Welcome to the Athletic FC podcast with me, Ayur Akimuelere.

With so many clubs potentially in the market for a new manager this summer,

we were wondering what actually is the hardest coaching job in football.

Let's find out.

Because join the coaching job in football. Let's find out. Because joining me for this one, we've got three football aficionados, Jack Pittbrook, Thomas Hill Lopez Mencher, and also Carl Anker as well,

gents. Good to have you with us. This is hopefully going to be quite a meaty little discussion.

So we've got to split this up into categories to cover a range of different jobs from

Rail Madrid to the English national team. And later on, I'll get you three to list your top

three hardest jobs in football. But first, Thomas, we have to talk about Rail Madrid, a team

with the highest standards. The record 15 times Champions League

winners. How hard is that job? Yeah, so I commissioned this piece on the hardest coaching job,

and I think it was basically almost entirely inspired by Madrid and what we've seen this season,

Chabby Alonso, a club legend comes in. You think he's got all the tools to lay down a project.

And in fact, he's out the door in less than eight months

and replaced by a coach in Alvaro Aboloa

who doesn't have anywhere near the same kind of coaching experience as him.

I think that just shows the unique challenge of managing Madrid.

You're managing not just a

president upstairs who, you know, is known for being pretty fickle, but a fan base who are

fickle as well, huge stadium, huge expectations, as you say, and massive stars. I think that's the

main thing, the Galactico power that comes with managing Madrid. Well, that's the thing. And

you know, how much or how easy is it if you're coaching Madrid is to cut out the noise from

...