The Eras

Quinta del Buitre

La Quinta del Buitre was the name given by Spanish sport journalist Julio César Iglesias to the generation of club grown Real Madrid players that dominated Spanish football in the 1980s. The name (“Vulture’s Cohort”) was derived from the nickname given to its most charismatic member Emilio Butragueño. The other four members were Manolo Sanchís, Martín Vázquez, Míchel and Miguel Pardeza.

Sanchís and Martín Vázquez were the first to play for the first team of Real Madrid, making their debut at Murcia on December 4, 1983. Coach Alfredo Di Stéfano brought the youngsters in from the start. Both played surprisingly well and Sanchís even scored the winning goal. A few months later, February 5, 1984, saw the debut of Emilio Butragueño in an away game at Cádiz. El Buitre was an instant sensation and scored twice. Pardeza was added to the first team that same season and Míchel followed at the start of the next.

With La Quinta del Buitre (reduced to four members when Pardeza left the club for Zaragoza in 1986) Real Madrid had one of the best teams in Spain and Europe during the second half of the 1980s, winning amongst others two UEFA Cups and 5 Spanish championships in a row. Their record was only blemished by their failure to win the European Cup.

Martín Vázquez went to play for Torino in 1990. He made a return to Real Madrid in 1992, leaving the club again for good in 1995 (to Deportivo La Coruña). Butragueño left the club in 1995 and Míchel in 1996. Both went to play for Atlético Celaya in Mexico.

Sanchís was the only member of La Quinta to never play for a club other than Real Madrid. By winning the Champions League twice (in 1998 and 2000), he also managed to accomplish what La Quinta had failed to achieve in its glory days. He retired in 2001 as last active member of the famous cohort.

The Galáctico Era

Galáctico (or superstar) is a term used to describe a world-famous football player who has been signed by Spanish club Real Madrid. It is mostly associated with the tenure of Florentino Pérez’s presidency, where he purchased at least one galáctico in the summer of every year. The Galácticos nickname, originally used by the media as means of emphasising the greatness of the team, became instead a term used to mock it, and has fallen into disuse.

Los Galácticos included:

• Luís Figo (£38.7m from FC Barcelona) – joined in 2000
• Zinedine Zidane (£44m from Juventus) – joined in 2001
• Ronaldo (£26m from Inter Milan) – joined in 2002
• David Beckham (£25m from Manchester United) – joined in 2003
• Michael Owen (£8m plus Antonio Núñez from Liverpool F.C.) – joined in 2004
• Raul González
• Roberto Carlos da Silva
• Iker Casillas

Pérez becomes President

Though Real Madrid had already won two European Cups (1998, 2000) under the presidency of Lorenzo Sanz, Sanz lost his re-election bid to Florentino Pérez. Pérez had won, partly by promising to sign Luís Figo from rivals F.C. Barcelona.

Pérez made a habit of buying at least one galáctico each summer during the transfer season. The “Galáctico” policy was initially called Zidanes y Pavones. The signing of Figo set a record transfer fee. It was broken a year later by the purchase of Zidane from Juventus F.C. and that record still stands as of 2008. The idea was to sign one major superstar per year and promoted youth players from within. The name Zidanes y Pavones came from Zidane and Francisco Pavón, a youth product from Real Madrid.

2003-2006

However, the policy only met with limited success on the pitch after Real Madrid won their last La Liga title for the 2002-03 season and Florentino Pérez made a few critical mistakes that offseason. Real Madrid would fail to win any trophy for next three seasons. This is possibly because many of the previous clubs ‘Galacticos’ had played for had built their squads around the player, and had a more proper team balance of attack and defense. All of the ‘galaticos’ were attacking players, with generally limited defensive roles and abilities.

