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David Beckham
I'm amazed this hasn't gotten a single comment.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/foot...pe/6765155.stm
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It seems the second part of the David Beckham trilogy has come to its logical conclusion, with the leading man receiving the Hollywood ending he longed for.
His four-year stint at Real Madrid was a dramatic mix of celebrity and scandal, highs and many lows - both on and off the pitch.
Over the last year, in particular, our intrepid hero occupied a trough he appeared unable to escape from.
Having first been left out of the England set-up, he then found himself shunned by Real for loss of form and the way his agreement to move to Major League Soccer club LA Galaxy in the United States - once the Spanish season ended - was handled.
But Becks, in true Rocky Balboa-style, rose from the canvas to win back his place in Steve McClaren's England squad and then helped the Spanish giants pick up their first Primera Liga title since 2003.
Short of riding off into the sunset - he will probably take a private jet - it is the perfect clichéd denouement to what has been an uneasy journey.
They were looking for means to create revenue and Beckham was part of the solution
El Pais journalist Diego Romano Torres
El Pais journalist Diego Romano Torres, who has closely followed the 32-year-old midfielder since his arrival in Madrid, says the aura of David Beckham will be missed by the club and fans alike.
"He played his best football in the last six months and fans will remember him for that and for the part he played in Real's title success," Torres told BBC Sport.
"They liked him during that time because he was a warrior and that was in sync with the mentality of Real Madrid."
But Torres stressed that he believes the "warrior" did not show up often enough for the club.
"Looking back at the four years, I do think he spoiled his time at Real by thinking about Beckham the brand rather than Beckham the footballer," added Torres.
Joining Real was good business for Beckham and Real
"Beckham should have been more concerned with matters on the pitch, although the club did not help matters by valuing him more for what he did off the pitch.
"It's unfortunate because I think he was happy with the idea of being the symbol of the Real Madrid brand."
Whether Beckham was happy with the situation or not is something we are unlikely to ever find out but what was clear is that Real were keen to use him as a marketing tool.
The club had been saddled with a huge debt, having spent millions on bringing in the likes of Luis Figo, Zinedine Zidane and Ronaldo - and then paying their 'galactico' wages.
At £25m, Beckham was not cheap either but he went some way to paying off his fee, while enhancing Real's profile across the world.
"I don't think he is solely to blame for the way he was perceived because of the club's financial problems," said Torres.
"They were looking for means to create revenue and Beckham was part of the solution. He was a big draw in the Far East and Real ensured they exploited that for all its worth."
Beckham, however, was first and foremost a footballer and was unfortunate to be in a Real side that was in transition.
"The club was lost, wandering between the old era and new one, looking for an identity in the football industry," said Torres.
The former England captain's highlights on the field were few and far between but Real also blew more cold than hot.
Prior to this season's league title triumph, Real finished fourth and then second twice to arch-rivals Barcelona - the most bitter of pills to swallow.
My biggest mistake was not to count on Beckham after he announced he was leaving
Real coach Fabio Capello
The last year has proved particularly traumatic for Beckham.
After England crashed out of the 2006 World Cup, Beckham stepped down as captain of his national team but insisted that he would continue playing for his country, if picked.
However, new coach McClaren omitted Beckham from his first squad and it seemed unlikely he would add to his then total of 94 caps.
Things went from bad to worse when Real sporting director Predrag Mijatovic revealed last January that Beckham's contract would not be renewed.
The England player subsequently took up the interest shown by LA Galaxy, who offered him a five-year contract worth a reported £128m.
He was criticised by Real coach Fabio Capello for negotiating a deal with another club when still contracted to the Spanish team and was then told he would never play for them again.
But poor results for Real and hard work in training led to Beckham being recalled to the squad for the match against Sevilla.
And he made an instant impact on his return, scoring in the 2-1 victory.
Excellent performances continued and put pressure on McClaren to recall Beckham, who inspired England to a 3-0 win in a Euro 2008 qualifier against Estonia earlier this month.
