Florentino Perez: “We reached an agreement with Jose Mourinho to end our relationship at the end of this season”

Florentino Perez gave a much-anticipated press conference at the Santiago Bernabeu’s president’s box once the club’s board of directors meeting concluded. The president opened his statement by announcing two decisions: “The first is that, after speaking with our manager Jose Mourinho, we’ve agreed to end our contractual relationship at the end of this season. The club and manager agree the timing is right to bring our relationship to an end. On behalf of the board of directors, I would like to thank Jose Mourinho for all his hard work over the last three years. With Mourinho, we made a big leap competitively and sporting-wise. We wish him all the best. The second decision is that, once heard by the board, and in accordance with Article 38b of the Bylaws, as Real Madrid’s president I announced that I’m calling for the established process to hold elections for the President and the Board, elections that, according to mandatory deadlines, should be held this 16 June. I’ve made the decision to stand in these elections and I’ll present my candidacy in the coming days”.

When asked about the reasons for “dismissing” Jose Mourinho, Perez replied: “The question has nothing to do with reality. It was a mutual decision, no one has been dismissed”. Regarding the conversation with the Portuguese boss, Perez said: “When you’re here it’s never nice when you have to leave, but after three years we agreed that the timing was right to end this relationship and we want to thank him for his hard work. We had a frank conversation and we talked about issues that could be solved. He’s the longest-serving manager in the 1st Division. Personally, Mourinho thinks that it’s better to leave the club and I think it’s the right decision to embark on a new project”.

Asked about what were the highs and lows about Mourinho’s time as Real’s manager, Florentino Perez replied: “They way we see it, the balance of Mourinho's time here is that we have made a very important qualitative leap both competitively and sporting-wise. We are back where this club should be; prior to his arrival we were knocked out in the Champions League round of 16 and were not even seeded. The balance is positive. A year ago we were all delighted with the squad’s season and “La Liga of records”. This year, making it to the Champions semi-finals, a Cup final and second in La Liga, would maybe be enough for mere mortals but not for a club like this. We’re demanding and proud to be so. Our culture is to win. The balance is positive, but we don’t consider this season enough because the club and Mourinho have such a high level of expectations”. 

Florentino Perez was clear on whether Mourinho’s exit would force the club to pay compensation: “There’s no compensation. Mourinho said that in a press conference and I’m repeating it. I would have liked him to continue because I believe in stability, but the level of pressure has increased in such a way that people reach their limit”.About if the mutual decisions is made for the good of the club, the president said: “Every coach has his personality, but his level of expectation and competitiveness is unhesitating. He’s made mistakes and he’s apologized, but the level of pressure that he lives with isn’t normal. We’re used to the pressure, but there are also times that have surpassed the limits of what’s normal. This is a club that is used to living with pressure and when I arrived in 2000 I struggled to get used to it because many people want to exert their influence. This is something that happens sometimes with this pressure and Mourinho told me that in England a match lasts for two hours before the game and two hours after, and here you live it seven days a week and 24 hours a day. People aren’t used to that and can only handle it through experience. On the other hand, that’s what makes this club great, because you can’t rest, not even for a day. But there’s pressure that goes beyond what’s reasonable, with insults and defamatory comments; everyone has a family and children”. 
Regarding the relationship between Mourinho and his players, Perez was clear: “We always respect the technical decisions the manager makes. These things have happened, happen and will continue to happen in Real Madrid. The most important thing is that we’re united as members. Economic and institutional stability will ensure that we hold on to our identity and today is a sad day because someone is leaving. This club will always remember him because he gave us a competitive leap. We were unlucky in the three Champions semi-finals. We could have made it to the finals. He’s a very demanding coach with himself and with others. He’s very competitive and that can wear someone out”. When asked whether, as president, he over-protected the manager or players, Perez replied: “I’ve stayed away from issues dealing with the players in this new phase and I haven’t disturbed the manager or the players”. 

Regarding whether Mourinho’s failure is also Florentino Perez’s failure, the president said: “If you tell someone else that it’s been a failure with the level of success that we have it doesn’t match reality and it would be unfair. In our culture it’s not enough, but the important thing is that we’re back to where we should be. Our club is more united than ever. When I became president four years ago the club was going through a turbulent time, something we have to remember so that it doesn’t happen again. The members are now more united than ever”. When asked why Mourinho and Cristiano Ronaldo didn’t collect the runner-up Cup medals, Florentino Perez replied: “I imagine they didn’t go because they were sanctioned”.
In terms of the profile that the new first team manager should have, the club president commented: “We have no pre-contract signed with any managerial candidate. It’s something we’ll have to look into in the coming days. This is a club that’s open to the world and we don’t place limits on anything. We want whoever it is to be someone who will help us to continue to improve because we now have a solid economic and institutional stability and a sporting level that we must never lose”.About the possible arrival of Ancelotti, Perez said: “We have the utmost respect for PSG. A few days ago the general manager went to talk with the PSG president to discuss the possibility of signing Ancelotti because we thought his contract was coming to an end. But since it’s not an issue that we’re going to solve tomorrow, we’ll think about a manager later. There are several options”.In terms of the possible role Zidane will play in his candidacy, Florentino Perez said: “It’s not a topic to talk about today. There will be an open electoral process in the coming days and that will be the time to talk about what we plan to do. Zidane is a player that all Madrid fans and members carry in their hearts because of the way he played and for his values. He’s on track to be a manager and we haven’t spoken to him again. He’s one of the club’s assets”. To conclude, Perez commented on possible opponents in the election: “Except in the last few there have always been candidates and it’s healthy if there are”. 

