When Zinedine Zidane announced on Thursday that he was stepping down as Real Madrid manager, it came as a shock.
But perhaps it shouldn’t have.
Yes, nobody saw this coming. Especially not less than a week after the Frenchman wrote his name into the history books, leading Los Blancos to an unprecedented third straight Champions League title. It was his ninth trophy in two-and-a-half seasons, a frankly ridiculous run of success.
Two-and-a-half seasons, though, is a long time at one of the top two clubs in La Liga. When Zidane replaced Rafael Benitez in January 2016, he was the eighth manager in 12 years of club president Florentino Perez’s reign.
Barcelona are familiar with the pattern. Pep Guardiola was worn out after four seasons. Luis Enrique was cutting a weary, bitter figure in the months before he left the club, at the end of a three-season spell. Managers don’t last long at Spain’s two biggest clubs.
Compare that with Diego Simeone, who has been at Atlético Madrid, where he faces less scrutiny, for seven years.
It was telling that Zidane used the same word during his announcement that Guardiola had when he brought his time at Barcelona to an end: desgaste – “worn out, out of gas.” Both he and Enrique decided to take a year off after leaving the Catalan club, and Zidane says he too is not looking for an immediate return to coaching.
Managerial churn is not unique to Spain’s ruling duopoly. Chelsea have had 12 managers, if you count Jose Mourinho and Guus Hiddink’s two spells separately, in 15 years under Roman Abramovich, and are likely to hire their 13th soon.
Manchester United have had four managers since Sir Alex Ferguson retired in 2013; Bayern Munich 10 (counting Jupp Heynckes twice), soon to be 11, since Felix Magath’s three-season spell ended in 2007. The two Milan clubs have had a combined 13 managers since 2014.
But elsewhere, unless they’ve decided to retire, most of these managers are looking for new jobs instantly. Antonio Conte is ready to dive into a new job despite two tiring seasons at Chelsea. Mourinho has rarely wasted any time finding a new job.
Even Arsène Wenger, who is understandably weary after the sniping and general negativity that has surrounded him and Arsenal in recent seasons, is reportedly already on the hunt for his next job.
By comparison, Zidane’s desire for a break, harking back to Guardiola and Enrique’s sabbaticals, shows how gruelling life in the hot seat is at Real Madrid and Barcelona.
Think of this: having led Madrid to what was already a historic achievement by winning a second straight Champions League title, Zidane was subject to speculation that his job was on the line the moment his team began to wobble this season.
Criticism of his selection decisions, formations, and substitutions led to an image that a manager who, by the end of the season would have won nine trophies in less than three seasons, had little to no tactical acumen. A star player, Isco – whose career owes so much to Zidane – took to the media to hit out at him the moment he was no longer being consistently chosen in the starting XI.
Who would want to be a manager, under those circumstances?
Zidane clearly doesn’t. And so the short life cycle of Real Madrid and Barcelona managers continues.
