Calderon - Schuster stays

President says coach will stay until end of season at least 'barring disaster'

By Lucas Brown   Last updated: 1st December 2008   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Calderon - Schuster stays

Schuster: Given backing

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Under-fire Real Madrid coach Bernd Schuster has received a public vote of confidence from president Ramon Calderon.

Calderon says Schuster will stay at the club until the end of the season at least unless there is a 'disaster'.

His comments come as Real - who won the title under Schuster last term - currently sit fourth in La Liga, six points behind bitter rivals Barcelona, while they were also unceremoniously dumped out of the Spanish Cup three weeks ago by Third Division Real Union.

Confidence

Calderon said: "I have confidence in him (Schuster).

"He is a coach who has shown that he is capable of winning the league with these same players.

"The situation can change, we must be patient."

But he warned: "With Schuster we are waiting until the end of the season, at least barring disaster, that is to say an untenable situation in which things are going very badly, or there is strong opposition to him from the public."

Calderon himself is not set to walk away from the club.

Cowardice

"I am not going to abandon the ship because that would seem like cowardice on my part," he told Ferrandiz-AS Forum.

Real are set to be boosted by the signing of an unnamed pair of young players in the January transfer window.

Calderon added: "I'm told that we were very close to signing a winger and a centre-forward for January. I'm told they are very young and fast and they will strengthen the team."

But he said the club would not pay over the odds for the players.

"We will pay the price that each player is worth. But there are various great players around and if the price seems excessive then we will not pay it," he said.

"We are going to sign two great players, that I can assure everyone of. The players that come in have to have their careers ahead of them."

When asked specifically if one of the players the club wanted was Lazio's Mauro Zarate, he replied: "I do not know about him, but they have told me he is a good player.

"But what I do know is that his brother was with Madrid before, for Castilla I believe."