Man Utd have had their worst start in 15 years, click here to see how this has changed the Premiership betting odds.

The decision to ostracise David Beckham after he announced he would be joining LA Galaxy was made by Real Madrid’s directors, former coach Fabio Capello has claimed.

“The decision was taken because the club management said that he had negotiated with them having already agreed a contract with Los Angeles,” Capello told Marca on Wednesday.

“They said that they couldn’t count on a player that wasn’t going to remain at the club.

The former Juventus coach was initially supportive of the decision to banish Beckham from the first-team squad.

“When I work I always wear the club shirt and defend the club in every way I can.”

Capello eventually went back on that decision and recallled Beckham, a move which was seen as instrumental in Real’s late push for the Spanish title.

Capello, who was sacked by Real less than two weeks after steering the team to the title, said he felt let down by both club president Ramon Calderon and sporting director Predrag Mijatovic.

“Mijatovic lied to me and (assistant coach) Franco Baldini, who had a very important offer from another team. He said: ‘you will stay here, we will all be staying here’.

“I never heard anything from him (Calderon). He has never called me… I think I deserved some respect from someone who came to get me from Italy, someone I helped to win the elections and succeed as president.”

Capello said he was aware the club had been trying to recruit Bernd Schuster as his replacement but was confident that he would keep his job after leading Madrid to the league title.

“What hurt me most was that they appointed me to do a serious, tough and difficult job and we had a very difficult dressing room to deal with,” he continued. “There were many conflicting groups and each one had its leader who blamed the others when things weren’t going well.

“But we pulled the team together, recovered the team spirit and they played with great enthusiasm and belief.”


Man Utd have had their worst start in 15 years, click here to see how this has changed the Premiership betting odds.