"I made several misjudgements but my biggest mistake was not to count on Beckham after he announced he was leaving," said Capello. "Not keeping him in the side was my biggest error."
Beckham is still playing a high level of football and therefore his time at LA Galaxy will come under close scrutiny as he tries to balance his international career when playing in what critics have dubbed a sub-standard league.
How it will pan out is anyone's guess but will certainly be worth staying tuned in to developments.
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http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns...=mls25&cc=5901
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MLS well-placed to maximize Beckham's arrival
At long last, the Major League Soccer circus has come to town in the form of one David Robert Joseph Beckham. Like most carnival acts, his arrival in Los Angeles is bound to draw interest from both devotees and neophytes alike. But the funny thing about the circus is that it's a show most people need to see only once. And with Beckham's feet now firmly planted stateside, the hard work of convincing those fans to keep coming back to the Big Top will begin for MLS.
There is no doubting that Beckham is expected to make a huge impact on the sport in the U.S., and in some respects he's done that before he's even kicked a ball. But for all the talk about international broadcast rights and jersey sales, sustaining the momentum he will provide is the real -- and risky -- challenge for MLS.
Not because the league is on the road to fiscal ruin (it's not), but if on Beckham's retirement day MLS finds itself still averaging 15,000 fans per game (as it has in recent years), then the move will have been an abject failure. And what's scary is that for all the comparisons to Pelé and the North American Soccer League, MLS itself has been down this road before, albeit on a much smaller scale, and the results have not been encouraging.
Remember when the Galaxy signed former Mexican international Luis Hernandez in 2000? His arrival was trumpeted as the key to making a gigantic, permanent inroad into L.A.'s vast Hispanic market. When his May 20, 2000, debut drew 40,000 fans, those in favor of the deal said, "See?" The only problem was that the Galaxy's attendance quickly reverted to their previous average.
Much the same thing happened with the introduction of Freddy Adu. The buzz surrounding Adu's entry into the league did indeed give MLS some much-needed exposure as well as a bump in attendance, but it wasn't sustainable. The official leaguewide attendance average in 2004, Adu's rookie season, was 15,559. In 2005, it was 15,108, a mere 200 fans above its 2003 mark. And while United's attendance did grow during this period, this was more due to the fact that the team rejoined the league's elite after some lean years rather than because of Adu's drawing power.
Fortunately for MLS, there are some important differences between those examples and Beckham's arrival, not the least of which is that the Englishman's Q rating and sheer ability dwarfs that of Hernandez and Adu.
"I think there is a credibility associated with David Beckham, certainly throughout the soccer community," said L.A. general manager Alexi Lalas. "We're getting a player who is coming off a La Liga championship for one of the world's superclubs [Real Madrid]. We're getting a player who has recently been called back into [the national team of] England. So there is that level of respect and credibility that comes with him."
Perhaps a bigger distinction is that in the midst of its 12th season, MLS sits on a foundation that is stronger than ever. The investments in soccer-specific stadiums have improved the fan experience in the stands, while the advent of the reserve league and youth teams for MLS clubs looks set to advance the on-field product. These improvements have manifested themselves in a more diverse ownership group leaguewide as well as increased sponsorship and television revenues.
"[MLS] has their bearings better," said David Carter, executive director of the Sports Business Institute at USC's Marshall School of Business. "They are much more consistently on message. They have some momentum now. I think they are in a far better position to take advantage of a transcendent star like Beckham than they were a few years ago."
Riding Beckham's coattails to the promised land of sustainable growth will require several things on the part of MLS. One will be using his presence to attract other international players closer to their prime years. This use of the "designated player rule" will have the effect of improving the on-field product in the short term while waiting for other, longer-term projects like the league's youth system to bear fruit, all while continuing to build new stadiums.
But the biggest challenge will be managing the already insane expectations surrounding Beckham. On the one hand, it is those very hopes that are driving the Beckham frenzy, yet they could also cause the whole exercise to fail in its quest to push the game forward.
"If you market and promote something, and customers ultimately feel let down by the experience or don't feel as though they received value for their time and investment, it's going to ring very hollow," Carter said.
