Former Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane has written an open letter explaining why he decided to step down as the club's manager.
Zidane has delivered three Champions League cups and two La Liga titles across two separate spells at Santiago Bernabeu, but decided to resign at the end of this season following the club's first trophyless campaign since 2009-10.Zidane has now come out to explain the main reasons behind his departure while blasting club president Florentino Perez claiming "I’m leaving because I feel the club no longer has the faith in me I need".
Spanish publication AS have published Zidane's open letter to supporters.
The letter reads: "Dear Real Madrid fans, for more than 20 years, from
the first day I arrived in Madrid and wore the white shirt, you’ve shown
me your love. I wanted to write this letter, to say goodbye to you and
explain my decision to leave the coaching job.
"I’m going, but I’m not jumping overboard, nor am I tired of coaching.
In May 2018 I left because after two and a half years, with so many
victories and so many trophies, I felt the team needed a new approach to
stay at the very highest level. Right now, things are different. I’m
leaving because I feel the club no longer has the faith in me I need,
nor the support to build something in the medium or long term.
"I understand football and I know the demands of a club like Real
Madrid. I know when you don’t win, you have to leave. But with this a
very important thing has been forgotten, everything I built day-to-day
has been forgotten, what I brought to my relationships with the players,
with the 150 people who work with and around the team.
"I’m a natural-born winner and I was here to win trophies, but even more
important than this are the people, their feelings, life itself and I
have the sensation these things have not been taken into account, that
there has been a failure to understand that these things also keep the
dynamics of a great club going. To some extent I have even been rebuked
for it.
"I want there to be respect for what we have achieved together. I would
have liked my relationship with the club and the president over the past
few months to have been a little different to that of other coaches. I
wasn’t asking for privileges, of course not, just a little more
recollection.
"These days the life of a coach in the dugout at a big club is two
seasons, little more. For it to last longer the human relationships are
essential, they are more important than money, more important than fame,
more important than everything. They need to be nurtured.
"That’s why it hurt me so much when I read in the press, after a defeat,
that I would be sacked if I didn’t win the next game. It hurt me and
the whole team because these deliberately leaked messages to the media
negatively influenced the squad, they created doubts and
misunderstandings.
"Luckily I had these amazing lads who were with me to the death. When
things turned ugly they saved me with magnificent victories. Because
they believed in me and knew I believed in them."
Zidane went on to directly address the media to do more to preserve the sanctity of the game and protect the players.
"I’d like to take this opportunity to send a message to the journalists," he added.
"I’ve given hundreds of press conferences and unfortunately we have
spoken very little of football, though I know that you love football,
this sport that brings us together.
"However, and without any desire to criticise or lecture, I would have
liked the questions not to have always been about controversy, that we
might have talked more often about the game and above all the players,
who are and always will be the most important thing in this sport. Let’s
not forget about football, let’s care for it."