Managers

Although, during the last six weeks of 2015, Real Madrid president Florentino Perez said he supported the permanence of Rafa Benitez as coach his club, just four days into 2016 Perez changed his mind. Now Zinedine Zidane is the new man in charge of Los Blancos.

So, The18 presents 18 facts about the life of Zidane, a former excellent player who is beginning his coaching career in a difficult moment for Real Madrid. If he fails will be Benitez and Perez’s fault, but any positive result would be his individual achievement.

After the rumours spread throughout the past weeks, the call has been made: Rafa Benítez is reportedly no longer Real Madrid’s coach after a draw in Mestalla.

Ricardo “Tuca” Ferretti just led Tigres to the 2015 Apertura Championship in Liga MX. It cost him dearly though. It cost him his mustache. Tuca bet his players that if they won the championship final against Pumas, he would shave his famous mustache.

With all the motivation that came from making that bet, Tigres would go on to win the Apertura Championship in a penalty shoot-out win against Pumas. 

I wrote a poem about Miguel Herrera for Christmas. Here it is:

'Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house,

Not a creature was stirring, except for The Louse;

The plates were put out in the kitchen with care,

And piled with traditional Mexican fare;

Club Tijuana's players were snug in their beds,

While visions of La Clausura danced in their heads;

With a big red suit and a puffy red hat,

Louis van Gaal may be sacked by Manchester United this season, and the sacking of Louis van Gaal may come sooner rather than later, but the sacking of Louis van Gaal has not already happened. Tell that to BBC reporter Trevor Sinclair, who reported LVG's sacking on Twitter.

Or did he?

Jose Mourinho is like a carton of milk — once past expiration, it is no good to anyone. The magic in the Special One’s “us-against-them” approach quickly wore off in 2015/16 as the Chelsea dressing room dissipated into warring factions and clash of egos. The Portuguese has long been hailed as the premier man manager in the world, but that gift left him when he needed it the most.

Thursday, December 17 was a day that shall live in infamy for Chelsea fans. When the news broke shortly before 10:00 a.m. EST that Chelsea had parted ways with managerial legend Jose Mourinho, it plunged me into a state of darkness that I have not experienced in many years.

The post-match interview can often be a game of trotting out clichés for managers – a game in which they avoid eye contact with eager interviewers who want some good (i.e., will go viral) manager quotes.

We will be honest. Of all the famous former Barcelona players, Samuel Eto'o is not the one we would have expected to make a move into coaching.

Carles Puyol? Definitely. Xavi? Sure. But Eto'o? Since when do poachers go in for coaching?

Samuel Eto'o was, and is, a great goal-scorer. And now his club, Antalyaspor, has sacked former manager Yusuf Simsek and appointed Eto'o as the temporary player-manager until they can find a new coach.

Former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has admitted to losing sleep and phoning Tonya Harding for advice over Liverpool’s appointment of Jurgen Klopp as manager. Well...maybe not. If Ferguson has been watching recent United matches, he’s not having any trouble sleeping. He might have Tonya's mobile number, though.