Did Los Blancos consider these guys before appointing Juande?

With a UEFA Cup, UEFA Super Cup, third place La Liga finish, Champions League qualification and Copa del Rey to his name, Juande Ramos is understandably held in high regard in his home nation. However, Los Blancos have resisted the urge to place all their eggs in the Ramos basket, offering him a six month contract that suggests he is more of a “stop gap” solution. With this in mind, The Spoiler has considered five other candidates who deserved an interview with Mr Calderon…

Didier Deschamps
The job hunting Frenchman took Monaco to the Champions League final in 2004 and guided Juventus to promotion in 2007 (although getting a team with Buffon, Del Piero and Nedved promoted from Serie B is hardly the most impressive feat). His career as a player wasn’t too bad either: he picked up domestic titles in both Italy and France, an FA cup winners medal in his year at Chelsea, twice won the Champions League and won the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000 while captain of France. How’s that for a winning mentality?

Vicente Del Bosque
Sometimes you’ve got to go backwards to go forwards. Real Madrid enjoyed their most successful spell in modern history under Del Bosque last time he was in charge. He finished in the last four of the Champions League every year he was there, winning the competition on two occasions. He won two league titles while playing the attacking football the Madrid faithful crave, basing a team around Galacticos Ronaldo, Luis Figo and Zidane. Del Bosque might currently be in charge of Spain, taking over from Luis Aragones in the summer, but it’s his first national job and he’s probably bored of doing chuff all, and misses the day-to-day rigors of club management.

Michael Laudrup
Like Bernd Shuster, Laudrup played for rivals Barcelona before switching directly to Real. He was voted the best foreign player in Spain over the last 25 years of the 20th century and won five titles in a row (four at Barcelona and one at Madrid). He wasn’t just a decent player though - he has done well in management too. He won the Danish league, Danish Cup and Danish Super Cup in his spell as Bronby boss. He also impressed whilst managing Getafe last year, bringing an attacking style to the Spanish club which led them to the Copa Del Ray final. And with his current side Spartak Moscow mid table in the Russian Premier League, you’d think he’d be keen to sack off the Russian winter to return to Spain.

Raul
Here’s a curve ball. The Spaniard has been synonymous with Madrid ever since he broke into the first team 14 years ago. He has spent his entire club career with Madrid winning six league titles and three European Cups in the process. While Captain Raul has no coaching experience his 300 plus goals have elevated him to hero status at the club and he is destined to overhaul Alfred Di Stefano’s club record of 307 this season. His lack of managerial expertise wouldn’t make him the most obvious candidate, but he would be popular among most fans in an Alan Shearer-managing-Newcastle kind of way. Obviously we don’t endorse Shearer’s managerial abilities, but Josep Guardiola has proved successful in his transformation from legendary player to manager at rivals Barcelona.

Arsene Wenger
If he were ever lured away from North London (or if the jeers calling for his head a few weeks ago had intensified), Wenger and Madrid would be a dream combination. The Professor’s Arsenal epitomises Madrid’s attacking philosophy and he would give the Bernabeu crowd the free flowing football they crave. Playing full-backs in midfield might not work at Arsenal, just ask Eboue - but playing Marcelo anywhere other than defence might cover up the cracks in his game; namely defending. However, if Wenger went to Madrid, Fabio Cannavaro would most probably have a Gallas-esque breakdown, fan-favourite Raul would be sent packing to the fans dismay (a la Thierry Henry and Patrick Viera), and Wenger would refuse to spend the clubs money on big names, instead opting to sign promising 16-year-olds and shit-stirring Frenchmen.

[Research: Danny Harris]