Spanish club is in turmoil again -- can it right ship?

	Real president Ramón Calderón (right) is rebuilding in midseason with young, unproven talent like Fernando Gago. Denis Doyle/Getty Images
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When Real Madrid hired Fabio Capello last summer, it was looking for a "sure thing" -- a big-name coach who would cut through the B.S., tame the Galácticos (or what was left of them) and deliver some kind of silverware. Any kind.

After all, Real Madrid has gone three full seasons without a trophy. And that has not happened for more than 50 years. Whatever else one might think of Capello, he is a winner: Seven league titles in 14 years at four different clubs is a difficult record to match.

Florentino Pérez and all he brought with him -- the "Zidanes y Pavónes" policy, the succession of yes-men (Mariano García Remón) and maladjusted maladroits (Vanderlei Luxemburgo) at the helm, global bombast followed by regular Champions League humiliation -- was laid to rest. What mattered was winning and doing so straight away.

President Ramón Calderón had it all worked out. All it took was a drill-sergeant coach with a proven record, a few veteran signings (Fabio Cannavaro, Emerson, Ruud van Nistelrooy), a few guys on the cusp of superstardom (José Antonio Reyes, Mahamadou Diarra) and everything would fall into place.

If only it were so easy. Halfway through the season, Real is stuck in its umpteenth rebuilding project, while seemingly hell-bent on self-destruction, in no small part thanks to Calderón himself.

The latest installment of folly came when he was invited to speak at a local university. Rather than providing the usual "canned speech," Calderón shot from the hip. He said that David Beckham (who, lest we forget, is supposed to be a Real player until the end of the season), was going to Los Angeles to become an actor and that nobody else wanted him. He said that, at 31, Guti was still considered a "prospect." He revealed Íker Casillas' salary. And he generally accused his players of being a bunch of overpaid, vain egomaniacs.

Alas, a local radio journalist was in attendance and, predictably, all hell broke loose. A desperate Calderón phoned Real captain Raúl and said he wanted to meet the team to apologize. The players made him wait 24 hours (which, given the circumstances, is more than understandable) before grudgingly accepting his mea culpa.

Capello hasn't helped himself either. On Sunday he made an obscene gesture at a portion of the Madrid fans who were booing him. He, too, had to apologize. While Capello can be a prickly customer who doesn't shy away from confrontation, he usually manages to keep his emotions under control. His outburst shows that the malaise is clearly getting to him.

After going for a short-term fix with its summer signings, the club made a sudden about turn over the last few months, bringing in three Under-21 players from South America (Fernando Gago, Gonzalo Higuaín and Marcelo) while axing three senior players: Beckham, Ronaldo and Antonio Cassano (all of whom are certain leave, either now or in the summer).

What this showed -- again -- was a distinct lack of foresight. It's not that shedding the big contracts of Beckham, Ronaldo and Cassano is necessarily a bad idea, it's the way Real did it. Ronaldo and Cassano were left out to dry without first finding a buyer, which means, when they go they'll fetch peanuts. Beckham, of course, is on a free transfer at the end of the season, but given that the club is paying him until June wouldn't it have made sense to try and get what you can out of him until then?