Quite a few sceptical eyebrows were raised when Real Madrid gave Bernd Schuster the boot back in December and brought in Juande Ramos.

After an impressive spell at Sevilla, Ramos had faltered badly at Tottenham and it seemed the Real board were taking a big gamble in bringing him back to Spain with a contract until the end of the season.

When the affable La Manchan took charge, 100 days ago today, the champions had lost two on the trot and were down in fifth place, nine points behind leaders Barcelona.

Although his first league match ended in a 2-0 defeat at the Nou Camp, Real subsequently went on a 10-match winning run that ended on March 7 with the 1-1 home draw to city rivals Atletico.

Barca’s recent wobble has seen their lead cut from 12 points to six and Real fans are not giving up hope of a third consecutive Primera Liga title.

So has Ramos done enough to convince the men in suits that he should stay on next season?

Domestic success is all very well but what the club really craves is another Champions League triumph after a barren period stretching back to 2002.

The drubbing Real received at the hands of Liverpool will not have done his chances of remaining much good.

It also looks more and more likely that Florentino Perez will mount a successful comeback as club president. The architect of Real’s “Galacticos” policy has been linked in the media with coaches including Arsene Wenger of Arsenal and AC Milan’s Carlo Ancelotti.

Ramos has done a lot of good at Real, particularly tightening up the defence and getting the best out of the increasingly impressive Lassana Diarra, but he’ll probably be plying his trade elsewhere come next season.

PHOTO: Real Madrid coach Juande Ramos attends a news conference before a training session at Anfield in Liverpool March 9, 2009. REUTERS/Nigel Roddis

A few weeks ago the La Liga title looked a done deal but Juande Ramos has steadied the ship and Real Madrid now find themselves four points behind Barcelona with the two teams still to play each other at the Bernabeu on May 3.

Can Real complete an unlikely comeback?

Vlogonthepitch host Owen Wyatt and Kevin Fylan discuss.

Has new Real Madrid coach Juande Ramos picked up where he left off at struggling Tottenham Hotspur?

You might very well think so after a glance at the 2-0 scoreline from Saturday’s “Clasico” at the Nou Camp.

But the battling display by a much-depleted Real, in which they held their arch rivals at bay until the 83rd minute and created one or two chances to steal the three points, provided Ramos with several positives.

Not least was the performance of the defensive line, with Iker Casillas playing like one of the world’s best goalkeepers again while Fabio Cannavaro and even Christoph Metzelder flung themselves into impeccably-timed, last-ditch challenges.

The desire and fight that was not always evident under Bernd Schuster appears to have returned.

As Ramos pointed out on Monday, things will surely improve for the champions once key players like Pepe, Gabriel Heinze and Wesley Sneijder are fit again. A couple of new signings in January should also provide impetus while Klaas Jan Huntelaar will be eager to get going.

Real host second-placed Valencia on Saturday and Villarreal, currently in third, the following weekend.

Six points from those two matches would set them up for a decent run in the New Year once the squad is back to something resembling full strength.

But if Barcelona maintain anything like their current form – 46 goals in 15 matches with only nine conceded – it will surely be impossible to catch them.

PHOTO: Real Madrid’s Gonzalo Higuain reacts after failing to score past Barcelona goalkeeper Victor Valdes during their match at Nou Camp, Dec. 13, 2008 REUTERS/Gustau Nacarino

Chatting with Real Madrid fans outside the Bernabeu ahead of their Champions League match against Zenit St Petersburg on Wednesday, the overwhelming attitude expressed was one of relief that the club was rid of Bernd Schuster.

Tuesday’s surprise appointment of Juande Ramos to replace the moody German has raised hopes that a change in management will give the team a boost and help them get their faltering season back on track.

Jose-Maria, an architectural engineer and lifelong Real supporter from Albacete, said Schuster’s claim at the weekend that it was impossible to win at Barcelona was unacceptable and he had to go.

“You just can’t say things like that and expect to get away with it, it was very damaging,” he said, beating his gloved hands together against the cold.

With an eye on Saturday’s Primera Liga match against leaders and arch rivals Barcelona, he said there was not much former Sevilla and Tottenham Hotspur coach Ramos could do in less than a week but his arrival would help change the mentality of the players for the better.

“Schuster was too serious. He was not relaxed with the players or the press and he had no empathy with the fans,” he said. “The players did not defend him and they accepted that it was time for a change.”

Pedro, 26, who works for an environmental agency near Granada, said it had been a good decision to bring in Ramos, although he conceded sacking Schuster mid-season may have been a bit hasty.

