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Real Madrid is among the biggest football clubs in the world. Managing expectations and pressures in such an environment are extremely challenging. Some very illustrious managers have taken reins at the club and many of those have been shown the door unceremoniously.
Many times, winning the Liga Liga and even the Champions League has not been enough for the club management that went through eight different managers between 2003 and 2010, before when Jose Mourinho finally took charge.
Here's a look at 5 very unfair managerial sackings made by Real Madrid:
#5 Manuel Pellegrini
Manuel Pellegrini's sacking as Real Madrid manager did not look like a terrible decision at first glance. He failed to win a trophy in his only season with the club and lost the league to Barcelona after Ronaldo and Kaka joined the club in summer for €150 million.
However, when you look closer, you realize that Pellegrini finished the season in second place behind an all-conquering Barcelona, which was at the beginning of the Pep revolution. Madrid finished with 96 points, a club record at that point, which was only three points behind the Catalan Giants' 99.
While Real Madrid were eliminated in the Champions League by eventual Semi-Finalists Olympique Lyonnais in the Round of 16, their league form clearly indicated that the team was playing for Pellegrini and could keep pace with Barcelona.
Fiorentino Perez, who had appointed him, however, did not think it was enough and replaced him with Mourinho. He later admitted that the only real reason Pellegrini was sacked was that Mourinho was suddenly available to manage the Spanish club.
#4 John Toshack
Welsh legend John Toshack was appointed Real Madrid boss in the 1989-90 season. He created an incredibly attacking team that took the La Liga by storm, winning the title emphatically with a club-record 107 goals scored by the team.
He had hilarious interactions with the Spanish media because of his tendency to translate English idioms to Spanish. He was well received by the fans as well, thanks to his attacking style of football management.
Eleven games into the next season, however, Toshack was sacked after Real Madrid at the expense of Madrid losing three games in a row. There were no signs of decline and yet, the minor blip in form was enough to erase the memories of a swashbuckling title win in the previous season.
Club President Ramon Mendoza showed him the door in 1990. Toshack returned to the team in 1998-99, only to be sacked again after a disastrous season with the team.
#3 Radomir Antic
Radomir Antic is remembered for being the first to manage the trio of Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, and Barcelona through his career.
Despite three separate stints at Atletico with varying degrees of success, Antic first managed Real Madrid way before that in the 1991-92 season. He was appointed to replace Alfredo Di Stefano, who was dismissed after his side was knocked out of the European Cup.
Real Madrid had been in decline and were seventh in the table when Antic took over. He consolidated the team and managed to qualify for the UEFA Cup in his first season. After some new signings, Antic's team was comfortably on top of the league when they suffered a stunning league defeat to Logrones before going on a rampant, seven-game winning streak.
They to Valencia soon thereafter. That is when Leo Beenhakker was appointed Director of Football at the club by Roman Mendoza. Real bounced back with a big win immediately, but could not emerge victorious in the next three games. That's when Antic was shockingly sacked after just 18 games into the season, in spite of his team leading the table by seven points. Beenhakker took over after the Serbian's exit.
They were also in the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup at that point. After Antic got sacked, Real Madrid blew their seven-point lead and finished second behind Barcelona before getting knocked out in the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup under Beenhakker.
It is safe to say that the sacking of Antic was not justified.
#2 Fabio Capello
Winning the league once and getting sacked is difficult to imagine. What about winning the league title twice and getting sacked both times? Ask Fabio Capello about the same!
In his first spell as Real Madrid manager in 1996-97, Capello led the Los Blancos to the league title using the three-man attack of Davor Suker, Predrag Mijatovic, and Raul. This trio was supported by Roberto Carlos, who marauded down the left wing. This was a huge change from the Italian tactician who was not known for playing attacking football.
Despite his success, the Spanish press disliked him for playing Raul on the left-wing even though he scored 21 goals that season. Capello also had disagreements with the chairman and was sacked after the successful season.
In his second spell at the club in 2006-07, Capello went through turbulence in his first few months of the season. His refusal to play an out-of-form Christiano Ronaldo and David Beckham were the cause of these troubles.
He used a more cautious approach this time and managed to turn the initial inconsistency. The Champions League elimination was left behind when Real Madrid won its 30th league title, which was also their first trophy in four years. It was the longest wait for a trophy in their history at that point.
He was sacked after the season ended, however. This time, defensive style was cited as the reason behind his snub.
#1 Vicente Del Bosque
There is no question that Del Bosque's departure was one of the weirdest and most controversial decisions in the managerial history of Real Madrid. It was ridiculously unfair, even by their own standards.
Del Bosque had delivered its ninth Champions League win to the club while managing to reach the last four of the Champions League in each of his four seasons. He managed two league titles in three years and along with that, won a Spanish Super Cup as well. All this while, players with a big reputation or "Galacticos" were brought in to the club. Allegedly, most of them were brought without Del Bosque's consent.
In 2003, after Real won the title for the second time under him, the board decided to let his contract expire. This happened week after Madrid had signed David Beckham. The board tried to minimize the damage by offering him a promotion of sorts to Technical Director. However, the Spaniard refused.
He later went on to manage Besiktas and was linked to a return to Madrid after 2007. However, he was roped into the Spanish National Team in 2008. After his removal, Real went into a spiral that saw them fail to win any trophy for the next four seasons, which was the longest drought in the club's history.
