My Take On Beckham And Madrid

While there were doubtless no shortage of offers for the veteran Italian coach from across the continent, in the end he decided to become a commentator for RAI.

This new role seems to agree with him, and it was with his new public role in mind that he looked back on his tumultuous reign in Spain.

But this wasn't with the Italian broadcaster - rather, he took the fight to Calderon's doorstep, having an interview with Spanish sports daily Marca.

The 61 year old former Milan boss said of his time at Madrid, "They appointed me to do a serious, tough and difficult job and we had a very difficult dressing room to deal with.

"There were many conflicting groups and each one had its leader who blamed the others when things weren’t going well.

"But we pulled the team together, recoevered the team spirit and they played with belief and enthusiasm."

With this, he admitted some level of respect for the players that won the league trophy. But he saved no such redeeming words for president Calderon.

He said of the boss, "What hurts is that I have never heard anything from Calderon. He has never called me. I think I deserved some respect from someone I helped win the elections and succeed as President."

The ex-Juve player went on to remark on the David Beckham saga, blaming the club's hierarchy for the English superstar's time out of the team in the aftermath of his signing a pre-contract with LA Galaxy.

"The decision was taken beacuse the club’s management said that he had negotiated with them when he had already signed a contract with Los Angeles."

"They said that they couldn’t count on a player who wasn’t going to remain at the club.

"When I work I always wear the team colours and defend my employers in every way I can."

Interesting words from Capello - particularly when compared to his utterances earlier in the year.

Indeed, his take on the Beckham situation was quite different in January, when he said:

""Beckham will train with the team but he won't play. He has always been a great professional but if a player has such an important contract with another club you cannot count on him. You can't have the same enthusiasm when your mind is on other things."

Seemingly, then, he was complicit, if not instrumental, in the decision to ostracise Beckham. He did, however, hint at direction from above when he said that "the decision to stay until June was Beckham's, not the club's."

In any case, bereft of creation on the right flank, Capello eventually recalled Beckham - a considerable factor in Madrid's Liga win.

Beckham recently scored his first Major League Soccer goal for the Los Angeles Galaxy, while Fabio Capello co-commentate on the Hungary vs Italy match played Wednesday evening.

His replacement, Bernd Schuster, will oversee Madrid's first Liga match of the new season this weekend in the city derby against Atletico.