He begs a 'thousand pardons'

... and he might have to keep on begging. Motormouth Real Madrid president Ramón Calderón really outdid himself yesterday while giving a lecture at a Madrid university to law students on the management of sports organisations.

His comments where captured by a sly journalist from Spanish radio station COPE and have caused him a huge deal of embarrassment. Here are some of the juiciest quotes:

Beckham is off to be a mediocre actor in Hollywood. The proof that the technical team made the right decision in not renewing his contract is that nobody else wanted him, even though he was free. This a day after saying that Beckham had played with Real Madrid like a bullfighter plays with a bull in stalling contract talks while negotiating with LA Galaxy and buying a home out in LA.

The Bernabéu is like a theatre. People don't go there to support their team with shouts and chants like they do in England, or Italy. If the players do well, it's like Plácido Domingo singing well, they applaud. But if Plácido Domingo sings out of key they whistle and boo. People feel they've paid to be entertained and won't show their support if that doesn't happen. This won't do his reelection chances much good, if, as expected, the postal vote is allowed to be counted and new elections are called.

Raúl and Guti started at the same time. Raúl has been a star for 12 years and Guti is still just a player "with a lot of promise". He's 31 and a great player, but he's never really counted. While not many will disagree with this assessment, it flies in the face of his contract being renewed for another two years back in November.

Managing players with such large salary differences is very difficult. At any given time, Diego López, who earns 300,000 euros a year could come in for Iker Casillas, who earns 9 million.

There is a lot of vanity and ego in the dressing room; they think they're superstars who don't have to pay for anything. You have culture and education, and generally, they have none.