England captain David Beckham said on Monday that neither he nor the rest of
the players were responsible for Jose Antonio Camacho's decision to quit as Real
Madrid coach after four months in the job.
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| Beckham at
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"We don't share the blame for what has
happened with Camacho," the midfielder told a news conference at the Bernabeu
hours after the coach announced his exit.
"Ultimately it was his decision to go."
Beckham also rejected any suggestion that the club's multi-millionaire squad
had lacked the discipline to respond to Camacho's methods.
"All we want to do is to play football and to play it well," he said. "People
can say a lot about what we do and what we earn, but on the pitch we just want
to win.
"I've won the Champions League (with Manchester United in 1999) and I want to
win it again. I've won six league championships with Manchester United and I
want to win a Spanish one too."
Beckham, who was dropped for Real's weekend 1-0 league defeat at Espanyol,
said that he had enjoyed a good relationship with Camacho and was sad to see him
give up his post.
"I didn't know him as well as some of the other players or the fans, but he
was always nice to me and was a good coach.
"It's a shame he's gone but you have to respect his decision and now I have
to win the confidence of the new coach."
Camacho has been replaced by his assistant Mariano Garcia Remon, a former
goalkeeper at the club.
Beckham denied there had been any rift between Camacho and some of the
players.
"The relationship between the squad and Camacho was very good and I'm sure
none of the players had any problems with him," he said.
Camacho's decision to step down as coach was prompted by his side's stinging
3-0 defeat at Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League and their appalling
performance in their defeat at Espanyol.
Beckham admitted the team had made a poor start to the season, but said he
was confident they could turn things round in the near future.
"It isn't fun playing for any team when things aren't going well, but we know
that we've got some of the best players in the world and we can play the sort of
football that has never been seen before," he said.
"We've only played one game in the Champions League and maybe people should
just relax a bit."
