Mourinho out! But Replaced with who?

In his debut article for The Football Front, Damian Peters explores the possibilities of who could replace Jose Mourinho at Madrid.

The cries for the head of Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho are so loud after his team suffered another home defeat at the hands of the mighty Barcelona, that even if you had on ear plugs with an ear muff, you would still hear it. This wasn’t helped by the strong reports which revealed last Sunday Jose Mourinho was seriously considering quitting Madrid in the summer.

Many Spanish tabloids echoed what was supposedly are the cries of the fed up Real Madrid fans asking for a change from the negative tactics often deployed by Mourinho against Barcelona, which still most of the time still resulted in his team losing to the Catalan giants.

The aftermath of the game against Barcelona was a PR disaster, with Marca publishing an article which contained an argument between Mourinho, Sergio Ramos and captain Iker Casillas. Indeed, Madrid, Mourinho and the players denied what was printed in the paper, only saying when questioned about it, that they wasn't here to talk about that incident.

Madrid’s home game against Athletic Bilbao was amusing as Jose Mourinho was whistled by some sections of the Bernabeau faithful, though the other sections chanted his name, an accomplishment that no other manager of the club can boast.

For the first time in his reign as coach Los Blancos there was clear discontent among the fans with his tactics and an antics, with many fans asking for him to be replaced as coach. Replaced? Fine, but with who? Which available coach is capable of replacing a man who is a proven winner, with a track record of winning trophies in four different countries and leagues. Not only this he is a leader strong enough to take charge of a dressing room filled with multi-millionaires, each with an ego as huge as the Eiffel Tower.

One such candidate to replace him would be Guus Hiddink, he himself a former coach of Madrid, and currently out of work after leaving his post as coach of the Turkish national team. But his time there was marred by bad results and off-field comments criticising the board and the club, which ultimately led to him being sacked.

Another Candidate would be Arsenal's boss Arsene Wenger. The Arsenal manager is continuously linked with the Madrid jobs. Certain media sources will tell you he turned down The Galacticos to stay at Arsenal. But with Arsenal failing to win a trophy in over six years, is Arsene Wenger the kind of manager the hierarchy at the club wants to bring in? I doubt it. Wenger also might not be interested in ever taking the Madrid job.

Then there is Rafa Benitez, the man who lead Liverpool to Champions League glory in 2005. Benitez has being out of work for over a year and a half now and is presently doing guest punditry on TV. Benitez, without a doubt is a good coach, but his coaching style has being questioned at time, with former players saying that he was distant and cold towards them and that they hardly had a relationship with him. His tactics has also come under fire in the past, his insistence on using a zonal marking system when defending corners even though Liverpool was shipping goal after goal using the system. His activities in the transfer market also ceases to flatter, he was notorious for bringing in very average players and placing them on massive salaries, that is something that the Madrid faithful will not want to see, not with Barcelona threatening to win every title until thy kingdom comes.Yes, some Madrid fans might want Mourinho replaced, but can the available candidates do a better job than he's doing now? Considering how prominent Barcelona are? And do the other candidates even want the job at the moment?

Real Madrid have lacked continuity for a long time, maybe Mourinho is the man to manage the club over a extended period and it would only make sense considering his track record and the amount of money that they invested in the current squad that he wanted assembled.

This article was written by Damian Peters you can find more of his work at http://futbaldisciple.wordpress.com/ . Make sure you follow him on Twitter too: @futbal_disciple