Former Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane has hit out at the Blancos board for a perceived lack of faith following his departure from the club.
Three years after stepping down from his post for the first time, Zidane resigned from the hotseat after failing to retain the La Liga crown in the 2020-21 campaign, with his side finishing two points behind champions Atletico Madrid.
Zidane was rumoured to have had a frosty relationship with the powers-that-be in the Spanish capital, and the Frenchman has now admitted that a lack of faith from the board played a part in his exit.
In an open letter to supporters published by AS, Zidane wrote: "I'm leaving because I feel the club no longer has the faith in me I need, nor the support to build something in the medium or long term.
"I understand football and I know the demands of a club like Real Madrid. I know when you don't win, you have to leave. But with this a very important thing has been forgotten, everything I built day-to-day has been forgotten, what I brought to my relationships with the players, with the 150 people who work with and around the team.
"I'm a natural-born winner and I was here to win trophies, but even more important than this are the people, their feelings, life itself and I have the sensation these things have not been taken into account, that there has been a failure to understand that these things also keep the dynamics of a great club going. To some extent I have even been rebuked for it.
"I want there to be respect for what we have achieved together. I would have liked my relationship with the club and the president over the past few months to have been a little different to that of other coaches.
"I wasn't asking for privileges, of course not, just a little more recollection. These days the life of a coach in the dugout at a big club is two seasons, little more.
"For it to last longer the human relationships are essential, they are more important than money, more important than fame, more important than everything. They need to be nurtured.
"That's why it hurt me so much when I read in the press, after a defeat, that I would be sacked if I didn't win the next game. It hurt me and the whole team because these deliberately leaked messages to the media negatively influenced the squad, they created doubts and misunderstandings.
"Luckily I had these amazing lads who were with me to the death. When things turned ugly they saved me with magnificent victories. Because they believed in me and knew I believed in them."
Zidane won 69 of his 114 games in charge of Real Madrid during his second spell, and he supposedly wants to make a quick return to another job in management.
Ben Knapton
