SPAIN full-back Michel Salgado has recalled his days of playing soccer on Margate beach.

Interviewed by The Guardian before the match against England on Wednesday, the Real Madrid colleague of David Beckham and Michael Owen said he had spent a month in the town at the age of 14, studying and staying with a Margate family.

He was quoted as remembering two children, one called Kevin, whose father worked in a factory that made shop signs and always wore a tight T-shirt with rude slogans on it, and playing darts in pubs.

The interview continued: “They had a party and I’ve never seen people drink so much beer in my life…to see them down those half-litre cans was incredible.”

Salgado said he studied in the mornings, then spent all day “wasting money” and playing football on the beach in the rain.

He said: “I remember the beach really clearly – all the way along it there were slot machines, the whole way. I couldn’t believe it.”

He did, however, find the food, particularly peanut butter sandwiches, a problem.

“I spent all day in Burger King, because I was starving. I couldn’t work out the Sunday lunches: a huge meal at 12 and nothing else, except the traditional tea in the evening.

“We had to hide fruit and chocolates in our bedside tables at night.”