Conclusions From The Spanish GP

Why it could be now or never for Fernando, Mercedes learn the hard way, the static 2013 regulations offer no way of escape for Williams and McLaren, and as for the Pirellis...

Pirelli take their tyres beyond an extreme
Well that wasn't what we wanted, was it?

The best that can be said of the Spanish GP and the role of F1's sole tyre supplier in the unfolding slow-speed spectacle of frustration and bewilderment is that, having been brought into F1 with a remit to spice up the racing by increasing the number of pit-stops, Pirelli's did not err in failing to heed that instruction. Their miscalculation was a amount of degree and extremity.

And the worst? That the extremity was a perversity and that Pirelli livened up the racing by removing the racing altogether. It's the ultimate indictment to be levelled, but, alas, one which is also impossible to refute following a horrible race in which the fastest motor cars on the planet were rendered pedestrian in thrall to delta times and rubber with the durability of ice cream in a sauna. This wasn't F1 as it ought to be. This wasn't really F1 at all.

And it showed. If fans were confused about what exactly they were watching, they could also have been forgiven for wondering where precisely they should have been watching as the pitlane became busier than the pit-straight. The 82 pit-stops - roughly one a minute despite three race retirements - was not quite a record. But the fact that over half the field - twelve cars, in fact - ran a four-stop strategy was unprecedented. For the good of both the sport and its beleaguered tyre supplier, it's a feat which can never be repeated. If you think F1's reputation went into the pits on Sunday, just imagine being a PR executive at Pirelli this Monday morning.

Yet who truly is culpable for instigating this debacle? The answer is not Pirelli, who were only trying to achieve what they were asked to do and for whom making fragile tyres is a far harder undertaking than creating tyres that would last all afternoon and all evening if needs be. Be under no illusions about that.

No, the fault primarily rests with the sport itself for asking its tyre supplier to put its own house in order, for taking a short cut that meant someone else would do its own dirty work. So take a deep breath before castigating Pirelli. After all, Pirelli aren't to blame for F1 failing to clean up the dirty air suffered by a pursuing car and producing processional races as a consequence. Nor are Pirelli to blame for circuits such as Barcelona needing an artificial twist after years of sucking the life out of Sunday afternoons. And don't blame Pirelli for F1 selling itself to the whims of the public at large by pandering to their need for instant and accessible entertainment instead of educating that great racing doesn't necessarily require overtaking. Above all else, don't blame the fireman for dousing the flames and leaving a mess behind in the rush.

So change the 2013 Pirelli tyres by all means. After Sunday, change has become compulsory. But in the rush to condemn, just don't lose sight of the crux that, in good times and bad, tyres ought not to be a leading protagonist in a sport of man and machine carefully aligned in the rapid the pursuit of excellence.

It could be now or never for Fernando
If Fernando Alonso doesn't win a third title this year, he probably never will whilst clad in the scarlet of the Scuderia. The difference between the F2012 and the F138 is night and day. If last year's charger was a misbehaving dog that Alonso had to manhandle to remain in title contention, then, judging by Sunday's grand prix, this year's model is a powerful beast he has already mastered.

Still, it's not without fault. The F138 lacks bark in qualifying trim and this weakness may become especially apparent in Monaco in two weeks' time. That said, Alonso's declaration that Mercedes are the favourites to win around the mean streets of the Principality at the end of the month was probably as much a hurry-up message to his own team as a bona fide expectation - and also served, given that he had lapped the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton just an hour or so beforehand, as a concise commentary on the near-farcical state F1 was reduced to this weekend when outright pace became a matter of irrelevancy.

Yet it must be a statistic of considerable assurance for Alonso that none of the last eight grands prix have been won from pole position. Reassuring and self-fulfilling given that Ferrari's 2012 experiences have left them so adept at overcoming modest Saturdays. At Barcelona, they stole a march on their rivals by planning for a four-stop strategy as early as Friday; Red Bull, by critical contrast, only abandoned hope of three-stopping midway through Sebastian Vettel's second stint.

But with that acclaim is thus carried a line of caution. If Ferrari have a better grasp of the tyres than Red Bull, they have more to lose if Pirelli bow to public pressure and plump for change. Keep a close eye on the politics to follow.

