Beckham rules out move into management

England star David Beckham insists he has no intention of becoming a manager when he retires from playing.

After an Achilles injury ended his dream of playing in a fourth World Cup, Beckham spent the tournament in South Africa as part of England’s backroom staff and sat on the bench throughout the team’s ill-fated campaign.

The former Manchester United and Real Madrid midfielder gave advice to members of the squad and acted as a buffer between coach Fabio Capello and his players.

It has been suggested Beckham could take charge of England in the future but the 35-year-old has never been tempted by the thought of going into management and he has once again ruled out that option.

“I must admit it’s something I’ve never been interested in,” he said in a webchat with Yahoo on Wednesday. “It’s not a passion of mine to be a manager of a football team.

“I’m passionate about the game and being there and obviously I was wearing the suit so people have looked and thought I could be going into that.

“I spoke to James (Milner), Shaun (Wright-Phillips), Aaron (Lennon)… all the right-sided players. I spoke to all the players. If there’s anything that needed saying from the manager of the players, that was kind of my role.

“I enjoyed that but, coaching-wise, I love coaching kids — that’s one of the reasons I have my academies — the children, I love seeing their faces when they’re kicking the ball around. I love the enthusiasm, the honesty — that’s one of the things I love doing.

“But coaching a team, being a manager, at this point in my career I don’t want to do that and in the future I don’t think that will happen either.”

Beckham also revealed he is ahead of schedule as he tries to return to action after injuring his Achilles during a loan spell at AC Milan in April.

It had been feared he would be out until November — therefore missing the entire Major League Soccer season but he now hopes to be back in action by the start of September.

“When I had the surgery, the surgeon gave me a schedule,” Beckham said. “I’ve got a week now before it’s four months and then I’m allowed to run, but I’ve been running for the last 10 days.

“I’m ahead of schedule, it’s going well. I should be back in a month and a half.”