Spanish Primera Liga: Real Madrid will name Getafe's Bernd Schuster as their new coach within days after sacking Fabio Capello.

Although he led Madrid to a first major trophy in four years, ending the longest drought in over half a century at the Santiago Bernabeu, Capello's departure was an open secret that was finally confirmed at a board meeting yesterday. His back-room team will depart with him.

After the meeting the club's sporting director, Predrag Mijatovic, said, "Fabio Capello will not continue as coach of Real Madrid."

One man Mijatovic did not inform was Capello himself, who is on holiday in Tibet.

"I have not been able to speak to Fabio personally," Mijatovic admitted, "but I have spoken to his son, who is also his lawyer, and told him that Fabio will not continue with us."

Capello took Madrid to the league title, pipping Barcelona on the head-to-head record, but he has been heavily criticised for the style of play. He was on the verge of being sacked in the wake of Madrid's Champions League exit, but the club backtracked because of the €9 million entailed in paying off his three-year contract and because finding a replacement would have been virtually impossible in February.

His team responded to that setback with an impressive 3-3 draw at Camp Nou and then lost just one of their remaining 13 matches, winning 11, to clinch the title in dramatic style. For the Madrid board, however, that was not enough - despite many of the players backing Capello to continue. He departs having twice coached Madrid for a solitary season, winning the league on both occasions.

Capello's second stint at Madrid has been fraught with problems. He has been criticised for sticking by the largely ineffective Emerson and for his strained relationship with Antonio Cassano, who was eventually kicked out of the squad, and Ronaldo, who departed for Milan. Capello also sought to replace the goalkeeper Iker Casillas and tried to drop Ivan Helguera, taking his number six shirt from him, only for both men to prove him wrong by playing key roles in the title success.

Capello also famously vowed David Beckham would never play for the club again. But the notion Capello has paid the price for ostracising Beckham is untrue. The ultimate decision came not from Capello but from board level. It was the president, Ramon Calderon, who reacted angrily to his move to Los Angeles Galaxy by dismissing him as "a half-baked actor, bound for Hollywood".

Instead, Capello has paid the price for his "boring" football, even though Madrid brought him in aware of his preferred style of play and with the express objective of delivering a title, which he has done.

"I would like to thank Fabio. He has had a good campaign, he has worked well and he won a title after three years without winning anything. But, having taken into account everything that we want to achieve next season, we believe he is not the right man for the job," Mijatovic said. "We have to find a coach who gives us a bit more. We need a coach who as well as getting results - which are very important - can help us enjoy our football again."

Although Mijatovic would not name Capello's successor, the 47-year-old German Schuster, who played for Barcelona, Madrid and Atletico and took Getafe to the final of the Copa del Rey this season, has a pre-contract agreement with Madrid and is set to be named within days.

Capello as coach

• After Arrigo Sacchi left AC Milan in 1991, former Italian international Capello took charge and won the title with Milan, who remained unbeaten throughout the campaign -- a record that still stands.

• Milan won four league titles and the 1994 European Cup under Capello. He left the club in 1996 and moved to Real Madrid for the 1996-97 season, winning the Spanish title before returning to Milan.

• He joined Roma in 1999 and, with a team built around Francesco Totti, led them to their first championship in 18 years in 2000-2001.

• In 2004 he signed a three-year contract with Juventus and won the 2004-05 league title in his first season in charge, retaining it the following season before the explosion of the match-fixing scandal that eventually led to the club being stripped of the honours.

• He resigned as coach of Juventus on July 4th, 2006, and was named as coach of Real Madrid the following day.

• After a difficult beginning, his side overhauled their arch-rivals Barcelona to win the league title.