OPEN THREAD — White Mischief: 30 Jan. 2026

Welcome to The Daily Merengue — a place where you can feel free to discuss all things football. Do not be alarmed by the overt RMCF bias. It’s in the name!

Shoutout to the Mods who do a fantastic job, Valyrian Steel, Ezek XI, KungFuZizou, NeRObutBlanco, Felipejack, and Juninho.

A Collection of Memos

Writer’s Prelude. Today’s memo will be more traditional than most Juninho memos as there’s just simply less to say.

To: MM

“It’s much easier to raise strong boys, than to fix broken men.” – Diana

Tension. Today’s DT will be interesting because of I truly want to write some long diatribe about the impact of losing to Benfica or the 23/24 season or the Mbappe saga or firing Xabi or potentially losing this season. However, some part of me thinks it’s rather frivolous. It’s a sunk cost. We are where we are now. And that’s what we as RM fans and MM have to deal with. The present. Of course, it’s important to analyze the past. It’s important to scrutinize it with every possible detail. But…and I often have to remind myself — don’t get lost in it. Don’t get lost in past narratives / spats / the incessant need to remind everyone what you said in the past when it comes to fruition. Study it. Adapt. Apply it to the future. And fix now because that’s all that’s real. That’s all that we have. Nevertheless, let me move on from this philosophical discussion of idk just how I’m feeling today and talk about Real Madrid CF a club that you hold dearly.

Broken Men. Now that more time has passed from the Benfica debacle, I think I have a better understanding of how I feel about this season thus far (and to be honest next). Also…I completely understand that there is a slimmer of chance that all of this gets turned around and we win a double. However, for me this nagging feeling will still reside. I’m disappointed. I’m just disappointed and bummed and idk saddened by how this era of Real Madrid currently feels. In many ways, the core of Real Madrid and the beauty of this youth policy is that we’re actively watching Real Madrid youths become men and stars. We as fans feel an attachment to Vini / Rodrygo / Fede / Cama and to a different degree new players such as Tchouameni / Jude because they’re ours. It’s different than the true Galactico era because we remember when Vini cried on the pitch after finally scoring. We remember Rodrygo’s miracle against City or rude celebration during the Bayern preseason match. Jude being Jude against Bilbao. Cama’s infectious laugh. And we stood by them. We stood by Vini (and still stand by Vini) when Spanish fans yell racist abuse from the stands. We stood by him when his B’Dor was absolutely robbed by Rodri and UEFA. We stood by Jude when every Twitter commentator tried to belittle his ascension as PR. And even a smaller pocket of us stood by Rodry as he faces quite frankly racist abuse by fans labeling him as not Brazilian. These guys are OUR guys more than anything else. They’re our proper Madridstas.

But alas life happens. Things don’t always turn out the way you want. You rarely marry your high school sweetheart. And idk maybe its nostalgia which makes me sad. At on point, even I clamored on MM about how bright our future is. How Vini / Rodry / Mbappe are going to dominate Europe for years. Tchou / Cama / Jude / Fede were supposed to be the midfield that EVERYONE wanted. It was supposed to be us at the top of the pyramid…

And now it just feels like there’s too much baggage. Too many scars that won’t heal. The Great Tantrum of 2025. Rodrygo’s disappearance. Jude clubbing? Generational whistles in the Bernaboo. Cama’s lost season of injury. Tchouameni lost in a midfield without any anchors. It just feels like we again need to start from scratch. We again need to look towards new faces. We again or somehow have found ourselves in a place where we can no longer figure out how to repair what seems like broken men…

Cheers,

J

P.S. Rumors. I know this memo was short so let me just drop here a few rumors…For the most part, none of these are particularly credible besides indications that change may be on its way. Unai Emery has been mentioned as a candidate for Real’s shortlist. Unai is a great coach but sadly imo feels a lot like an older version of Xabi. The others on the shortlist are Tuchel, Klopp, Nagelsmann, and Pochettino. Signings & Departures seem to be on their way with another “summer revolution,” but this will greatly depend on a big sale. Also don’t listen to rumors from jfelixdiaz or DiarioAS (now that jfelixdiaz is the chief-editor). Sometimes parts are true but generally it’s a lot of fluff.

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“buy the dip. short VIX. f*ck bitcoin. And Hala Madrid.“