Why Real Madrid Must Hand Zinedine Zidane Power to Build a Dynasty

Real Madrid's season ended on the ultimate high as they beat rivals Atletico Madrid to win the UEFA Champions League, but as a club, they want and demand far more than a one-off success with silverware.

For a long time the capital city club have struggled to find any kind of consistency in their ability to lift silverware, and it's something that everyone associated with the side will want to rectify. The hope must be that head coach Zinedine Zidane can be the catalyst for that period of progression.

While Zidane's individual managerial quality level is still up for discussion and analysis after just six months in charge of a top team, despite that win in Europe, there should be little doubt that he is well-placed to be the man who leads the team on a long-overdue run of success.

A range of factors make Zidane almost universally appreciated, and in a fanbase as fractured and reactionary as Real's tends to be, that makes for a rare gift, one the Santiago Bernabeu side would be foolish to overlook. The French boss should be handed the time, backing and finances to build a sustainable future for the first team, which in turn can lead to far greater success than the team has enjoyed in recent years.

Figurehead and respect

Zidane the player conjures up a hundred or more memories of effortless, gliding, majestic football.

He was an idol and an icon, a standout talent in an era when finances began to explode, transfer fees inflated quickly and he himself played in a team purpose-built to be expensive winners. That legacy cannot be forgotten, but it can be separated from his management ambitions and achievements very quickly, as the likes of Michael Laudrup, Graeme Souness and Ruud Gullit—they were mesmeric, world-class players but not nearly as successful in the dugout—have all found out and proved.

At Real Madrid, though, it goes even further for Zidane specifically: He won them the biggest prizes as a player, scored that memorable goal in the Champions League final himself and has also been represented with dignity in the dugout—firstly as Carlo Ancelotti's assistant and later as Castilla's head coach.

He has a bond with the club, has sons plying their youth trade at the club and has now won the biggest prize in club football as a coach and as a player.

That affords him patience and love from the stands, and respect and—more importantly—an aura of untouchability from the players.

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Of all the clubs affected by player power down the years, Real Madrid have made a rod for their own back more than most, willingly ditching perfectly good managers because the players gave up trying for them, didn't like them or weren't picked by them, safe in the knowledge their long contracts would endure far beyond the present hot-seat occupant.

Zidane can be different in that respect, thanks to his past, but more pertinently thanks to his present role.

Perez

Every successful club who maintains stability needs to have a semblance of continuity.

Atletico Madrid have Diego Simeone; Barcelona have their personalised style of play, formation and management promoted from within; and Bayern Munich have a structure that sees former players and those who understand the concept of the club promoted to the board after playing. Those are constants, they aid a sense of ongoing progression and planning, they are liked or admired by supporters—and Real Madrid have not had someone of that ilk for too long.

Florentino Perez, the president, most certainly doesn't fit the category.

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He was whistled and jeered throughout the season, particularly in the first half of the campaign, with his manipulation of control an irritatingly ongoing theme of his reign, particularly with regard to transfers. Spending big money is one thing, but too often it has been the name rather than the tactical requirement that has dictated comings and goings.

Post-Ancelotti

Never more than after the 2014 Champions League win was Perez's interference demonstrated.

With Ancelotti taking his team to La Decima, their 10th title, Real went and broke up the most important part of that side, the midfield, to make room for James Rodriguez and Toni Kroos. Both played as offensive midfielders at the time of their purchase, neither were used in that role for the vast majority of their debut campaigns.

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Meanwhile Angel Di Maria was forced out of the club, Xabi Alonso was allowed to leave and a restructuring was needed in the heart of the side, with Casemiro and Nuri Sahin also allowed to depart from the same area of the team.

With Luka Modric and Casemiro clearly playing vital roles this year, and the front three being one of the most feared around world football when all fit and firing, the hope must be for Real and Zidane that he is allowed to suggest the areas the squad needs investment in. That would be a better strategy than Real merely looking to sign the big performers at the Copa America or Euro 2016.

Sustained success

The problem for Real Madrid in terms of wanting to label themselves the best club in the world is that they aren't even the best in Spain. Not by a long shot. Indeed, only an off-target Juanfran penalty in the Champions League final against Atletico has enabled them to say they are justifiably the best in their own city—for much of 2015-16, they weren't.

A lack of La Liga title wins, just one in the last eight years, is not good enough.

Zidane has brought success in Europe in his first half-season in charge, but unless he adds further silverware to that over the course of 12 to 24 months, people will be happy to quickly write it off as a freak result, aided by the team's easy passage to the final and borne of luck falling their way in the San Siro event itself.

Winning La Liga, though smaller than the Champions League in the grand scheme of the football world, is what will prove Zidane's quality as a boss.

Give him the tools, the right ones and not merely the most expensive, and let him begin to structure a new period at Madrid where they can fight for the title every season and win it regularly.

Few men have managed to bridge the divide between being a world-class success on the pitch, and then again in the dugout. Zidane has a chance to, and he has made the best possible start.

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