Camacho quits as Real Madrid coach

Jose Antonio Camacho resigned as Real Madrid coach on Monday, just four months after taking up the post.

Camacho offered his resignation to club president Florentino Perez following the 1-0 defeat of the "galacticos" at Espanyol, saying he felt incapable of carrying on because he did not enjoy the support of the players.

"I want to announce that the board of Real Madrid has decided to accept the resignation of Jose Antonio Camacho, although he will continue working with the club," Real Madrid president Florentino Perez told a news conference on Monday.

"I also want to announce that we have decided to put our confidence in (his assistant) Mariano Garcia Remon, a man of proven loyalty to the club, as the new coach.

"That will ensure there is continuity with the work already carried out by Jose Antonio Camacho, who personally recommended Garcia Remon as his replacement.

"In the name of the board I also want to send everyone a message of reassurance that we are all confident that our objectives for this season remain as before and call on the fans to give their full support to the new coach."

It is the second time he has made a premature exit from the club he served so loyally as a player.

He managed just 23 days in the post in 1998, quitting before the season had even started after a row with then president Lorenzo Sanz about a contract for fitness trainer Carlos Lorenzana.

Real ended last season with a worst ever five-match losing streak. This season they successfully got through the qualifying round of the Champions League, then scraped two disappointing 1-0 wins in their first two Spanish Primera Liga games.

The team suffered a stinging 3-0 defeat at Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League on Wednesday and then turned in an appalling performance to lose at Espanyol.