Last night, Predrag Mijatovic announced in a press conference that Bernd Schuster had been given the dreaded vote of confidence. The German coach has been under pressure following defeats to Juventus at the Bernabeu, as the Turin side recorded their first victory in the Spanish stadium for 46 years.  Even worse was the defeat to third division Spanish side Real Union, the first time Madrid lost a cup tie against a lower league side. The minnows went through on away goals after a 4-3 defeat at the Bernabeu (6-6 on aggregate). The Real Madrid defence had World Cup winner Fabio Cannavaro and a spattering of internationals throughout the side.

The only highlight was Captain Raul scoring his 300^th goal for Los Blancos, but even then the media screamed ‘crisis’, which wasn’t surprising considering that Marca and AS have similar headlines every other day. In his press conference, Mijatovic spoke of his role at the club:

‘My obligation as sporting director is to transmit to our fans a sense of tranquillity, serenity and calm’.

Credit to the former Madrid player, who admitted his job was to paper over the flaws in the Madrid hierarchy instead of actually fixing the problem. Schuster however will inevitably be sacked at the end of the season and replaced by a man who thrives in a media circus – Jose Mourinho. The summer obsessive pursuit of Cristiano Ronaldo alienated Robinho, a player who had only just begun turning in the performances so many expected of him since his move to Santos.

Schuster lost two options due to the bumbling of Ramon Calderon, who declared his undying love for Ronaldo every day of the summer of 2008. Apparently, the club bought an Audi R8 worth approximately £70,000 to lure the Portuguese attacker, forgetting he is an ambassador of Audi and already has one for free. The pursuit of the winger also caused a split in the Madrid camp, with a number of players angry at the amount of media attention placed upon the Manchester United player.

The alternative was a central attacking midfielder – Rafael Van Der Vaart from Hamburg. Then, not deterred by the initial rejection from Manchester United, Calderon offered €55m for David Villa on deadline day. This was after claiming Robinho would not leave the club under his presidential reign, Calderon flogged Robinho to the highest bidder citing ‘humanitarian reasons’ for the change in heart.

This meant that with Robben usually injured, and Drenthe out of favour, Schuster was forced to play a narrow formation with central players Guti and Sneijder forced to play wide. The lack of quality in the replacements is also adding pressure on Schuster. Barcelona added a whole host of talent to their squad, whilst barely losing any important players, Madrid, bar the signing of Van Der Vaart, signed Garay from Santander and loaned him back for this season.

The injury, which Van Nistlerooy suffered in the game against Juventus, means Real Madrid lack an attacking focal point for the rest of the season. Higuain has scored nine goals this year but misses many more, while Raul has generally been anonymous bar a few goals. The lack of defensive support in midfield has seen the side overrun on the counter attack recently. The absence of Diarra, who was clearly effective but not easy on the eye, has clearly hurt the team and revealed a defence which has the form of a relegation team. Fernando Gago, Ruben De La Red and Javi Garcia are clearly not the answer.

Flamenco-hating, My Chemical Romance-loving Sergio Ramos’ recent comments in the media have not pleased Schuster and Cannavaro, with the Andalusian full-back’s form also on the wane. The squad appears to have a rift with many disillusioned at how the club is running. Elsewhere, Dutch pair Sneijder and Van Der Vaart both sided against Raul concerning the decision for the final free-kick against Real Union. Guti waded into the debate later, asking why the captain’s credentials were being questioned. Well, possibly because Madrid was on the verge of crashing out against a third division side for the first time in their history.

Still, the current situation is better than having Florentino Perez in charge of the club. The founder of the ‘Galactico’ era apparently wants another attempt at running the club into the ground by lavish spending on attacking players, which would put the club into debt and unbalance the squad. While Calderon is an embarrassing front for the club, he is still a better alternative than Perez or someone like Lopera at Real Betis, or the presidents at Valencia in recent times. Ex-president Juan Villalonga was only in office for two weeks and reportedly earned €10m, with Valencia claiming in an official statement that:

‘He created a climate of lies in the media, false promises and demagoguery’.

The former Telefonica man (he resigned after accusations of insider trading) claimed his real ambition is to become Real Madrid president and the model he would follow is that of the infamous Florentino Perez, claiming, who he called ‘a reference point’. Somehow, one doubts even the biggest Madridista would want such a thing to happen. However, Calderon’s tinkering has made the Bernabeu what it is today. By flying all over the world from The Economist in London to Harvard University in America, Calderon has been promoting the club with every possible tool.

Grudgingly, this tact is creditable, but it hardly makes up for the rest. The false promises in his election campaign of signing Ronaldo, Fabregas and Robben was only a part of the story (though the Dutch winger did eventually arrive, bringing his injury-prone nature along with him).  Then along came Paolo Calabresi, the Italian impersonator, tricking Calderon into believing he was Nicolas Cage, receiving a personalized shirt and even a signed Robinho shirt.

The George W. Bush of La Liga then had the bright idea of hiring Arturo Sisó as PA announcer. The new signing decided copy the calling out of names in Germany and also unsuccessfully at Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium. Aside from this, he felt he was being paid €50,000 a year for commentary on the goals. Yet, Calderon eventually saw the light and sacked the annoying commentator. While the current American President leaves office at the end of this year, Real Madrid still have Calderon running the circus until 2010.