Florentino resigned as President of Real Madrid on 27 February 2006... and returned on 1 June 2009. And he returned unopposed, without elections, because neither Eugenio Martínez Bravo nor Juan Onieva managed to scrape together the deposit money. So Florentino was back, without the members being able to give their opinion at the ballot box. His promises this time were the same as in 2004: a roof on the Bernabéu and a theme park at Valdebebas.
On the sporting side, having tried unsuccessfully to tempt Wenger, Ancelotti, Mourinho and Benítez that summer, he plumped for Pellegrini, advised by Valdano (who he named general manager), and paid his buy out clause at Villarreal (four million euros). “Robben and Sneijder would have been useful” said the Chilean on 28 August 2009, digging his own grave in the eyes of the president who was never that keen on him in the first place.
The stigma of the ‘Alcorconazo’ [Madrid were humbled in the Copa 4-0 by Alcorcón, then playing in the third tier, Segunda B] was forever associated with Pellegrini, rather than his president. And after being knocked out of the Champions League for the sixth year in a row at the quarter-final stage the Engineer's time was up. The multi-million euro investment made to knock Barça off their perch had produced nothing. And so José Ángel Sánchez and Florentino handed the keys to the club to José Mourinho, paying Inter, officially, eight million euros. Valdano prohibited the Portuguese coach from taking charge of his country and Mourinho vetoed him. He was banned from the player’s airplane and from turning up at the training ground.
Madrid managed to win the Copa in 2011, beating Barça in the final, allowing Mourinho to consolidate his position and Valdano was shown the door. In the 2011 Assembly Florentino changed the voting system (to go back to hands shown) and defended the Portuguese coach. He had also defended Mou after the coach had stuck his finger in the eye of Barcelona coach Tito Vilanova, saying "nobility is defending Real Madrid". Mou's sweetest moment came when he won the league in 2012, but things rapidly turned sour the year after, with dressing room clashes, rumours and Casillas left on the bench. Barcelona, with a stand-in coach for much of the season ran away with the league. Pérez in the meantime had changed the club's rules again, this time making it far harder to be able to run for president. The result? No elections and once again the members were left without a vote and paying for a new coach. This time Ancelotti... The Florentino era continues...
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