The Spanish media were Bernd Schuster’s biggest supporters when he was tipped as the successor to Fabio Capello as coach of Real Madrid.

The German, they said, would oversee the return of crowd-pleasing football to the Bernabeu. He would bolster the image of an institution which had lost some of its shine since the departure of the Galacticos.

Schuster took up the challenge with bravado. Real sit top of the Primera Liga, they are on course for a place in the last 16 of the Champions League as group winners and have produced patches of brilliant play on the pitch.

But the former midfielder has also exhibited a potentially fatal flaw for any Real Madrid coach - he has fallen out with the local media.

Asked recently by one journalist about the side’s poor defence from set pieces, he replied: “Send me a fax with your ideas and then I’ll reply to you” before turning away.  When put on the spot about tactics after another match he bristled: “I wish I had a job like yours where I was allowed to criticise without having any knowledge, it would be brilliant.”

When Real suffered their second defeat of the season against Sevilla last week he was asked about the referee. “Where does he come from?” he responded. “Catalunya,” replied the journalist. “Well, need I say more,” said Schuster.

Unsurprisingly the Barcelona-based media were up in arms at the inference that a referee from Catalunya would be automatically biased against Madrid. Schuster has since said the ensuing furore was an invention of the press.

The problem for Schuster is that he will be forgiven a multitude of sins if Real remain at the top and play good football, but if things go wrong he will find the media support he once enjoyed will evaporate in an instant.

Spain takes its football very seriously, often too seriously, and even if Schuster’s comments are tongue-in-cheek he is playing a dangerous game.

I remember only too well what happened to one of his predecessors John Toshack. The former Liverpool man was also hailed as Real’s saviour when he returned to the club for a second stint after steering them to the league title with a record goal haul in 1990.

But once things started to go wrong everything he said was used against him by the local media. Toshack’s literal translations of common English clichés into Spanish became construed as insults rather than humorous asides.

“There’s more chance of a pig flying over the Bernabéu than me changing my mind over tactics,” Toshack replied when he was asked about team selection. His jocular mention of swine and the Real Madrid stadium in the same sentence cost him his job a few days later.

Simon Baskett, Madrid

PHOTO:Real Madrid coach Bernd Schuster speaks during a news conference in Rome , Oct 2. REUTERS/Tony Gentile