Real players uncomfortable with boss

13.03.2008

REAL Madrid's squad have asked club president Ramón Calderón to stop making sweeping statements to the press that apply pressure on the team after big wins or defeats.

Los Merengues' squad, led by Bernd Schuster, clearly do not appreciate the outbursts from the club supremo when he makes promises on their behalf when approached by journalists.

Such statements as "Madrid are going to win the league, I do not want to make promises, but I really think so" have proved to unpopular among the more senior players.

After qualifying from the group stages of the Champions League, Calderón told reporters that "Madrid will reach the final now. We maynot win it, but we wll reach the final".

In stark contrast to the previous president, the current incumbent of the hotseat at the Santiago Bernabéu is a regular in the dressing room and around the players' lounge after games.

But reports suggest that rather than behaving in a presidential manner, Calderón is like a star struck fan who constantly looks to lift the players with comments like "vamos, chicos" (Keep going boys).

Now the players have made an official request to the president and the board for things to calm down and that has been agreed to at an internal meeting this week. Calderón still enjoys a friendly relationship with the club's more senior players, but it is they who looked to make the request as they think that his interference has not been helpful.