"Wise men know when to change their minds” — that’s how Fabio Capello, the Real Madrid coach, responded last week to the critics who had questioned just why he had included David Beckham in his squad after saying that the former England captain would “never again” play for Real.

As it happened, things turned out well for the Italian manager. Beckham started Saturday night against Real Sociedad, played like a whirling dervish and scored a decisive goal with one of his trademark free kicks (albeit with the complicity of a butter-fingered Sociedad goal-keeper). Roll on the next chapter in the Madrid telenovela, a yarn so engrossing it makes Ugly Betty look dull and predictable.

Yesterday Capello woke to headlines such as a “A bullet dodged” and “Beckham saves Capello’s job” after Real’s 2-1 win. It was a natural reaction: leaks from the colander-like corridors of power at the Bernabéu had made the script abundantly clear. Unless they returned from San Sebastián with three points, Capello would be dismissed, fan favourite MÍchel (the manager of Real’s B-side) would take over until the end of the season and Beckham would be served up as the returning saviour.

This could yet happen, of course, but there is one thing of which we can be certain: Capello will be unaffected. This is a man who simply does not care what others think about him. Or, rather, he cares only to the degree to which it affects his job.

When he managed AS Roma between 1999 and 2004, he railed against arch-rival Juventus seemingly on a daily basis. Whether it was barbs about performance-enhancing drugs (the Juventus team doctor was put on trial and subsequently cleared on appeal), their influence over match officials and the FA (which culminated in the Calciopoli scandal and led to them being stripped of two titles and relegated to Serie B) or simply reaffirming his hatred of the Turin club, his was an enduring one-man crusade.

That lasted until a rainy evening in June 2004, when he drove his Roma-issued company car through the night from the Italian capital to Turin and signed for Juventus at 7am the very next morning. In terms of betrayal and shock value, it did not get any bigger. Imagine Gary Neville signing for Liverpool. Or Arséne Wenger sneaking out of the Emirates Stadium to join Manchester United.

That day, in the eyes of many, Capello ceased being an outspoken man who happened to be very good at his job and became a managerial machine, seemingly devoid of emotion or ethics, hell-bent on one thing only: winning. And winning is something he does exceptionally well. If you ask him, he will tell you that he won seven league titles with four different clubs in 14 full seasons as a manager. Technically, this is disputable: Juventus were stripped of the titles he won in his two years at the Delle Alpi. But Capello would no doubt reply that those make up for the two scudetti he should have won at Roma when he finished second and was often the victim of dubious refereeing.

With such a track record, it is not surprising that Capello asks to be judged by one measure only: the number of new trophies in the cabinet at the end of the season. Image, popularity, entertainment . . . these things do not concern him. It is all about winning.

And that is why Ramón Calderón, the Real Madrid president, called him to the Bernabéu in the first place. Real had gone empty-handed for three straight seasons, their longest spell without silverware in more than 50 years. Capello had a simple mandate: win, do it straight away and do it by any means necessary. Thus the club brought in veterans such as Fabio Cannavaro, Emerson and Ruud van Nistelrooy (average age, 31) in an attempt to break the duck.

Entertainment was not a priority. The one thing which Capello’s camp asked was that the future of some of the left-over galácticos — most notably Ronaldo, Roberto Carlos and Beckham — be sorted out immediately. This did not happen. Ronaldo remained in limbo until January, when he was finally shipped out. Roberto Carlos found no takers and Beckham’s contractual situation dragged on through January, when he announced he would be leaving in June to join the Los Angeles Galaxy.

At the same time, Capello was serving up the kind of football the Spanish press loathe: tight defending, a midfield bent on destroying more than creating and strikers who nick a goal when they can. Still, a more media-friendly manager would have got away with it, particularly since Real’s record is hardly awful. They sit third, two points behind Barcelona, the leaders, who have a game in hand and are through to the knock-out phase of the Champions League.

But Capello figured out a long time ago that sucking up to the press was not worth his while. And the same applies to the players. With so many stars (and their entourages) willing to spill the beans to a friendly reporter’s ears, he has been facing a daily barrage of invective.

“I’m not surprised at what happened,” Damiano Tommasi said. Tommasi played for Capello at Roma and was in the Levante midfield that condemned Real to their seventh league defeat of the season last week. “He’s bound to rub people the wrong way,” Tommasi added. “He doesn’t care about being nice. It can be unpleasant, but it’s something you have to get used to if you want to play for him.”

His enemies describe him as an arrogant ego-maniac who has lost touch with reality. When he hears this, Capello simply sets his prominent jaw, smirks and moves on to the next question. As he did after Saturday’s win, when he reiterated that Real would win either La Liga or the Champions League, or both. There is a fine line between confidence and madness. Time will tell on which side Capello stands.