Almost 62% Of Real Madrid Members Believe Mourinho Has Damaged Club's Image

A survey by Sigma Dos revealed Real Madrid head coach José Mourinho "has started losing the respect of a good number of club members," according to García-Ochoa of MARCA. Members gave the Portuguese's performance as coach since he took over in '10 an average score of 6.68 out of 10, down from the 8.82 he received in a similar survey conducted in March '11. The club currently sits second in La Liga, 16 points behind leaders Barcelona. Furthermore, 54.4% of members opined that Mourinho should stay on as coach past this season, while 41.8% said he should leave. Almost two-thirds (61.6%) of members also believe Mourinho's attitude and words have damaged the image of Real Madrid (MARCA, 1/9). REUTERS noted the survey questioned 704 members before Sunday's home game against Real Sociedad. The results "make painful reading" for President Florentino Pérez, who is up for re-election this year and has given Mourinho "unprecedented powers in the hope he can lead the club to regular silverware" (REUTERS, 1/9). 

ODD TIMING: XINHUA noted Mourinho was named as the best coach of '12 on Wednesday by the Federation of Football History and Statistics. It is the fourth time that the Portuguese coach has received the award (XINHUA, 1/9).