Defensive Talent

In particular, a lack of interest in defensive talent harmed the team, as potential transfers were overlooked because Pérez did not want to pay large wages to defensive players. After winning the 2002-2003 La Liga title, Real Madrid signed David Beckham from Manchester United, Claude Makélélé departed the team shortly afterward when the club refused to raise his relatively low salary – despite being widely considered as one of the best defensive midfielders in the world and a key to the team. Negotiations to sign Patrick Vieira from Arsenal F.C. in 2004 failed for similar reasons. The defensive players signed by Perez during this period, namely Walter Samuel, Thomas Gravesen, Cicinho, Carlos Diogo and Pablo García all flopped while playing for the club. Even, Sergio Ramos who joined Real Madrid for €27 million in the summer of 2005 from Sevilla failed to shine until Florentino Pérez’s departure in 2006. Francisco Pavón, the poster boy for Zidanes y Pavones policy, never lived up to expectation.

Del Bosque’s sacking

Another turning point was the surprise firing of coach Vicente Del Bosque, shortly after Real’s 29th league championship in the 2002-2003 season. It was widely believed that there was a political split, with Del Bosque and his players (Fernando Hierro, Fernando Morientes, Steve McManaman and Claude Makélélé) on one side, and Perez on the other. Three of the aforementioned players had backed a significant wage raise for Makélélé and all of them left the club in 2003 in Perez’s shakeup bid to regain control.

More importantly, Del Bosque was able to balance the many different modern player egos in the star studded team, considering that several Galacticos were competing for the same position and had their playing time reduced. Consequently, without such a talented coach, the superstar players placed together failed to form a cohesive footballing unit – having a large number of very talented, renowned individual footballers did not effectively translate into a great footballing team.

A week after the arrival of Manchester United player David Beckham, Carlos Queiroz who was an assistant manager at Manchester United, replaced the exiting Vicente Del Bosque. He too was forced to pick the star players, therefore having no input into tactical decisions. he was sacked in May 2004. Real Madrid has since suffered from high turnover in non-playing staff, with four managers and four directors of football in the four years following Del Bosque’s sacking in 2003.

The signing of David Beckham in 2003 essentially forced Steve McManaman out, as both were competing for the winger position. As their position on the starting lineup was uncertain, this led to the departure of Luís Figo and Michael Owen after the 2004-2005 season; Owen had played less than a full season with Real Madrid before leaving.

Policy

The ‘galacticos’ policy meant that players were picked not according to form, but rather because of their marketing potential off the pitch. This ultimately led to what Steve McManaman later described in his autobiography as the “Disneyfication of Real Madrid”.

Several signings and player management decisions were controversial. David Beckham, a natural right winger, joined the club in 2003 partly due to Beckham’s huge popularity in Asia when Real Madrid already owned another right winger, Luis Figo. One director was, reportedly, quoted saying that Beckham was signed for his good looks and Ronaldinho who joined FC Barcelona the same summer was too “ugly” to play for Real Madrid. Shortly after Beckham joined the club, the team began a summer tour in Asia and the United States cashing on Beckham’s worldwide appeal. Some compared the tour with the first visit of the Beatles to the US in 1964. Ronaldinho would lead the resurgence of FC Barcelona while Real Madrid failed to win any trophy for three straight seasons under Beckham.

Though Real Madrid owned 50% of Samuel Eto’o’s contract with RCD Mallorca since 1998 and had first preference over his signing if he chose to leave RCD Mallorca, Florentino Pérez sold their rights to Eto’o in 2004, arguing that Madrid already had the best two strikers in the league (Ronaldo and Raúl) and that there was no place for another non-European Union player. Eto’o himself also ruled out a move back to Real Madrid thinking that he being a forward would be a surplus at Real Madrid. Yet, Real Madrid signed another forward, Michael Owen the same summer. Eto’o would help F.C. Barcelona to the 2004-05 and 2005-06 La Liga titles and the 2005-06 UEFA Champions League. Meanwhile, Michael Owen, the alternative signing to Eto’o, left after one season after failing to take the starting positions from Ronaldo and Raúl.

In May 2006, Real Madrid fined Italian signing Antonio Cassano and Ronaldo for every gram they remained overweight, while Raúl suffered heavy criticism because of his poor performances in the last two years, seeing him relegated at times to the bench. Jonathan Woodgate was signed for £13.4 million in August 2004 but he did not make his first appearance for the Madrid until September 2005 due to injuries. Only in February 2006 did he emerge as one of the squad’s best defenders but it was cut short due to back surgery.

