After a Year of Zizou, Do Real Madrid Now Have a Template for Sustained Success?

They'd made a few bumps of their own and had been more than a bit messy, had conceded too many for comfort and had forced themselves to rally late. Once again, they'd shown their other side that won't go away, doing it the hard way, being who they are. After the year they'd had, it was the only way they could have done it. 

"2016 has been the dog's bollocks," said Zinedine Zidane, per Marco Ruiz of AS, after his Real Madrid had defeated Kashima Antlers 4-2 in the final of the Club World Cup, where an imperfect performance from an imperfect team had maintained an almost perfect record. "It's been an amazing year."

Basking in the third title of a senior coaching career that was still less than a year old, Zidane couldn't possibly have oversold what he and his team had achieved. A rookie manager who had taken over a club in turmoil had turned them into European and world champions with grace and with speed. But it hasn't been just about the titles; it's been about how they've done it and what they've become; how Zidane has delivered on a public promise. 

It was almost exactly a year ago that Zidane sat in the press room at the Santiago Bernabeu for the first time in his current position. Amid talk of challenges, motivation, excitement and expressions of what Madrid represents, the Frenchman said he had one overriding goal: "I'm looking forward to transmitting one thing to the players: winning."

Zidane has succeeded on that front more than anyone could have envisioned. Under him, Madrid won their first game emphatically and ditto for their second. From there, they won their first European game and first tie and kept doing so. They won their first final, then their second and then their third. They won their first Clasico and their first trip to the Vicente Calderon. 

Everywhere and against almost everyone, they've won, no matter what: from Madrid to Milan to Trondheim to Yokohama; against Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, Manchester City, Sevilla and the rest. 

Zidane's men have rarely looked flawless, and yet in a sense they almost have been. You have go back to April to find the last time they lost anywhere; back to February to find the last time they lost in the league. Madrid have now gone 37 games unbeaten and, in one year of Zizou, have won more titles than they have lost games.  

With 2017 now here, the obvious question becomes whether it can continue. A new year could bring different fortunes, and second years have a habit of being trickier than those that precede them. How long, then, can Madrid ride the Zidane wave? How high can the Frenchman's tenure go? Have Madrid entered a new period of dominance? 

For a club like this one, where the next title always means more than anything else, these are important questions. But perhaps there's a bigger one here, one that goes beyond the immediacy of Zidane's reign and centres on what could follow: In the club icon, have Madrid found a template? 

One can view Zizou's success in a number of ways. Among them, one is to see the Frenchman as simply the right man at the right time; that this is a matter of particular circumstances. Another is to see Zidane as a type Madrid should be seeking out again and again, one after another.  

"I hope that they now put in a plan like Liverpool did in the 70s and 80s with proper succession," Steve McManaman, who played alongside Zidane during the early part of the last decade, recently told Guillem Balague of AS. "Zizou is there now and Santi [Solari] is at Castilla learning the job and Guti is learning the job with the Under 18s." 

McManaman's view aligns with the theory that being successful in the dugout at the Bernabeu is less about tactical nous and training methods than it is about personality. About touch. About deeply understanding Real Madrid. 

Since the turn of the century, the club's three most successful bosses have been Vicente del Bosque, Carlo Ancelotti and Zidane. If you had to place managers into categories relating to their coaching style, all three would end up in the same group. Coincidence? It's hard to believe so. 

"Real Madrid do not need big, abrasive characters," added McManaman. "The players are the stars, the manager just has to come in, like Carlo did, keep his counsel, say as little as possible, and get the players happy and get the players playing. Nine times out of ten they will succeed because their 11 players will be better than the opposition's 11 players."

Succession planning, of course, is more difficult than it sounds. Zidane is also a unique case in the sense that he carries an aura and a charisma few in the game can match. 

When his players are asked about what drives his success, they don't talk of a brilliant coach but instead of moods, sensations and the environment Zidane has created. "He's got that magic touch," said Sergio Ramos. "I love his personality and the way he manages us," said Cristiano Ronaldo. 

It makes sense that they talk that way, too. Real Madrid are not a team defined by discipline, sophistication or any well-drilled qualities. They're flawed in many ways as they most recently showed in the final of the Club World Cup. But they make up for it, because they're united, resilient, wonderfully talented and happy in who they are—happy being allowed to be who they are. 

Zidane has given them that, in a similar way that Ancelotti and Del Bosque did before him. How far he can take them will excite those connected to Madrid, but the club can also take a bigger-picture view. For Zidane has reinforced the idea that, at the Bernabeu, there's a significant difference between coaching and management; that a particular type thrives where others don't. 

One can view Zidane's tenure in many ways. The idea of him being a template is a perfectly good one.