligence, and leadership to integrate the players and teach them to value teamwork. His desire for self-improvement and professional pride set the team’s standard and became essential values of Real Madrid. Together with his gifted teammates, Di Stéfano invented modern professional team soccer and embodied all that is magical about it.59 The world-class players followed Di Stéfano’s lead because he was the undisputed leader, and also because these highly skilled players learned that eleven men, when given paint (the ball), could go on to a canvas (the field) and paint a ninety-minute picture of imagination and beauty that expressed them.60 Anything less than ninety minutes of full effort and beautiful, exciting, and attacking soccer with elegance, style, and class—whether the players were winning by several goals or losing—was considered an “unfinished painting” or disrespectful to the art and viewers.
The players had invented or perfected important moves used today, such as the “dry-leaf” dipping free-kick, which is a curling ball that drops precipitously, like a leaf picked up by a gust of wind that then suddenly stops and unexpectedly swerves downward, at a point near the goal; and the quick, technically precise instep pass. Just three miles down the Paseo de la Castellana (“Castellana Street”) from the Museo Nacional del Prado (“Prado Museum”), which housed some of the works from the greatest artists, Bernabéu showcased the greatest soccer players in the world playing in a mesmeric style never seen before in Europe. Their artistry fit perfectly because Madrid, the highest capital in Europe built on a vast elevated plateau in the center of the country, has a community rich in history and culture that could appreciate the beauty and artistry. Spain also had the natural advantage of the same language as, and a long history with, most of Latin America, so the Latin American players found it easier to communicate and assimilate. Di Stéfano and the others also had an honor, modesty, and elegance both on and off the field that Madrileños, natives or inhabitants of Madrid, respected and identified with. The Real Madrid community loved and passionately supported the club, in part because they wanted to be, and play like, them. Interestingly, the beauty, freedom of expression, and values resonated with so many people around the world beyond Madrid, that Real Madrid transcended Madrid and even Spain. As the team traveled around the world, had the best players from around the world whose countrymen followed, and was shown on TV, more people around the globe started to pay attention and passionately support the club. The best example of the players, their style of play, and fan reaction is described in the 1960 European Cup final on page 57.
Bernabéu’s ability to build an international team with flair was even more astonishing because it was done under the relatively closed and restrictive dictatorship of General Francisco Franco and during years of extreme poverty in Spain.61 Perhaps the freedom of expression conveyed by their style of play at a time of a dictatorship added to the appreciation of the team. Although Franco was not an exuberant fan of soccer, he advantageously used Real Madrid’s global fans and prestige as an ambassador of Spain (similar to a Spanish brand) in the time of political isolation of his regime, especially in the 1950s.
Bernabéu realized that to have the best team, he also needed to invest in infrastructure and the development of players. With his direction, the Ciudad Deportiva (“Sport City”) training facilities were built on Madrid’s outskirts so that the players could train without destroying the stadium’s field.62 Also, this allowed second team and youth players to train in the same location. They could share resources, but more importantly the star players would be an inspiration to the homegrown talent. The Ciudad Deportiva was a novel concept at the time. (Barcelona would not start an academy until 1970.)
In the mid-1950s, Bernabéu helped create the European Champion Clubs’ Cup, simply referred to as the European Cup (later renamed as the UEFA Champions League), to showcase the team and build the Real Madrid brand beyond Spain. He wanted them to play in a tournament against the best teams from every country and teamed up with French magazine L’Equipe to put together the first European tournament. The idea gained momentum and during a meeting of nineteen European teams convened by the magazine in April 1955, it was agreed that a European Cup should be inaugurated. The first European Champion Clubs’ Cup was held that autumn. Real Madrid won the first five European Cups from 1955 to 1960.
In 1952, Bernabéu, realizing the importance of rituals and traditions, personally oversaw the creation of the club’s anthem, “Hala Madrid!”63 By 1960, television coverage of the European Cup Final had made Real Madrid the world’s best-known soccer club. Bernabéu took his star-studded club around the world to play friendly games to make more money as well as build the club’s brand globally.
Santiago Bernabéu (right) transformed the history of Real Madrid by signing Alfredo Di Stéfano (left), considered one of the best soccer players in history.
Fans saw soccer history unfolding during this time, but unbeknownst to them, they also were witnessing sports management history. Bernabéu’s strategy seemed simple: sign the best players from around the world, such as Di Stéfano, Kopa, Santamaría, and Puskás, the first galácticos, that captured the imagination of fans and attracted new ones. It wasn’t only the players people wanted to see but also their beautifully elegant attacking style of play. Equally important, Bernabéu had a strategy to pay for the players with the large number of stadium ticket receipts and international friendly appearance fees. He helped start a European tournament to showcase his club and build an international brand. He invested in infrastructure and the development of players. He established and cultivated traditions and rituals to build loyalty and passion. His strategies on the field (get the best players in the world to play an attacking style), in the organization (have the best staff members focus on functional areas, investments in infrastructure and people), and in business (build a large stadium to fund the players, build a global brand) were highly innovative and unproven at the time. I refer to this period as Galácticos 1.0. I look at the period more holistically as an “economic-sport model” rather than just calling the players “galácticos.” I refer to it as version 1.0 because in many ways Peréz and his executives draw from that era to innovate further in (what I also refer to as) the version 2.0 in 2000, the version 3.0 in 2009, and version 4.0 in 2015–16.
