Zidane’s New Job a Real Head-Scratcher

The language of sport has always been closely aligned with that of war and the military. Players call themselves warriors, effin’ soldiers even, and it’s rare that a story about a team performing well under new management doesn’t give credit to a streamlined chain of command.

The Third Man?

Knowing who’s in charge, and what that person thinks about you, is very important to the modern athlete. It makes sense, too,that given the storm of tabloid chatter a player would like to get the news first from his boss.  (How many times have you heard a player say, in praise of a manager or coach, “You always know where you stand with the Skipper”?)

And when things start to turn, when the team, and this is especially true with the more high-profile clubs, loses its way and the manager’s position hangs in doubt, there’s the inevitable grumbling about a mole– an interlocutor or a go-between who’s gone over the head of the manager to the director’s box. When the players gain a direct line to the owners (or president, etc), the chain of command is broken and, inevitably, politics overwhelm performance.

That reality being what it is, I find it baffling that Real Madrid would officially sanction “the go-between,” going as far as to hire one at a considerable salary. Most organizations work tirelessly to weed these characters out. Real goes out and orders the guy his own letterhead.

Of course, this guy is not just some guy. It’s Zinedine Zidane– Galactico on line one!– who’s now assumed the title of “liaison between the President and the players.” The manager, some bloke named Mourinho, has said he’s entirely on board with the idea– an that’s really what it remains at this point: an idea. I’ve found no better explanation of Zidane’s role than he will facilitate communication between the players and the club president.

Dissecting the machinations at Real Madrid is a blind task. Everyone knows the top line, but there’s always more to it. (Kind of like Pakistani politics. We know the ISI is in cahoots with the Taliban, but really, what does that mean?) Zidane had served, in American college football terms, as a booster this past off-season. As the games began, he began to assert himself more with the team, lending a toe in practice and, as I understand, lending his brain to the players who thought to pick at it.

But the new job seems bound to end poorly. Real have been emboldened by their start under Mourinho. The Portuguese has been in the job only a few months and already the team has taken on his best characteristic… Winner.

In Mourinho’s world, that is all. Presented with the Zidane hire, a lesser manager might have grumbled. The Special One is so self-confident, sooome might say overly-so, that he has openly endorsed the move. Why not? If things go wrong, the algebra would indicate it was Zidane to blame.

If only it were so simple.