David Beckham: Legend
David Beckham, with his floppy hair and unassuming ways, was an instant success at Manchester United.
A lifelong United fan, who had made the journey from the south with his dad to attend our games at Old Trafford, with an ability that stood out from the rest from a young age.
Aged 11, Beckham won the Bobby Charlton Soccer Schools National Skills Final and was our mascot in a match against West Ham that same year. He signed schoolboy forms with United five years later and made his United first team début the following year, before even signing professional terms with the club.
We all know what he won and the things he achieved with us following on from then, most notably the success of the 1999 season, where he played an active and crucial role.
As Ryan Giggs claimed his tenth league title last season and his second European Cup Winner’s medal, I wonder how Beckham felt. Obviously very happy that his boyhood team were on top again, but I’m sure there had to be pangs of jealousy and regret. How different things might have been…
The story goes that Sir Alex Ferguson forced David Beckham out of the club, but that quite simply isn’t true. Whilst the break down of his relationship with Ferguson might have been the final straw, Beckham’s head was elsewhere, long before that football boot came flying at it.
Whilst agreeing on a wage early on in contract negotiations, Beckham and the club couldn’t settle on what should be paid to him in image rights. He was setting out his stall as one of the most iconic footballers in the World, a superstar in his own right, married to a Spice Girl with every product going wanting his endorsement. Maybe United didn’t offer him enough or maybe Beckham wanted too much, but it’s by the by now. An agreement couldn’t be made, despite 18 months of talks, and Beckham was out of there.
You can blame Ferguson’s stubbornness or you can point to Beckham’s greed, but essentially, ol Becks was in a trying position, one which he might have handled differently now, knowing what he does about the five years that have followed since leaving Old Trafford. It had all gone to his head and he got too big for his boots. If United weren’t going to bend over backwards and give him everything he wanted, another club would. That club was Real Madrid.
It was only his last season with the Spanish club that he won anything, after being benched for chunks of the season by Fabio Capello. He rejected a contract extension in the January, opting instead to sign for LA Galaxy. Capello claimed Beckham had played his last game for Real and it appeared as though his playing career might as well be over. The MLS? What the….?
Beckham hasn’t allowed himself to go dead and buried though. Capello started playing Beckham again in February and he enjoyed a great spell on the pitch, before claiming the La Liga title on the last day of the season. He has prolonged his International career, joining an exclusive club with just four other men in claiming 100 caps for England.
Then, just to really resurrect himself, Beckham joined AC Milan. Can you imagine having Manchester United, Real Madrid and AC Milan on your playing CV? The man who fancied himself as a bit of a superstar in his 20′s has certainly had the career to back it up, hair product and felt tip pens advertising aside.
He scored his first goal for AC Milan on Sunday in his new club’s 4-1 win over Bologna, and despite what LA Galaxy might want, may be spending more time in Italy.
“I can’t say what will happen,” said Beckham. “Even if my contract says that I’ll be here until March, we’ll have to see. At the moment I’m enjoying this experience. I’m at one of the biggest clubs in the world. And having won gives us confidence to continue. It’s special to play for Milan and it’s great to score my first goal – I will keep this jersey. But it’s more important the team won and we played well.”
Milan are currently third in their league, six points behind local rivals Inter, meaning a Serie A title is not out of reach for him.
There will be few, if any, who will get to enjoy such a varied, yet high profile and successful, footballing career as Beckham. It’s just a shame, from a United perspective, that not all the years of his brilliant career have been spent at Old Trafford.
The word ‘legend’ is batted about a lot, but when he does finally choose to hang up his boots, this word will be a fitting description for him. David Beckham, I salute you.
For more of the same, check out the Manchester United blog, Republik of Mancunia.
Topics: AC Milan, Alex Ferguson, David Beckham, English Premier League, LA Galaxy, La Liga, Manchester United, MLS, Profiles, Real Madrid, Serie A
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Can’t doubt his commitment to the game, although I resent the fact that he went to Los Angeles too early if he wanted to prolong his England career. Think he is criticised for the wrong reasons too much. Sure, he has not impacted games like he used to for years, but he will always be a threat with the dead ball. So much of his hype is what makes him, and ironically, in the fans eyes, it’s also what breaks him. Just got to be objective.
