Cults require charismatic leaders.
But, even more importantly, a cult must successfully maintain a state of paranoia that traps its members inside. This says that everyone who is not with you is against you; the only safe act is to remain. This belief needs to hold no matter how esoteric the cult’s practices have become, or if its power seems to be fading.
This week, when Real Madrid president Florentino Perez announced his first media conference since 2018, the timing seemed to hint at managerial change.
His club have just confirmed a second-successive trophy-less season. Barcelona’s win in El Clasico on Sunday meant their biggest rivals celebrated another title right up in their faces. The only mercy was the win came at the Camp Nou, rather than at the home of the 15-time Champions League winners themselves. Very small mercy.
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Even so, Perez’s appearance made no sense. If it was to sensationally announce the return of his personal project Jose Mourinho, it would have been a bizarre break with tradition – and to what end?
Instead its intention was three-fold: announce ‘elections’, berate fellow-professionals in the football space (media, league execs, women, ‘them’ in the shadows) and demonstrate his absolute tip-top health. Two out of three ain’t bad.
But his performance did help me understand something. Credible sources agree Mourinho is being readied for a return to the club he served to great effect from 2010-13.
While mad stories like the hospitalisation of one player after a fight with another have been surfacing from Madrid with alarming regularity, this seemed the maddest of all.
Not only has Mourinho not won a league title in over a decade, but his famous three-year cycle (arrive, win, bust) has only degraded in both timeframe and effectiveness.
Add to that his most recent engagement with Madrid (a 3-1 defeat for his current team Benfica in the Champions League) in which he made the crackpot claim that Real forward Vinicius Jr should take the blame for allegedly being racially abused, and the chances of him being welcome in any capacity at the Bernabeu appeared very slim indeed.
There is a lot wrong with today’s Real Madrid team but, whatever the question, no well-informed mind could surely believe Jose Mourinho is the answer. Florentino Perez does. Why? As the paranoia shone, as he exposed himself to be living off past glories, it became clear. These two men are one and the same. What does it matter if management styles have changed, or if players today prefer a more collaborative approach to do their best? They are wrong! They must be brought to heel!
What if doubters claim they are losing their touch? Conspiracy!! Bullet-proof self-belief is a necessity in the football space, but it can only produce progress when it’s matched with the humility that enables you
to keep learning and questioning your methods.
It’s near-impossible to remain at the pinnacle of any profession for long: both men have achieved something many could not, and are right to restate their achievements, and be proud of them. But they have fallen for the trap that success brings: I have done this once; with the same approach, I can do it again forever.
It is true choosing managers at the highest level is difficult, not helped by the bigotry existing across elite men’s football that chops off most future managers before they can express potential. One way of knowing whether someone can do the job is if they’ve already done it. A great example being Michael Carrick: set to take the Manchester United job on a permanent basis, his months-long audition paying off. But that is a man excelling at the job asked of him now. Mourinho’s success 13 years ago cannot be considered in the same light.
Perez made no confirmation of his new manager, he had too many axes to grind. Many Madridistas have since defended both him and Mourinho.
But, from the sidelines, an intervention. Legendary former goalkeeper Iker Casillas was concerned enough to tweet: ‘I have no problem with Mourinho. I just don’t want him at Real Madrid. I believe other coaches would be better suited to manage the club I love.’
Casillas played under Mourinho when the Portuguese was at the peak of his managerial powers. Cults can be escaped, people can change their minds. But it may take time.