Back to the Brackley drawing board
What now for Mercedes? The reduced demands of Monaco should, in theory, offer temporal relief from their tyre-eating woes but the greedy W04 was so obese in Barcelona that the the Mercedes design team must have scurried back to back to the Brackley drawing-board straight from the airport. This is getting embarrassing and not just costly.

Solutions are easier mused than applied, of course, and yet the W04's flaw must, as remarked before and was acknowledged by Toto Wolff in Mercedes' own post-race briefing, be a fundamental matter of compromise. Boiled down, the suspicion remains that whatever causes the W04 to be so very quick on Saturday is also one of the reasons why they are so relatively slow on Sundays.

Balance is everything in F1 and in a year in which qualifying has been pushed to the periphery of relevance, Mercedes' priorities have been exposed as totally askew.

Mark needs to deliver
Mark Webber has been written off before, but after Esteban Gutierrez's overdue arrival as a proper F1 performer in Barcelona, the Australian will journey to Monaco as the driver under the most pressure to deliver.

The number says it all: 0-5 down to team-mate Sebastian Vettel in qualifying, Webber has scored less than half the points Vettel has registered this term and trails the German by five places in the Drivers' Championship.

It can't go on like this.

Static regulations leave the strugglers with no wriggle room
It can't be mere coincidence that, three months since their new cars were born a dud, neither McLaren nor Williams have yet managed to apply any sort of fix to the MP4-28 and FW35 respectively.

If it was just one team locked into a cycle of poor performance then the first answer to their shortcomings would most likely be found in the team mirror. But when two different outfits, both of whom won races last year, continue to go from bad to worse then the regretful conclusion has to be that they picked a particularly bad year for regression.

Static regulations, it is safe to suggest. have left them with no room for escape. Once born a dud, a car stays a dud. Williams and McLaren have picked the worst year possible to try to play catch-up.

Not that McLaren are giving up yet. Having been unable to run the new front-wing which arrived at the Circuit de Catalunya on Saturday morning but too late to pass the FIA's tolerance test, the team are guaranteed to have something new in Monaco with which to try and arrest their ongoing decline into the mire of the midfield. But we're already fast-approaching what's likely to be a cut-off point for when a decision must be taken on whether give up on a bad job and focus afresh for the revolution of 2014.

Monte Carlo or bust for the MP4-28? Maybe
.

Pirelli: Changes from Canada

Pirelli have accelerated plans to introduce changes to their controversial 2013 tyres, with the revisions to now be rolled out in time for the Canadian GP in two races' time.

Almost immediately after criticism of the confusing 82-stop Spanish GP began to rain in on Sunday afternoon, Pirelli's motorsport director Paul Hembery admitted that four pitstops per race was excessive and confirmed they would duly make changes to their range in time for the British GP at the end of next month.

However, those changes to their slick compounds will now be introduced one race earlier - in Montreal - with Hembery revealing the rubber will feature structural changes which combine elements from both last year and this year's products in a bid to beef up their durability.

Hembery tweeted on Tuesday morning: "From Canada changes to be made to bring back 2 to 3 stops. Some structural changes combining elements 2012 and 2013 products.

"Changes made in interests of sport."

Hembery had admitted himself on Monday that "if we make a change it will be seen that we're making tyres for Red Bull in particular" given the World Champions have been the most outspoken against the tyres, with even their billionaire owner Dietrich Mateschitz joining the debate over the past 24 hours.

However, such has been the barrage of criticism launched at Pirelli from fans, media and pundits over the past 48 hours that making a step back in their deliberately aggressive approach had become unavoidable.

The decision to bring forward the changes by one race to Canada means the 2013 slick tyres in their current form will only be in use for one further grand prix, Monaco.

Pirelli have already selected the supersoft and soft tyres for the unique challenges of the Principality's streets - a circuit that is generally quite easy on tyres and normally sees each car make two pit stops.

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has refused to rule out a summer move for unsettled Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney.

Rooney's future at Old Trafford is shrouded in doubt with the player requesting a move and United insisting the England international is not for sale.

A whole host of clubs, including Arsenal, have been linked with a move for Rooney should new United chief David Moyes decide to grant the striker his transfer request.

Wenger is remaining coy on any interest in Rooney and refused to talk about any possible summer transfer targets after being quizzed about the player.

"Look, I'm not in a position today to speak about any transfer targets," Wenger told The Mirror.

"What I am focused on is the short term and after the Newcastle game I give you answer about these questions."

And when pressed as to whether he could ever see such a major player as Rooney leaving Manchester United for Arsenal, Wenger added: "I just told you!"

Sir Alex Ferguson: Final farewell was a party 26 years in the making

The man who made Manchester United's impossible dream possible at times resembled the statue erected in his honour near the Old Trafford stand named after him.

Standing away from the crowd, looking proudly in the direction of his Premier League champions with his hands in his pockets, the familiar dark overcoat worn against the Mancunian rain and black fleece zipped up, Sir Alex Ferguson was true to himself to the end.

This was not simply the end of an Old Trafford era. This was the end of an era in British sport.