¡°Wayne does not have a (gambling) problem, he has just been highlighted because of who he is and what a great player he is ¡ª that¡¯s the only reason,¡± Beckham said.

¡°You can get people criticising him for one thing but you also have to look at the other things he does: Wayne also does a lot of work for charity and everyone knows that. You saw that when the story came out about Wayne, he was man-of-the-match (in the very next game he played),

so that shows that he is not going to be affected by it.¡±

And while Beckham admitted that he does not form part of the card schools within the camp, he insists that they will not damage England¡¯s chances at this summer¡¯s World Cup in Germany.

¡°Personally I like going to the Grand National or horse racing sometimes just for a day out to have a bit of a fun with the lads or with my wife, but I have never been a card man in my life,¡± Beckham said.

A smile then crept across his face as he joked: ¡°The only thing I¡¯ve played is snap and that¡¯s it. It¡¯s not that I¡¯m not any good at cards, (it¡¯s) because I¡¯m good at snap.

¡°I¡¯ve never been into playing cards but there have always been card schools in every team I¡¯ve played in and every team I have known,¡± he added.

¡°There¡¯s always been that in football ¡ª there have always been cards schools and there has always been betting going on.

¡°People were saying there was an issue between Michael and Wayne. It¡¯s probably just because they are the two main centre-forwards that people want to say that, but there is no problem and there never has been. I have never seen it affect any of the players or the way they¡¯ve played.

¡°It¡¯s not just Wayne, there are lots of other players (who gamble on card games). But it doesn¡¯t affect our players. ¡°In our England squad, it¡¯s impossible for the players to fall out over something like that: the banter and the togetherness of the team is too strong to be affected by card schools. There are no fall outs and there is no problem at all.¡±