Dropped and hurt, Beckham vows to prove coach wrong

London, Sep 16 (UNI) Steve McClaren has clearly antagonised the brightest star in the English ranks and former captain David Beckham vowed to prove the coach wrong for dropping him in the friendly against Greece.

In an interview with ''Daily Mirror'', Beckham revealed he was upset after McClaren called him last month to inform that the coach wants to move on and Beckham was ''one of the casualties''.

''Steve had rung me a week or so earlier to ask me about my recovery from the injury I'd got during the World Cup and how I was fitness-wise. This time, he started asking about the injury again but then he moved on to what he really wanted to say. He just said he had got other ideas and he wanted to move on.

''He said that with moving on there come casualties and 'you are one of the casualties.' That was it, really,'' he recalled.

Beckham also rubbished claims that he pleaded and urged the coach not to axe him.

''He asked if I wanted to call him back in two days and tell him how I was going to deal with things. He asked how we should deal with it on the press side. I told him I had dealt with plenty of bad things that had happened to me in the past. So I said 'you deal with the England side and the team and I will deal with whatever is thrown at me'.

''I heard later there were some reports that I had begged and pleaded with him not to do it. Well, obviously I was upset but nothing like that happened,'' he clarified.

''There was no shouting, no crying. It was a five-minute conversation. As soon as he told me I was one of the casualties, that was really when the conversation ended.

''I told him good luck and that it was his decision as the manager. That's the way it goes. There was definitely no crying. Not on the phone to the manager, anyway. I was upset but I am a man and I would never crawl to someone to pick me for the team,'' he explained.

And Beckham said the target of winning 100th cap for England kept him moving.

''I didn't announce my international retirement because I want to play for England again. I still want to reach that milestone of playing for England 100 times and help them win the European Championship. It's a target I set myself a long time ago and I won't give up now.

''...But not out of sentiment or pity. I want to do it on my own merit. I want to fight my way back in. Steve McClaren says the door is still open. I'm not so sure,'' he added.

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