LONG KNIVES IN MADRID
The 'celebration' turned into a confrontation between the dressing room and the directors with the rebellion being led by Fernando Hierro. Apparently, Hierro turned a spat between him and the press into a major issue when he forbade the rest of the team to complete a second lap of honour around the Bernabeu on Sunday night. The players were also annoyed about the imminent departure of Vicente del Bosque which has been a badly kept secret for weeks.
The bad atmosphere grew worse when the team bus arrived at the Cibeles fountain, Madrid's traditional place of celebration. The Mayor of Madrid had ordered that nobody was to climb onto the statue as was the custom to drape the Roman Goddess in flags and scarves. Raul demanded that one of the police call his boss directly to argue the matter but was refused.
The team eventually arrived at the favourite restaurant of the President in a foul mood with Raul, Hierro and Roberto Carlos in a confrontational mood. The players accused the directors of collaborating with the Mayor over the Cibeles incident and Hierro had a shouting match with Valdano in which he threatened that the team would not attend the traditional visit to the Cathedral and Town Hall the following day (Monday).
Florentino eventually put an end to it all by making a speech in which he reminded them that the meal was supposed to be a celebration and that they should grow up. He also reminded them that 'nobody is bigger than the institution' - doesn't bode well for our David!
So it was that Hierro - 14 years and 601 games - was unceremoniously shown the door along with del Bosque who joined Madrid in 1968. One of the reasons for getting rid of del Bosque was, precisely his reluctance to assert his authority in the dressing room.
After the visit to see the Virgin and show off the trophy at the town hall - attended by all the squad except Ronaldo and Macmanaman who were both recovering from the night before - the directors reconvened at a restaurant at 3pm. They emerged at 9pm having taken the 'unanimous' decision to not renew the contracts of del Bosque and Hierro both of which end this month.
Towards the end of the meeting, Valdano summoned Figo supposedly to inform him of an offer from United. Figo was told he was 'untouchable' but while he was there could he tell them about Carlos Queiroz. There were rumours that Carlos was already in Madrid but he categorically denied them when an AS journalist contacted him to inform him of Madrid's interest. "I cannot comment as I'm under contract to another club ... but call me later, tomorrow when I might be able to say something" said Queiroz who assured the reporter he was in Lisbon on holiday.
The Oporto and Betis managers are also considered potential candidates for the post but Queiroz is clearly favourite to be offered the position that was turned down by the Arse 3 weeks ago.