They have taken a risk if they are on a collision course with the players. Hierro you hope will smooth the waters.
Julen Lopetegui watch
- Thread starter KM
- Start date
Just a joke
sure,of course It's a jokeEspecially given this could well be many senior players' last world cup. If this goes wrong then the Spanish FA have left them open to attack from some iconic players.
Absurd series of events. I do think the Spanish FA have every right to be livid. The national team job is naturally going to be seen as the position of highest prestige by them/the nation, and for the manager to just stride off merily into the sunset with no fecks given and little room for substantial notice, succession planning etc. just isn't right.
Still, it is only 2 days prior to their first game.
Still, it is only 2 days prior to their first game.
he is spanish
Spanish FA didn't want to see like a pet of Madrid and did this. It's the right thing to do from a perception standpoint.
The optics are terrible if the guy wasn't sacked.
The optics are terrible if the guy wasn't sacked.
It would still be Ramos before Iniesta seeing as he's captain.
Lopetegui to blame.
What an odd set of circumstances. The thing is, it's not that common for a NT boss of one of the tournament favourites to announce that he already has another job lined up literally days before the tournament starts. You don't want people to be put in odd positions. He is leaving the Spanish NT to sign for a Spanish team. Right away, he is put in the equally awkward positions of 1) should he prioritise the Madrid players in the squad at the expense of the other Spanish club players, thus creating a feeling of favouritism that might damage morale in the squad? or 2) does he go the other way and protect the Madrid players from playing and training too much because he's thinking about the season ahead when Spanish fans would rightfully say that several Madrid players are key to the NT's hopes of success. As mentioned, it's really bad optics for him to continue in the job having not told anyone until it literally just happened, knowing that he'll be asked awkward questions, people accusing him of not caring about this or that player, or whatever. And what if he went on to win the World Cup, people would want him to stay. Or what if he bombed massively and fell out with the squad, do Madrid still want him then?
The correct way of doing this would be to keep it quiet until Spain are balls deep into the tournament, then it could be used as a "let's win this one for the Gipper" type motivation. Obviously the other option of announcing it months beforehand wasn't possible in this case.
The correct way of doing this would be to keep it quiet until Spain are balls deep into the tournament, then it could be used as a "let's win this one for the Gipper" type motivation. Obviously the other option of announcing it months beforehand wasn't possible in this case.
Hopefully Ronaldo is out of Madrid soon enough, so I can be back "hating" Madrid and their fiasco.
Madrid are top of the blame pile for me. It's the head coach of their own national side and they've been working behind the scenes to turn his head in the days or weeks leading up to a world cup. That's despicable behaviour whichever way you look at it.
The onus is on them to approach the Spanish FA before they begin discussions with the coach but they didn't do that because they knew full well they'd be told to wait until after the world cup.
The Spanish FA can't just roll over and be made to look like the bullied younger brother just because Madrid want yet another new manager and they want him now.
Next up is Lopetegui who should have shown more integrity and approached the FA as soon as Madrid made contact or at the very least, when he started to consider accepting. To be honest, if he had more integrity he would've told Madrid to come back after the world cup but obviously he was afraid a poor showing might affect his chances.
Last of all is any blame at the feet of the FA. Yes the decision does feel like somewhat of a personal reaction and they could've just sucked it up until after the world cup. But what sort of precedent would that set? It would look terrible if the national side just rolled over and allowed itself to be cuckolded by Real Madrid two days before a major tournament.
I think they've made the right decision regardless of the impact it has on their world cup campaign. Making the wrong one just because you want to do better in a tournament isn't showing more integrity and isn't long term thinking.
After the cup is done and dusted, the FA need to find a way to properly punish Madrid for this fiasco. It's one thing walking all over most of the other sides in their league whenever they feel like it but they cant be allowed to publicly take the piss out of their own national set up.
The onus is on them to approach the Spanish FA before they begin discussions with the coach but they didn't do that because they knew full well they'd be told to wait until after the world cup.
The Spanish FA can't just roll over and be made to look like the bullied younger brother just because Madrid want yet another new manager and they want him now.
Next up is Lopetegui who should have shown more integrity and approached the FA as soon as Madrid made contact or at the very least, when he started to consider accepting. To be honest, if he had more integrity he would've told Madrid to come back after the world cup but obviously he was afraid a poor showing might affect his chances.
Last of all is any blame at the feet of the FA. Yes the decision does feel like somewhat of a personal reaction and they could've just sucked it up until after the world cup. But what sort of precedent would that set? It would look terrible if the national side just rolled over and allowed itself to be cuckolded by Real Madrid two days before a major tournament.
I think they've made the right decision regardless of the impact it has on their world cup campaign. Making the wrong one just because you want to do better in a tournament isn't showing more integrity and isn't long term thinking.
After the cup is done and dusted, the FA need to find a way to properly punish Madrid for this fiasco. It's one thing walking all over most of the other sides in their league whenever they feel like it but they cant be allowed to publicly take the piss out of their own national set up.
He'll probably get sacked by December. Wonder if he'll regret it
This doesn't make any sense to me.
