Comments on: Why David Beckham will be good for Major League Soccer

By: laurie

laurie — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 22:57:18 +0000

You may be right, Chris. But to me, abandoning the team until after WC 2010 and then expecting to be welcomed back with open arms so he can continue to promote his brand in the US is a little bit like the rich guy dumping his first loyal wife for a trophy wife — then, after he has a couple of strokes and the trophy wife leaves him for a better time, coming back to the first wife expecting to be taken care of.

Sorry, dude. You had your chance. You blew it.

By: Chris Nee

Chris Nee — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 14:18:41 +0000

He’s doing everything he can to prove me wrong, by the looks of it.

By: Bobby Chew

Bobby Chew — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 03:01:04 +0000

Thanks Chris on your comments on my five points!
Becks dont seem to be getting any favours from the Galaxy fans! The stay seemed to be getting rather untenable…though Beckham has been through worse…

By: Alex Bogatiryov

Alex Bogatiryov — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 13:23:07 +0000

Will be interesting to see if his feud with Donovan over the book will hamper the Galaxy performance in the MLS.

By: Chris Nee

Chris Nee — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 19:35:48 +0000

All fair points, Laurie. Beckham got it wrong first time around, VERY wrong. And I’m undecided on the value of Beckham the player to MLS now. However, I believe he’s capable of benefiting MLS in the long term and I suspect that’s his intention. After all, his academy in LA is a commercial concern and success of football in the States would help him too.

Nobody’s saying he’s doing it for nothing but he is definitely capable. Personally I’d hope that when his career ends the influence of 19 will wane.

By: laurie

laurie — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 19:20:22 +0000

Disagree completely. As somebody who cares deeply about the future of MLS and who has followed the Galaxy closely, what’s struck me most by Beckham’s tenure here is how self-centered and unprofessional and dishonest his behavior has been in the last season. I think he came here with good intentions, but they fell through fast when he was faced with reality.

The majority of what he said in his press conference was demonstrably and provably false, to the point of being flat-out lies, and his immature reaction to Grant Wahl in the press conference (over the fact that Beckham refused to participate in the book because he wouldn’t get paid for it) was the behavior of a five-year-old.

You want to go to Milan, Becks, fine. Go. But don’t lie to us about it.

If he wants to prove himself to the fans, he can confess to the role of 19 Entertainment for all their hard work in taking down the team in 2008, then confess the truth behind his loan, then apologize to all the fans and everybody who cares about the team for phoning it in last year in his little sulk after his best friend Terry Byrne got axed from his top-secret Galaxy consulting job.

What Seattle has proved is that we do NOT need players like David Beckham, who view MLS as an optional commitment that they only need to pay attention to if nothing better has come along.

I had high hopes for the Beckham experiment. I was wrong. It’s time for him to go, right now, and make way for the players who are really willing to make a difference to the league.

By: Chris Nee

Chris Nee — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 20:08:36 +0000

Thanks all for your additional comments. Bobby, I checked out your post – nicely done and agree with your list of five improvements wholeheartedly.

By: Waqas Lone

Waqas Lone — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 14:05:04 +0000

ahan……thats a wonderful article really!!!

By: chris

chris — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 02:52:05 +0000

i agree – he’s proven people wrong his entire career and there is no reason he will continue to do so with the Galaxy.

By: Sandra

Sandra — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 22:34:01 +0000

Excellent article Chris. Pleasure reading it. Lots of great insight.