Back to the future

Following the resignation of Ramon Calderon earlier on this year, Real Madrid is set to hold elections for a new president this summer. One candidate already for the post is Florentino Pérez, a man who previously held the position of president (from 2000-2006), during which he most famously heralded in the 'galacticos' era. Is the return of Perez what Real needs? Given his previous record of spending big, marketing the club across the world, and selling-off club assets (most notably the club's training ground in an upmarket part of the city), is Perez what Real needs to ascend to the top of European football again? Is his mix of aggressive commercialism and major investment in playing talent as relevant today as it was in 2000? Or has football moved on? Aren't clubs like Chelsea better financed; Liverpool better managed; and Manchester United more commercially astute? Moreover, didn't the first galacticos era prove that, while it can be successful in the short-term, it is unsustainable in the long-term? And with football in the grips of the economic downturn, would a new galacticos era at Real Madrid be the short- and long-term detriment of the club, rather than being a solution to years of underachievement at the club?