The Managing Madrid Contingency Plan

First things first: I hope you’re all safe and healthy. These are strange, confusing, and scary times, and how we all react to this epidemic and standstill is important. Care for yourselves so that you can care for each other. Take precautions, listen to you government health guidelines, and remember that above all, it’s important to keep love and compassion burning in your heart at all times. Sport is a distraction for all of us — we love its entertainment value and the passion it brings to our lives. But it takes a backseat in times like this. Let’s work together to stop the spread of this virus so that we can resume our normal lives soon.

As this blows over (and, to be sure, none of us really know how long that will take), we’re going to stay active on Managing Madrid. The podcasts will remain a constant. Every weekend there will be a Managing Madrid Podcast on the free rss feeds focusing on a historical match. This weekend, Om Arvind, Matt Wiltse and I are going to break down Real Madrid’s loss to Juventus in the 2003 Champions League semifinals. On Tuesday’s loan-tracker, we’re going to do a fun all-star draft, where Sam Sharpe, Matt Wiltse, Kristofer McCormack, and Ruben Skjerping will join me to take turns drawing from a pool of Castilla players and loanees. You’ll be able to vote for the best team after its done on Patreon.

Lucas Navarrete and I will continue to do the Thursday mailbag podcasts for our Patrons. (Make sure you’re a Patron for access.) Diego Lorijn and I will also be putting out weekly Churros y Tácticas shows.

We won’t pressure any of the staff to write content, but at the same time, we are brainstorming ideas in our Slack channel, and given that most (or all) of us will be home with a laptop, we’ll still get you written pieces, along with the occasional open thread.

There obviously won’t be too strict of a schedule. From a personal standpoint, my allegiance is to my wife and kids. We’ll all be home together a lot, so my podcasting and writing will be allocated to windows where the kids nap or go to bed — so for that reason alone I won’t be promising big historical columns or anything. (But hey, maybe I’ll churn out one or two big pieces!) We’re all going to prioritize the health of our families and ourselves, as should you.

We also want to flip this over to you. What would you like to see on the site over the next month or two? Feel free to comment ideas, or even churn out a Fan Post if you’re up for it!