u/ASuarezMascareno

Machine translation:

Beyond the absurdity, the delirious tone, and the surreal unfolding of the already historic press conference held by Florentino Pérez, there remains a deeply troubling feeling on a purely human level. It was painful to watch the Real Madrid president conduct himself that way. Even if the title of "best president in the club's history" was one he awarded himself in a shameless display of arrogance, the truth is that he probably is just that. That is precisely why it hurts to see him turned into a meme. It is truly sad that he squandered his image, that he ruined it like that in under an hour.

One has to wonder who pushed Florentino to the edge yesterday. Who, knowing the situation first-hand, encouraged him to immolate himself in the eyes of the entire planet. Who failed to stop him from stepping up to that podium and leaping into the void.

Florentino has added his own image collapse to the severe institutional crisis the club is already enduring. It was disconcerting (to put it mildly) to observe his sexist remarks ("let's see, let that girl ask her question", "from a woman who I'm not sure knows anything about football") and xenophobic ones ("South American accent"), which spread across the world at lightning speed. I can confirm that here in Mexico, where I currently am, people were left speechless upon hearing the "Mexican accent" comment delivered in such a dismissive tone. It left a very bad taste. The reputational damage is incalculable. I understand he regrets it.

And amid all this chaos, the Madrid fan base, far from finding answers, only multiplied their doubts. What exactly was Florentino trying to achieve with this press conference? To announce to the world that he was cancelling his ABC subscription? His histrionic attack on the press (including retired journalists and already-defunct outlets), his understandable anger over the Negreira case (which he conveniently kept in a drawer when it suited him to stay on good terms with Barça), or his self-aggrandisement as the greatest leader are not sufficient reasons.

The madridismo expected explanations. But Florentino never gives them. Why did he sack Xabi Alonso? Who will be the next manager? What measures will be taken in the dressing room? What responsibility does the president accept for this sporting crisis? And for the institutional one? Not to mention the lack of any official account of the Super League's failure, or the multiple problems surrounding the new stadium. He did not address any of the substantial issues. For him, what matters is finding whoever leaked the players' fights, not the fact that players are fighting each other. The truth is, listening to Florentino, the club's crisis appears far more serious than it seemed.

Well, in reality what mattered to him was the election announcement. That was the substance of the press conference, even if his speech then veered off in all directions. And yet he also failed to explain (and this is significant) why this election call was so rushed. What is the urgency? Why this sudden decision? What was the need?

He chose not to explain that to the club members. Despite Florentino's relentless insistence that they are the owners of the club, the information available to those members is nonexistent. "Everything for the people, but without the people" — in the purest tradition of enlightened despotism.

The hidden reason behind this hasty election call is none other than an attempt to neutralise a potential rival candidacy that could strip him of power (Pérez considers himself the club's owner: "they'll have to shoot me to get rid of me") and prevent the fulfilment of his great ambition: changing the club's ownership model, creating a board of directors, and placing at its helm his protégé, the Franco-Moroccan Anas Laghrari (the man who, even now, albeit from the shadows, already runs the day-to-day affairs of the institution).

It is not far-fetched to think it was Anas (even over the objections of José Ángel Sánchez) who persuaded Pérez to give that disastrous press conference. Seeing the outcome, and following tense internal conversations and immediate reflection, throughout Wednesday they attempted to repair the damage by taking Florentino to various interviews in an effort to clean up the terrible stain on his image.

Both Anas and Florentino are aware of the discreet moves that Enrique Riquelme has been making for some time, quietly assembling a serious and credible alternative. Both know that the backing Riquelme is gathering (and which will likely multiply after Tuesday's embarrassment) is significant. That is why they have tried to neutralise any hint of opposition swiftly and decisively. That is the reason for yesterday's convoluted and bizarre press conference, called to say nothing beyond announcing elections that are both urgent and unexplained. The notion that it is the member who decides (of transparency, of the club's democratic credentials) crumbles when you observe this hasty and overbearing manoeuvre, whose sole purpose is to try to eliminate the rival from the starting line, before he has time to organise himself.

It will be interesting to see what timelines the process follows (to be formally announced this Thursday), and whether Florentino genuinely allows time and opportunity for other candidates to come forward, or squeezes the window to its minimum in order to ("democratically") strangle that possibility.