At Sport Witness, we’ve often suspected certain big Spanish clubs sometimes use their closest media to canvass the opinion of supporters.
More so than in England, fans have a role in the running of big clubs, able to elect a president and therefore feel they have some say, however small, in the future.
The suspicion comes from big newspapers publishing regular polls which seem rather detailed and have a range of questions rather than just simply: Who do you want as next manager.
Take Marca, for example. Today they’ve polled Real Madrid fans, and asked them four questions.
Are you surprised by Zidane’s decision? Currently 82% say yes.
Do you agree with the decision? 60% say yes.
How do you rate the Zidane period? 80% say very good, 15% good, and the rest have obviously pressed the wrong buttons.
And then… what successor would you like for Real Madrid?
This is where, judging by much of the Spanish reporting today, it would be expected Mauricio Pochettino would come out tops. But he doesn’t, Liverpool’s Jurgen Klopp currently has the highest percentage.
Of the 27,000 responses so far, Klopp gets 30%, Pochettino 24%, Guti 22%, Low 14%, Michel (Madrid legend, current Malaga manager) 5%, and ‘other’ is on 5%
Klopp has a huge reputation among Spanish football fans and he’s done well in similar polls for Barcelona. But it would be considered that getting the German from Liverpool would be just as hard as getting Pochettino from Tottenham.
