SOCCER: New Real Madrid coach Mariano Garcia Remon is confident he will have the support of the players in his attempt to help the side recover from their disappointing start to the season.

"The players are hurt and their morale isn't high," Garcia Remon told a news conference after taking his first training session following Jose Antonio Camacho's decision to quit as coach earlier on Monday.

"I need the players' help and respect to turn this round and I'm sure I'll get it," Camacho's former assistant said.

Real Madrid players were greeted by a chorus of insults from some of the 50 or so fans who had gathered outside the Bernabeu as they arrived for the training session.

But Garcia Remon, a former goalkeeper at the club, appealed to the fans to lend their support to the team for his first match in charge of the side against Osasuna tonight.

Camacho resigned four months after taking up the post saying that he felt incapable of getting the most out of the club's expensively assembled squad.

"I believe that the team has not lived up to expectations and that as long as I remain as coach it will not improve and that's why I've decided to step down," Camacho told a news conference at the Bernabeu. I've got my own way of behaving and of coaching. I did not see it reflected on the pitch and I could not see the situation improving."

Real Madrid's president Florentino Perez said: "Garcia Remon will be here the whole season and we hope for many more," Perez told Radio Marca. "It is not a temporary measure, because he fits perfectly into the culture of this club."

Garcia Remon, who won six league titles during his 14 seasons at the club between 1971 and 1985, is a former manager of Sporting Gijon and Numancia. He is Real's fourth coach since June 2003.

Suggestions that Camacho was unhappy with the attitude of the club's so-called galacticos also seemed to gather pace yesterday.

At 3-0 down against Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League last week he hauled off Luis Figo and Ronaldo and then left out Raul and David Beckham for the trip to Espanyol three days later.

Camacho hinted at a lack of support from the dressing-room when announcing his departure.

England captain David Beckham said yesterday that neither he nor the rest of the players were responsible for Camacho's decision to quit.

"We don't share the blame for what has happened with Camacho. Ultimately it was his decision to go," said Beckham.

Beckham also rejected any suggestion that the club's multi-millionaire squad had lacked the discipline to respond to Camacho's methods."People can say a lot about what we do and what we earn, but on the pitch we just want to win."Beckham denied there had been any rift between Camacho and some of the players.

Perez insisted he would not rethink his galactico recruitment policy. "We have tried to put together a team that wins, that entertains and that is admired by hundreds of millions of people all over the world and that is what we are going to continue to do," he said.