Real Madrid
An interesting, but not entirely surprising piece from today's Guardian Football pages reveals the insane system in place at Real Madrid, one of the world's leading football clubs:
"Ever aware of the need to balance bad PR with good, Real Madrid yesterday announced that Jonathan Woodgate was close to a return to fitness.
The announcement, on the club's website after Real Madrid's 3-0 humiliation in Germany on Wednesday, said the £14m defender had undergone a scan on his torn left thigh which gave him the all-clear. It added that he would rejoin training with his team-mates "in the next few days".
This echoes the claims made when Woodgate signed from Newcastle, but Madrid sources have confirmed the player is further away from full fitness than yesterday's communique suggests and the club president Florentino Pérez would like.
When Woodgate was unveiled on August 21, Pérez insisted Madrid's latest Englishman would play within two or three weeks, but despite yesterday's announcement Woodgate will not appear against Espanyol tomorrow night - he will not even travel. Nor will he be available for the following three games.
It appears that Woodgate, who has not kicked a ball for almost five months, is likely to make his debut on October 2, at the earliest.
And club insiders have revealed that while Pérez is desperate for Woodgate to make his debut, medical staff insist the president's initial timescale was never realistic. They have also admitted fears about his long-term fitness.
The latest scan shows the immediate muscle tear itself has now healed but, having missed so many months, doctors have been working not only on the injury but also on Woodgate's muscle strength and elasticity, as well as his cardiovascular resistance.
Woodgate has suffered three muscle tears in the same area and instead of recovering fully, scar tissue has developed, leaving "pockets" in the muscle.
Woodgate passed a Madrid medical but, as one insider put it, that was a "Florentino Pérez medical" - the same test that Ronaldo flew through and Gabriel Milito, the man the president thought too expensive for a centre-back, mysteriously did not."
It's been well known ever since Mr Perez first became Real Madrid president that the signings the club made were more about the commercial side of the club than the footballing side. His collection of so called galacticos were bought as so-called 'presents' for his managers. While it's unlikely (m)any managers would complain at having his squad bolstered with players of the undoubted class of Figo, Zidane, Ronaldo, Beckham and Owen, the loss of such players in recent years as Hierro, Karanka, Geremi, and - most notably - Makelele were ultimately not accounted for.
Take, for example, last season's sales and purchases. The major signing was, as we all know, England captain David Beckham. At the same time, they lost Hierro, Makelele, and decided to loan prolific striker Fernando Morientes to Monaco. Suddenly, their defence is porous, their midfield lacks spine, and an off-form Raül is being propped up by the magnificent Ronaldo and supersub Javier Portillo. Last season turned into an unmitigated disaster for Real, with no trophies, third place in La Liga behind fellow overhyped 'superclub' Barcelona, and humiliated in the Champions League quarter finals by a Morientes-led AS Monaco.
Perez's strategy for last season was a total failure, as has been shown up with the signing of defenders Walter Samuel and the aforementioned Woodgate, which, the above article aside, seem perfectly logical signings. He's also done a total U-turn with his striking strategy, which suddenly seems absurdly overstocked with Raül, Ronaldo, Morientes and Owen. It's happened before, but one could be forgiven for thinking that Perez has seen the error of his ways, and after re-election he has taken the true needs of the club to heart.
Then stories like this pop up. It's inconceivable that a club of the stature of Real Madrid sign a player with such grave doubts as to his long term fitness. Anyone remember Ruud van Nistelrooy's initial medical at Manchester United in the summer of 2000? Deal signed and sealed except for a medical, but there was a problem with van Nistelrooy's knee that was described by his (then) current club PSV Eindhoven as, if my memory serves me, 'miniscule'. The next day, he breaks down in training at PSV, and Manchester United saved themselves something in the region of £25 million, and bought him the next summer when he passed their stringent medical tests. What if, because of poor medical tests, Woodgate faced a similar fate?
This farce is not what a club like Real Madrid should be about. For as long as Perez is in control, it seems they won't attain it. For a club of their stature, this is both sad and undeserved, but for as long as he's at the club, I wish them as much misfortune as possible. The man's arrogance, self-centredness, and plain ignorance at the way things should be done deserves no further reward.
The question remains - why the hell did Real's members vote him in again this summer?