Calderón does it again...

He really can't help himself. One of the (few) laudable things about Florentino Pérez's presidency of Real Madrid was that he shunned the cameras and let others do the talking (unfortunately, this tended mostly to be Butragueño, who, great player though he was, sucked as vice president).

Ramón Calderón, on the other hand, seems to bask in the glow of the camera lights, which does not necessarily mean it's a bad thing except that he keeps putting his foot in it. The sad thing is that he's probably as good a candidate for the job as any of the others that didn't make it in the summer.

In his latest latest contributions in an interview with the Spanish news agency EFE he delighted us all with

On Raúl's renaissance:

After Getafe, he told me in Bucharest that he had been suffering a lot, not sleeping and that if things continued in the same vein he would leave, terminate his contract and free the club from having to pay his salary. We're going to try to get national side to play the qualifier against Denmark on the 24th of March at the Bernabéu, but if they don't pick Raúl, we won't let them use the stadium...

The Spanish Federation must be quaking in their boots... Does he just make it up as he goes along?

On Helguera's renaissance:

His behaviour has been exemplary. I congratulated him. He was going to leave us in August. It proves that Capello is not an inflexible man.

He wasn't leaving, he was being pushed. Capello had no choice (through injuries and suspensions) but to use him, and he is nothing if not a pragmatist when it comes to getting results.


On Beckham's contract negotiations:

I think he will renew. He is happy in his new house and with his kids' school; they are already speaking Spanish. I've spoken to his agent and everything is in place for him to sign for another two years

Funny that Beckham's recently been speaking of his "frustration"
at being left on the bench and "refusing to sign" (to be fair the last quote is from The Sun, not always the most reliable of news institutions). I thought Calderón wasn't going to get involved with technical decisions involving players?

On Roberto Carlos:

He will stay with us. He has proved to be irreplaceable

He's only irreplaceable because Real Madrid hasn't managed to find a decent left back on the market. Roberto Carlos has been mostly great for the past 10 years, but is close to being 'past it'. I thought Calderón wasn't going to get involved with technical decisions involving players?

On the winter transfer market

I don't get involved

Ah, that explains it.

On Real Madrid taking over the World

We're going to have our own rugby team, a futsal and a women's football team. In December we'll have a private jet with room for 140 first class passengers and the club crest on the wings so wherever we go we'll already be 1-0 up

What's he on about? A rugby team? why?