Florentino Perez has admitted that flaws in his 'galactico' recruitment policy contributed to him resigning as president of Real Madrid yesterday.
"We have constructed a squad made up of great players," Perez told a news conference after announcing his decision to resign after nearly six years in charge of the Spanish giants.
"But some of the players have clearly got mixed up and I want to capture their attention through my resignation so that they understand that all that matters is Real Madrid.
"I don't regret bringing the best players in the world to this club, but perhaps I wasn't able to make them understand the importance of their responsibilities, maybe I have educated them badly."
Perez paid world record transfer fees to bring Luis Figo and Zinedine Zidane to the club and followed up their recruitment with the purchase of Ronaldo and David Beckham.
But although Real won two league titles and a Champions League in Perez's first three seasons at the helm, the trophies dried up after the sacking of coach Vicente del Bosque and the arrival of Beckham.
While the club's economic fortunes have soared as a result of the policy, success on the pitch has eluded them.
At the end of last season, Real spent €90million on rejuvenating the squad with the purchase of Brazilian forwards Julio Baptista and Robinho, Uruguay internationals Pablo Garcia and Carlos Diogo and Spain defender Sergio Ramos
But they are now facing the prospect of a third successive season without any major silverware, which will be the club's worst run of form in some 52 years.
"Some of the players think they have a guaranteed place in the side and that they are the best," said Perez. "I think they are getting confused."
Perez refused to name names, but his comments came less than a week after Ronaldo complained about receiving criticism from Real Madrid fans and club captain Raul reprimanded the Brazilian for his comments which came on the eve of the side's Champions League defeat against Arsenal.