On May 18, 1960, Real Madrid’s soccer players walk through the tunnel at Glasgow’s Hampden Park Stadium and onto the field to the flashing lights, echoing screams, and haunting chants of 127,621 soccer fans, a European Cup final attendance record that has yet to be broken. In the record crowd is Alex Ferguson, an eighteen-year old forward with Queen’s Park. The legendary Kenneth Wolstenholme will be calling the game for the BBC. With the temperature hovering around forty-one degrees Fahrenheit in the evening, all of the players have chosen to wear their all-white, long-sleeved jerseys. The jerseys only have the simple Real Madrid crest design over their hearts on the front (no sponsor logos) and their numbers on the back (no names).
The four-time defending champions had beaten rival Barcelona in the semifinals to make the final against opponent Eintracht Frankfurt, whose starting players are all German.64 In contrast, Real Madrid is a team of the best players from around the world (five of the eleven starters were born outside of Spain: four from Latin America and one from Eastern Europe). The galácticos in the starting line-up include Di Stéfano, considered one of the greatest soccer players of all time. (Pelé once described Di Stéfano as “the most complete footballer in the history of the game.”65) Di Stéfano, nicknamed “Saeta Rubia” (“Blonde Arrow”), was awarded the Ballon d’Or for the European Footballer of the Year in 1957 and 1959. He has a fearsome partnership with Puskás, a 1952 Olympic champion who joined the team in 1958 after having led his nation, Hungary, to the final of the 1954 World Cup where he was named the tournament’s best player. “Paco” Gento, Santamaría (nicknamed “the Wall”), and del Sol, who did not miss one minute of action in any game that season, are the backbone support for Di Stéfano and Puskás. Domínguez, at six feet and three inches tall, is the imposing goalkeeper. The team is coached by Miguel Muñoz, a retired Real Madrid player who had scored Real Madrid’s first-ever goal in the European Cup tournament, helping the team to a 2–0 away win against Servette FC in September 1955.66
With that background, the 1960 European Cup final commences. In the eighteenth minute of the 1960 European Cup final, Eintracht Frankfurt scores the first goal. Then, superstar Di Stéfano scores Real Madrid’s first goal in the twenty-seventh minute to tie the game, and then scores again three minutes later to take the lead. The tireless Di Stéfano seems to be everywhere with speed and control. Puskás, too, is unstoppable. He scores from an impossible angle for his first goal, adding a second from a penalty kick, after Gento is brought down inside the penalty area, and then shoots a left-footed bullet from outside the penalty area for his third to give Madrid a five-goal cushion. The Hungarian scores on a header for his fourth goal and Real Madrid’s sixth. Three minutes after Eintracht scores their second, Di Stéfano responds in the seventy-fifth minute for his third goal and Real Madrid’s seventh, with an assist from Puskás. Eintracht scores the last goal of the game on a careless Real Madrid back pass in the seventy-sixth minute. Three total goals, a hat trick, by Di Stéfano, and four goals by Puskás help Real Madrid blow away Eintracht Frankfurt 7–3 in a night to remember for Real Madrid.67
The game is widely regarded as one of the best soccer games ever played and the one that opened people’s eyes to what soccer could be. The flow of goals and graceful and beautiful play was breathtaking and had the Glasgow crowd completely awestruck.68 The next day a Daily Mail article stated, “It’s just a pity that the thousands of people at the game, and those who have to return to watching Scottish football, must have thought that they were dreaming.” Jimmy Johnstone, the great Scottish soccer player who saw the game in person when he was sixteen years old, said, “The match remained the biggest single influence on my career. It was like a fantasy staged in heaven. I had never seen football like it, nor would I ever again. I’ll recite the names of that Madrid forward line till the day I die.”69
Real Madrid had won its fifth consecutive European championship. As a result, Muñoz became the first person to win the competition as both a player and a coach, Di Stéfano and Puskás became the first to ever score hat tricks in a final, and Di Stéfano became the only player to score in five consecutive European Cup finals. Also, Paco Gento, who appeared in all five of the European Cup finals for Real Madrid, would play in three more and win yet another in 1966. Three of the twenty-five Real Madrid players were graduates of the Real Madrid youth academy.
The 1959–60 Real Madrid team that won its fifth European Cup in Hampden Park, Glasgow, beating Eintracht of Frankfurt (7–3) in what has been considered the best final in European Cup history. Back row (left to right): Dominguez, Marquitos, Santamaría, Pachín, Vidal, Zárraga. Front row: Canario, Del Sol, Di Stéfano, Puskas, Gento.
It is important not to get lost in nostalgia about Real Madrid’s on-field performance from 1955–60, during their five-time European championship run. Galácticos 1.0 became a legend, for good reasons, and this legend has been conveyed from generation to generation of the Real Madrid community and global soccer fans. A collective memory of it exists. However, it is critical to go back and understand what happened then. The club had the best players in the world and was beautiful to watch, but they did not win every game; they didn’t win every Spanish league championship; and they had coaching turmoil.
Coaching
Bernabéu took over as president in 1943. Before he hired Muñoz in 1960, who would coach until 1974, Bernabéu changed coaches fourteen times in seventeen years. Only one coach, José Villalonga, lasted more than three years. During the 1955–60 European Cup run, the club changed coaches six times: José Villalonga, Luis Carniglia, Miguel Muñoz, Carniglia (again), Manuel Fleitas, and Muñoz (again). Two coaches were fired right after winning a European Cup: Villalonga and Carniglia.
Table 3.1: Real Madrid Coaching Changes Between 1955 and 1960
* Fired shortly after winning a European Cup.
