Palios will meet Becks in Madrid

FA chief executive Mark Palios will make the astonishing gesture of travelling to Madrid to hold talks with England skipper David Beckham in an attempt to heal the rift between the national squad and football's governing body.

Beckham is unable to attend today's talks in Manchester where Palios, director of football development Trevor Brooking and national coach Sven Goran Eriksson will meet the senior representatives of the England squad, Gary Neville and David James.

The get-together is designed to repair the damage caused in the wake of the Rio Ferdinand affair and the fiasco of Leeds striker Alan Smith's England call-up when he was under investigation for throwing a bottle into the crowd in a match at Elland Road. Players' union supremo Gordon Taylor will also be present as issues such as clarification of the selection criteria for England duty, the FA's drug testing procedure and a review of their disciplinary workings are discussed.

Club commitments will force Beckham to remain in Madrid, but such is the England captain's influence at Soho Square - and his strong desire to make his feelings known - that Palios and company are set for a trip to the Spanish capital in the near future.

Talking about his absence from today's discussions, Beckham said: 'It is a bit difficult for me to attend things like that, but I have been in contact with the FA and at some point they will be coming here.

'Of course I will be involved because I am England captain and I have got to have a say.'

The Ferdinand dispute rumbled on yesterday with the FA moving to clarify Brooking's assertion on the Breakfast with Frost TV programme that the player should not have been banned from England duty while being able to play for Manchester United.