David Beckham has said he will never manage England, but has indicated his desire to play for his country at the 2012 European Championships.

Beckham, 35, was an unofficial member of manager Fabio Capello's staff at the World Cup in South Africa after injury ruled him out of the tournament.

"At the moment I have no interest in being a coach or becoming a manager," the midfielder told BBC Sport.

Beckham also said the players were to blame for England's poor World Cup.

England were beaten 4-1 by Germany in the last 16 and were disappointing throughout the tournament.

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And although Capello came under huge criticism following England's exit, Beckham insisted the manager was not responsible for the early exit.

"The players are to blame," said Beckham.

"Without a doubt it was the right decision for him [Capello] to keep his job.

"When the players step on that field is up to them to perform. Speaking to the lads, and knowing them as well as I do, they know they didn't play and perform well enough. That is why we didn't go any further in the competition.

"Everything was set up for us, the preparation was right and everything the manager and his staff did was right. Behind the scenes everything in the camp was perfect. We just didn't perform.

"The lads would admit, and a few of them have already, that they just didn't play well enough in the games."

However, while Beckham believes that there are several young players that could force their way into the squad for the forthcoming European Championships qualification campaign, he remains keen to regain his own place in the squad once he has returned from an Achilles injury.

"There is no need for an overhaul or the need to make big changes," Beckham told BBC sports news correspondent Dan Roan.

"I believe there are four or five players coming through that could come into the England squad and be given a chance, but I'm not manager and never will be.

"It's the manager's decision and he's experienced enough, and has been in football long enough and been around great players for his whole career, to know what is best.

"I hope to play this season for England and I've always said that I'll be available.

"I'm not ready to step aside but if I don't get picked again then I am very proud of my record - 100 starts in 115 appearances. But I still believe I have a part to play."

He added: "Things might be different in two, three months so we'll have to see but like I said I never want to step down from playing for my country."

Beckham's coaching role with the England team in South Africa has led to suggestions that the LA Galaxy star would one day move into management.

But the former Manchester United, Real Madrid and AC Milan player says he would prefer to coach kids at his academy.

"Management is not something I am passionate about and it is not something I have thought about," said Beckham, who could return to action in September despite initial fears he could miss the entire Major League Soccer season, which runs until 21 November.

"I love coaching kids, people know I love coaching kids, but being a manager - no. I have other interests that I want to fulfil before anything else.

I don't think anything that happen on the field makes the 2018 bid suffer David Beckham

"Then again, when I stop playing I still want to be involved in football in some way but I don't think it will be as a manager."

And although he has all-but ruled out managing the team, Beckham admitted he would love to see England play as the host nation at the 2018 World Cup.

England have not hosted a World Cup finals since 1966 and Beckham does not believe the poor performance in South Africa will have any affect on their chances of staging the competition in 2018.

"I don't think anything that happens on the field makes the bid suffer," said Beckham, who is an ambassador for the 2018 bid.

"There has been a lot of hard work going on for a long while now behind the scenes and I think there is still a lot of hard work to be done before 3 December and the decision.

"Fingers crossed that we get it because I think as a nation we haven't had the World Cup for a number of years and we would be ready. "

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