January 26th, 2009 @ 22:38He’s never going back to Los Angeles now. And who would blame him if he didn’t? And if American soccer fans decide that this is something to b*tch about, just picture Kobe Bryant deciding to cash out a lucrative offer to play basketball in, say, China. All of a sudden, Kobe’s career for the US Men’s Basketball Olympic team is in jeopardy so he makes a brief move to play for, say the Knicks. I think American fans will then be able to relate (to a certain degree since the US Men’s Basketball Team and an England call up aren’t comparable). $250 million or a chance to play for England’s 2010 World Cup qualification and then a run for glory? Not an easy choice…
January 26th, 2009 @ 23:54I think Sir Alex played a much bigger part in forcing Becks out than you give him credit for. Obviously, the boot incident was blown up by the media, but the writing was on the wall for a long time before that. Beckham’s autobiography details a number of slights and incidents that were not made public to the media, such as holding him out of matches, blaming him for poor results, or ignoring him during training. Obviously, you have to consider the source, but Ferguson has done this time and time again to players that he wants to cut loose. He did it to Van Nistelrooy, he did it to Heinze, he did it to Roy Carroll and Tim Howard. I don’t think the whole thing broke down over some image rights. Ferguson thought Beckham’s time as an elite footballer was over, and he was, by and large, correct.
As for his head being elsewhere, I don’t know how much stock I put in that. Even Ferguson, despite his differences with Beckham, stated that he always found Beckham to be a hard worker and a professional. Capello said the same thing after Beckham continued showing up to training everyday despite the fact that he been dropped from the Real Madrid squad. I think Ferguson simply wanted to sell high on Beckham and that was that. I think the media blew a lot of it out of proportion.
January 27th, 2009 @ 02:24I think Beckham would be the first to admit given the chance again he’d get his head down and mouth shut at Man Utd. Interesting comparison drawn between himself and Giggs. Unfortunately due to PR i think history will rank Beckham above Giggs….shame.
January 27th, 2009 @ 13:17I think that David Beckham gets too much bad press from fans nowadays. He has done a lot for the game and is trying to prove he has not sold out by making the loan move to AC Milan. He is indeed a legend and I felt a bit sad when I watched him give up his captaincy of England in the press conference. Becks is a legend and always will be.
January 27th, 2009 @ 23:41Why do people praise Beckham so much? He’s not a great player or great professional. I mean he’s taken advantage of his looks and little talent thus made himself a huge commodity. If you’re talking about great professionals or need i say it role models, well look no further than Kaka (who donate a ton of his money to church)or Dirk Kuyt (who donates half of his wages – YES HALF) to cancer research .. Now those are people to look up to.
January 28th, 2009 @ 00:13Beckham has been a global sales image ever since Victoria Beckham got involved with him. I think that Beckham has had a tremendous career. I hope he gets back in the England squad as i think we need him.
January 28th, 2009 @ 09:31Beckham may well go down as a legend but not for football reasons. As a Utd fan I always felt he was a very good player but not exceptional.
I’ve always liked the way he handled himself and I think he’s a top guy but on pure football abaility….not a legend.
January 28th, 2009 @ 12:58I think David Beckham is the best footballist of world
January 28th, 2009 @ 17:16He is a rarer player than giggs (giggs is brilliant, but there are similar pacey wingers who can dribble, and very few players capable of providing assists with beckhams consistency) , but needs talent around him to fulfil his potential. His brilliant deliveries are wasted on the morons in the USA soccer league. They think adu is brilliant; a player with a few tricks, pace, and absolutely no ability to deliver decisive balls. Beckham is the exact opposite. His immense assist records at utd and Madrid show this. It isn’t by accident that be regularly topped the assist charts. The annoying phrase ‘Hollywood ball’ thrown around by morons just displays ignorance. He is in his element at Milan. They don’t expect or even want lacey dribblers with no end product. They want players who can supple great balls to pato, kaka, inzaghi and perhaps even shev.
February 6th, 2009 @ 12:41