“Schuster had lost his confidence and had little interest and enthusiasm so in principle it was the right thing to do,” he said, adding that limiting Ramos to a six-month contract was sensible.

Esther Martin, an unemployed 28-year-old from Madrid, agreed that Schuster had lost his drive and predicted Ramos would make tactical changes that would help turn things around.

“I don’t know much about him (Ramos) but I think football in Spain is very different from England and he has more than proved himself here.”

PHOTO: Real Madrid’s new coach Juande Ramos (L) and sporting director Predrag Mijatovic shake hands during a news conference at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid, Dec. 9, 2008. REUTERS/Sergio Perez

The Bernabeu axe has fallen again with Bernd Schuster sacked as Real Madrid coach and Juande Ramos coming in to replace him.

The writing had been on the wall for the German after Real’s sticky start to the season. Sunday’s 4-3 home defeat by Sevilla was compounded by Schuster’s comments that winning would be impossible in next weekend’s match at Barcelona.

Ramos must think he is in dreamland having landed one of club soccer’s top jobs only a few weeks after being chased out of struggling Tottenham Hotspur.

What do you make of Real’s move? Did they have any choice or have they again acted rashly? And what about Ramos? Things fell apart at Spurs but he was previously very successful with Sevilla.

A seismic weekend at Tottenham resulted in the ruthless cull of Juande Ramos and his coaching team and the sacking of director of football Damien Comolli.

Harry Redknapp was then hired as the club’s new manager just hours before the north London club claimed a first league victory of the season against Bolton.

However, their league position is still precarious (they are bottom, a point worse off than Newcastle) and there are many Spurs fans who are uncomfortable with the appointment

Not just because Redknapp has strong connections with West Ham United, but because his main attribute appears to be guiding average sides away from relegation.

Apart from last year’s FA Cup victory with Portsmouth, the 61-year-old Redknapp’s CV highlights are none too impressive.

Sure, he saved Portsmouth from relegation a few years ago and will probably have enough tricks up his sleeve to get Tottenham into mid-table by the end of the season.

But, what then? Is Redknapp really the man that can make Tottenham a force again? Can anybody?

It is a stark admission of failure by chairman Daniel Levy that he has gone back to basics after several unsuccessful attempts to discover Tottenham’s own “Arsene Wenger”.

Since Wenger took charge of Arsenal in 1996, Spurs have entrusted Swiss Christian Gross, Frenchman Jacques Santini, Dutchman Martin Jol and Spaniard Juande Ramos with trying to close the gap on their north London rivals.

Quite frankly, apart from Jol who turned Tottenham into a serious league force and came within 90 minutes of taking the club into the Champions League, the flirtations with European coaches have been a disaster.

The appointment of Redknapp also spells the end of Levy’s preference for a European-style management structure. There will be no director of football and Redknapp has made it clear that only players he wants will be in the squad.

What many fans cannot understand is why Jol, who guided Spurs to consecutive fifth-placed finishes, was not allowed the same responsibility.

Instead, he was undermined by Comolli and eventually sacked — a decision that now appears to have put the club back years.

Tottenham play Arsenal at the Emirates on Wednesday and thousands of Spurs fans, whether they admit it or not, will be looking on with envy and asking the nagging question, “What if Wenger had chosen the other half of north London?”

Redknapp may provide some instant comfort but sadly, Tottenham fans seem destined for many more years of pain.

PHOTO:  New Spurs boss Redknapp comes out of the tunnel ahead of his side’s game against Bolton Wanderers. Oct.26 REUTERS/Kieran Doherty

It’s not easy being a Spurs fan at the moment and if the team suffer another bad result against Hull City on Sunday it’s going to be an uncomfortable international break for Juande Ramos.

Owen Wyatt is joined by Vlog on the Pitch regular Jon Bramley and Mike Davidson to discuss the underlying reasons for the team’s disappointing start to the season. They also take a glance over to Germany, where a Hamburg side coached by Martin Jol — remember him? – are currently top of the league.

So what is the main problem? Is it a lack of quality in the squad? And if so, is that the fault of Ramos or other, more powerful, figures at the club? Is it really time to make a change ?

Give us your thoughts in the comments or feel free to give us a link to a Vlog of your own on the subject. If we like the video, we’ll find a home for it here.

My own feeling is that this is still too early in the season to condemn a manager, even if they have been looking like “a half-hearted express train leading off into nowhere land”, to quote Tottenham Hotspur Blog News. Ramos’s Sevilla were such a thrill to watch that surely it’s worth persevering a little longer, even though, as Owen says, perhaps Spurs could do with signing the coach’s old boss Monchi as well.