End of Era

Nonetheless, Los Galácticos policy resulted in increased financial success based on the exploitation of the club’s high marketing potential around the world, especially in Asia. Its economic model led it to finally overtake perennial leader Manchester United as the world’s richest club by revenue in 2005-2006.

However, the decline in the team’s on-field performance had seemingly hit a nadir in the 2005-2006 season, exiting in the UEFA Champions League to Arsenal F.C. in the round of 16 without scoring a goal in either leg. Arsenal’s management is often considered the opposite of Los Galácticos, with Arsène Wenger preferring to sign young unknowns to develop into world-class players. Florentino Pérez resigned on February 27, 2006, leaving to inevitable speculation of the end of the galáctico era at Real Madrid.

The end of an era was compounded when David Beckham left to join MLS side LA Galaxy after the 2006-07 season. He was the last of the big four to move on. Luis Figo had joined Inter Milan two seasons prior while Zidane retired after the 2006 FIFA World Cup and Ronaldo had moved to AC Milan half a season before Beckham’s departure.

Team Excellence

President:

Florentino Perez Rodriguez returns to the Presidency of Real Madrid, the club which he presided over between 2000 and 2006.

Florentino Perez was born in Madrid on 8 March 1947. He is married, has three children and is has a degree in Engeneering from the Escuela Tecnica Superior de Ingenieros de Caminos, Canales y Puertos form Madrid’s Universidad Politecnica, where he also taught Fundamentos Fisicos de las Tecnicas.

He first ran for president in 1994, an election campaign won by Ramon Mendoza. He achieved his goal on 16 July 2000 by defeating incumbent President Lorenzo Sanz. Perez was overwhelmingly re-elected in 2004 and voluntarliy resigned his office on 27 February 2006. Real Madrid underwent a profound transformation in all of its social strata during his office.

When Perez arrived at the Club in 2000, the Director of the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium Plan was set under way with a double objective: improving the comfort of the stadium and the quality of its services and instalations, and increasing the revenue produced by the stadium.

Florentino’s presidency managed to stengthen the Club’s finances, making Real Madrid one of the richest clubs in the world. According to the Deloitte Report -the most prestigious of its kind in the world of football-, Real Madrid overtook Manchester United to become the strongest team in the world financially-speaking. Perez signed stars of the likes of Figo, Zinedine Zidane, Beckham, Owen and Ronaldo, who joined forces with signature players like Raul, Casillas and Guti to create a winning team that thrilled all Madridismo. This magnificent team won two league titles (2001, 2003), one Champions League (2002), one Intercontinental Cup (2002), two Spanish Super Cups (2001, 2003) and one European Super Cup (2002).

Florentino Perez kick started a complete renewal of the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, investing 127 million euros throughout five years. This eventually led to the Bernabeu achieving UEFA’s Elite Stadium distinction. It will host the 2010 Champions League final.

Florentino Perez was also the creator of Real Madrid City at Valdebebas, the most state-of-the-art sport facility in the world. The first stone was laid on 12 May 2004 and the City was inaugurated in 2006. It is the greatest sports center ever built by a football club and covers 1,200,000 square meters, ten times bigger than the old Real Madrid City. Real Madrid Castilla were promoted to the Second Division at Valdebebas.

Florentino Perez’s presidency healed the Club’s financial situation, recovered the institution’s international prestige, obtained great success in the sporting field and, more importantly, regained the pride and admiration of all Madridismo.

Sporting Director:

Miguel Pardeza Pichardo (La Palma del Condado, 1965) will be Real Madrid’s new Sporting Director. He was a youth teamer and member of the famous ‘Quinta del Buitre’ (Butragueño’s  Five), and will now work hard to instill the values he learned at Real Madrid back into the Club.

Miguel Pardeza is a true Madridista, with the values that have traditionally been associated to the Club and the experience needed for his new office as Real Madrid’s Sporting Director.

Member of the unique ‘Quinta del Buitre’, he always stood out for his humble nature and his drive to improve on a daily basis. He grew up in the Club’s academy, learning a football philosophy he has followed both as a player and as an executive.