Lopetegui was contacted by Madrid, he was negotiating with them agreed to join them after the world cup, some players got wind of it somehow it leaked and he had to make a hurried announcement.
This isn't the first time a coach is signing for another job while still at the current job. Most career people interview and agree terms for new employer while at old employer
LvG signed to join Man Utd while still at Holland at World cup 2014, Conte signed to coach Chelsea while still coach or Italy at Euro 2016, Guardiola agreed to join City while still Bayern coach, Mourinho agreed to join Chelsea while still in Madrid, Mou agreed to join Madrid while still at Inter.
So I honestly don't get the rationale and throwing away the chance at a world cup because of this, an entire nation, the players were looking forward to it.
If Spain doesn't win, then the whole nation will say, well, who knows what could have happened if we didn't sack the coach.
Lopetegui was contacted by Madrid, he was negotiating with them agreed to join them after the world cup, some players got wind of it somehow it leaked and he had to make a hurried announcement.
This isn't the first time a coach is signing for another job while still at the current job. Most career people interview and agree terms for new employer while at old employer
LvG signed to join Man Utd while still at Holland at World cup 2014, Conte signed to coach Chelsea while still coach or Italy at Euro 2016, Guardiola agreed to join City while still Bayern coach, Mourinho agreed to join Chelsea while still in Madrid, Mou agreed to join Madrid while still at Inter.
So I honestly don't get the rationale and throwing away the chance at a world cup because of this, an entire nation, the players were looking forward to it.
If Spain doesn't win, then the whole nation will say, well, who knows what could have happened if we didn't sack the coach.
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his future in Madrid has already been marked. Madrid are too popular and often identified with country / national team.
There will be who will defend him for his desire to train Madrid, for his great sacrifice, but I imagine a current against him,very demanding.
There will be who will defend him for his desire to train Madrid, for his great sacrifice, but I imagine a current against him,very demanding.
What will be expected off him? La Liga title? CL again? Both?
Bored of this now.
What other World Cup stories are there out there?
What other World Cup stories are there out there?
I guess at least la liga
You could follow Jesse Lingard and know how many toothbrushes he has packed to go to Russia
What if he doesn't? Will Perez and the fans show some patience for once?
I'm yet to meet a spaniard with bigger priorities than their own ego, it's only right that their FA represents the people
ffs, you are defending ronaldo here 24/7, the biggest ego in history!Edit - nevermind, thought you were being serious.
I don't think so
What are the odds now? I suspect they've gone up quite a bit?
Hmm...
I was hoping for some "United sign exciting player" news before the World Cup starts so that we could watch said player during World Cup.
Instead we're stuck with Real Madrid stealing their own National Team's manager, and Jesse Lingard's toothbrushes...
Come on, football, give us some good stuff!
The winner in all of this is Sergio Ramos. He still gets to work with Lopetegui and now he controls the National team. I'm surprised he wasn't made the coach.
He is almost like the coach now,and probably Piqué too.I think despite being veterans Iniesta and Silva have less weight.
Hierro can try to keep things simple but at the end this should be dressing room management
Ronaldo and Mourinho aren't normal "portuguese" standard... oh well there is always Paulo Futre
Edit - nevermind, thought you were being serious.
Edit - nevermind, thought you were being serious.
It is simple. They contacted him and negotiated with him without warning the Spanish FA which is something you just don't do
Apparently it's not that he didn't tell them until 5 minutes before the official announcement, it's that the deal was agreed 5 minutes before the official announcement
There's so many points this doesn't bode well with FA and the Spain:
1. Discontent within the squad, with how Madrid disrupting their preparation by actively hijacking their manager (only 48 hours before the world cup starts), and Madrid players off course
2. How the madrid players tries to tap him up, urging Flo to sign him while knowing he still has a job of managing their nation, very disrespectful, and when the push comes to the shoves they band together and asking for the FA not to sack him
3. Conflict of interest with Madrid players, would he play more Madrid players? would he rest them to avoid injury? He'd be damned either way
4. It's all about courtesy and being a gentlemen, you don't go out and sign a new contract shortly after singing a contract extension and you only tell your employer 5 minutes before press conference.
With Conte/LVG it's a different case, as Chelsea and United aren't Italian and England team, there's no conflict of interest that Conte / LVG can still do their job professionally. IIRC wasn't Van Gaal's only officially appointed after the duthc final match?
Will he build a tower in the middle of the training ground like he did at Porto?
That was definitely build so he could go do his hobby of birdwatching while at work.First 30 minutes and it bored me to tears, never tried again...
Do you how long the negotiations took ? Surely he should have warned the FA as soon as he was contacted
Meh, think it will depend on well he does and what managers will be available. Granted this mess puts a lot more pressure on him than there would have been otherwise...
This. 100% this.
Also laughing my tits off at the people talking about morality. Have you lot actually seen football before?
If the reconstructions i've seen are true, this was very much a lightning deal. Like Monday Flo called him out of the blue, they spoke for hours on the phone and reached an agreement, and by the time the phone call ended everything was done and they told the lawyers to prepare the contracts, then they contacted Rubiales to inform him. "5 minutes" later came the official announcement.
Will make it all the more hilarious when Real sack him by January