Although many commentators gave him the benefit of the doubt over his decision to offload Ronaldo, he came under fire from all quarters for sidelining David Beckham after the midfielder's announcement that he would be leaving the club.

It was only during the team's thrilling run-in to the end of the season that the criticism from the media relented.

The decision to oust Capello is confirmation of the chronic instability at a club which has devoured seven coaches in the space of just four years.

It is also a highly-risky strategy. Capello has proved beyond doubt that he is one of world's most effective coaches.

In the early 1990's, he steered AC Milan to four league titles in five seasons before leading them to triumph in the European Cup.

He guided Real to the title in 1997 and won the Scudetto with AS Roma 2001, before winning back-to-back league titles in 2005 and 2006 with Juventus, though the club was later stripped of the honours in the wake of the Italian match-fixing scandal.

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