He was part of the ‘Quinta’ with Sanchis, Butragueño, Michel and Martin Vazquez. They all came from the academy and were promoted to the first team 25 years ago.

He won a Second Division title with Castilla, a First Division Cup with the first team, and two King’s Cups and one European Cup Winners’ Cup with Zaragoza. As Sporting Director, he managed to get Zaragoza promoted to the First Division in his first year of office. He stayed there for six years, winning a King’s Cup title two years after the team’s promotion.

Miguel Pardeza’s career has been marked by his loyalty. The team’s he has a true passion for are Real Madrid and Zaragoza; he retired at Mexican side Puebla.

Deputy Director of Football:

Ramon Martinez

Adviser to the President:

He was one of the most important players in the history of Real Madrid, and now Zinedine Zidane returns home as Adviser to the President.

Zinedine Zidane hung up his boots three seasons ago and no longer dazzles fans with his ball control, dribbling ability and incredible goals. During his second stint with Real Madrid, the Frenchman will serve as Adviser to the President. Florentino Perez did everything in his power to bring Zidane to Real Madrid as a player, and he is counting on him once again but from within the confines of the club.

Zinedine Zidane delighted football fans around the world as a player for Cannes, Girondins, Juventus, Real Madrid and the French national team. He won every title imaginable as both an individual and team member. Among his most memorable performances, the 1998 World Cup and the 2002 Champions League. Madridistas will never forget the sumptuous volley that handed Real Madrid their ninth European Cup.

Zidane was a superstar on the pitch and continues being one off it. He has initiated and supported a multitude of charity events, the majority of which have been related to football. Zinedine Zidane is about to begin a new stage of his life, and it happens to be with Real Madrid, the last club that was blessed with his presence as a player.

Director General and Presidential Aide:

Jorge Valdano (04/10/1955, Santa Fe, Argentina) has been named Director General and Presidential Aide of Real Madrid. The Argentine begins a new era at the Club, after stints as player, coach of the youth system and the first team -with whom he won a league title with impressive football- and Sporting Director. Jorge Valdano is a connoisseur of world football and an expert on Real Madrid.

Jorge Valdano is a key figure in Real Madrid’s recent history. He signed for the Club as a player in 1984 and played as a striker for three years, winning two UEFA Cups with epic comebacks along the way. He retired in 1987 after winning the 1986 World Cup with Argentina.

He joined Real Madrid’s youth system and gained enough experience to sign for Tenerife as coach. He then became first team coach at Real Madrid. For two years he instilled brilliant football on the team and won the 1994/95 league title. He retired as a coach in Valencia in 1997.

He stayed in touch with the  world of football as a commentator in several media and he also wrote five books on the subject: Sueños de fútbol, Cuentos de Fútbol, Cuentos de fútbol II, Los cuadernos de Valdano and El miedo escénico y otras hierbas. He returned to Real Madrid as Sporting Director when Florentino Perez became President in 2000. He has been the Director of the Escuela de Estudios Universitarios Real Madrid – Universidad Europea de Madrid for the past few years.

Jorge Valdano returns again with Florentino Perez. The President has great faith in him because of his great experience and efficiency. No-one knows the Club better than the Argentine.

Director of Institutional Relations:

Emilio Butragueño

Manager:

Manuel Luis Pellegrini Ripamonti’s (Santiago, Chile, 16 September 1953) career in sports has been centered on the two continents where football is considered a religion: South America and Europe. The former is where he began his stint as a player, while the latter has witnessed him become one of the best coaches currently in the industry. “The Engineer” (Pellegrini is a qualified civil engineer) has earned the respect of the old continent through intelligence and his reliance on precision football.

Humble, persistent, intelligent and a reverent demeanor when it comes to ball handling are just a few ways to describe the new head coach of Real Madrid. As many before him, Manuel Luis Pellegrini has always had a bond with football. He spent his entire playing career with the same team, Universidad de Chile. Such loyalty reaped a Copa de Chile; a trophy he later won as coach of Universidad Catolica. He earned the respect of the crowd from his position as a centre-back, where he also laid the foundation for his productive career as a coach.