Former Real Madrid president Lorenzo Sanz is the latest figure from the club to fire a damning parting shot at outgoing coach Jose Mourinho, by claiming the Bernabeu job was 'too big for him'.
The La Liga giants confirmed that
Mourinho will leave 'by mutual consent' at the end of the season after waiving his £17million release clause to pave the way for
a widely expected return to Chelsea.
Although he was a favourite with supporters and media alike at Stamford Bridge, Spain has never really taken to Mourinho and Sanz, who was president between 1995 and 2000, claims he was unable to cope with the size of the task.
He told Radio Marca: "
Mourinho was not up to the job," Sanz said. "I sincerely believe that Madrid was too big for him."
Sanz went on to claim that his record - one La Liga title, a Copa del Rey and a Spanish Super Cup in three seasons - was average.
"He will go into history as just one more Real Madrid coach," he said. "I do not believe he will be seen as among the best or the worst."
The jibe is not as severe as another former president Ramon Calderon's comments who claimed that Mourinho has 'the worst record of any Real Madrid manager who has had three years or more there'.
Calderon, who was Bernabeu president between 2006 and 2009 told Sky Sports’ Revista De La Liga, he said: “Of course he has been a failure.
“It is the worst record of any Real Madrid manager who has had three years or more there.
“I insist that it is not only that reasons. I think you can be unsuccessful at a club for many reasons.
“What I really don’t like and what many followers of Real Madrid don’t like is the way he has behaved.
“I don’t know what he did in England but his behaviour in Spain wasn’t compatible with Real Madrid’s history.
“We have a part of our hymn which says ‘when we lose, we shake hands’ — we don’t poke fingers in eyes, which is what he did to Tito Vilanova.
“I have always said that he wasn’t the only one to blame — that’s also down to the people who brought him to Real Madrid.
“Mourinho was like that before he arrived at Real Madrid.
“After that incident happened — when Mourinho did that with his finger — we had a big 60-metre banner behind the goal, sanctioned by the president, saying ‘Mou, your finger shows us the way’.
“That’s provoking violence and that is an unacceptable point of view.
“I think that the president thought that, with money, you can get anything you like but that was a big mistake.
“Fortunately in life, you can’t buy success and as that was a failure, he decided to go even further.
“He did something that is even worse with Mourinho by believing the end justifies the means.
“He thought that by winning the Champions League would be enough in the end. So the whole building collapsed.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen with Mourinho now but I think it will be a relief for Real Madrid that he leaves.”
