By Oleksandr HONCHARUK, The Day
What the media of Spain and the world over has been gossiping about so
long has happened at last. Madrid Real coach Gus Hiddinck has been fired.
"It was simply a decision we had to make," said club president Lorenzo
Sanz.
Mr. Sanz confirmed rumors that Mr. Hiddinck is most likely to be succeeded
by the Welshman John Toshack, who worked for Real in 1989-1991. As to Fabio
Capello, who has also turned up in Madrid and is considered No. 1 contender
for this post, he would like to start work only in summer, while the Real
management want a coach immediately.
"For Kyiv Dynamo which is going to play their first League of Champions
quarterfinal match against Real in Madrid March 3, the change of coaches
is hardly in their favor. For Toshack or anybody else will change nothing
in tactics or strategy in a week's time, while Real players will be bending
over backwards to show the new trainer their true strength," Meritorious
Master of Sports Andriy Biba told The Day commenting on the resignation
of the Spanish team coach, "Spain (like Italy and England) attach much
more importance to performance in domestic championships than on the international
arena. Of special significance are matches between long-standing rivals.
This is why Hiddinck was held responsible for Real's failure. The Dutchman
is a first-class coach, and we can only guess why he failed. Perhaps, he
failed to find a common language with the players, and they trashed him.
Maybe, he just had bad luck."