That is essentially what happened in the case of Adu. While stopping short of saying that the then-14-year-old Adu would dominate the league, MLS did little to quell the tsunami of expectations that preceded his arrival. And when Adu's on-field performance didn't meet those unrealistic hopes, MLS was left fighting the perception that it had sold the public a bill of goods.
Listening to the pronouncements of Lalas, MLS commissioner Don Garber and even Beckham himself, it's clear that the league has learned its lesson from the Adu affair. All three have stated that Beckham will not save the league on his own, but their disclaimers will carry them only so far. The Pandora's box of fan expectations has been opened, and with the Galaxy struggling mightily in the standings, there exists the real possibility that Beckham's on-field influence will be blunted, which puts at risk his ability to impact the sport long-term.
In the meantime, MLS will have to focus on things it can control, such as making the in-stadium experience as positive as possible for spectators. And while the league will welcome a slew of novice fans who will be drawn to Beckham's star power, MLS deputy commissioner Ivan Gazidis says the league is poised to attract more hard-core soccer fans who dismiss MLS as second-rate.
"We believe that there are enough soccer fans in this country that if we can capture a bigger portion of that market, we would be extraordinarily successful," Gazidis said. "Our business is a soccer business and needs to be built on soccer fans. So are there fans of soccer in this country who are not fans of MLS? Absolutely, and that's our opportunity."
MLS has five years to seize that chance before the circus leaves town, and the clock is ticking.
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Beckham unlikely to require special protection
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Beckham unlikely to require special protection
Major League Soccer has got their Golden Ticket, but before the league can cash in on the full value of David Beckham, he has to make a healthy return to the field.
Beckham already has a gimpy ankle, and the fragility of any sports star is fraught when so much depends on the fitness of that particular player.
When the mere presence of Beckham in a match is such a draw, the worry becomes about whatever factors might keep him off the field. It could be a random injury, it could be his tendency to accumulate cards, or it could be an injury inflicted by opponents.
Inevitably, that raises the issue of whether Beckham will be coddled, protected by referees to the point where any heavy tackle on the greatest acquisition by MLS could see the offending player get sent off. If that does happen, it's likely to be perceived that way.
Teams in smaller markets have long maintained that L.A. has seen distinct advantages go its way in past years.
Sigi Schmid, who went from coaching the Galaxy to a smaller market squad when he took over guiding the Columbus Crew, observed some preference as part of a natural tradition in sports.
"Look at the NBA," Schmid said. "There's senior guys, certain players in the league who get calls in their favor. The same thing sometimes happens in any professional sport. The veterans get some breaks and some calls that might go their way."
"We're never going to be in agreement with the referees, and even more so with a guy like Beckham," said Columbus Crew defender Ezra Hendrickson, who won league championships both with the Galaxy and D.C. United. "People will think he's going to get all the calls that he wants."
If such a belief is widespread, there could be retaliatory tackles simply because players are frustrated at the situation that elevates Beckham to some special status.
"Once you step on the field, everyone is a player out there," said Hendrickson. "You don't want to injure anybody. But you don't want to go in soft on a tackle, either, especially as a defender. When I go in for a tackle, I go in for a hard tackle, or they win the tackle and the ball goes the other way and the team is in a bad position."
The players in the league say all the right things about the advantages of having such a well-known player bring new visibility to everyone involved.
"It's a great thing for the league," said Preki, the coach of the Galaxy's in-town rival, Chivas USA. "It's great to get that buzz around L.A. It's great for the sport in the U.S."
Beckham's credentials as a top player are just as burnished as before, given that he's arriving to MLS as a winner in his final season in Spain, where with his help Real Madrid claimed the La Liga title.
"I admire him as a good player," said Chivas USA striker Maykel Galindo. "There's all that other stuff, but for me, he's a great player who has won championships. This is good for the league. It will open doors because so many people will be watching the league."
Yet those in the midst of a MLS match don't have the time to stop and appreciate Beckham's value.
"You don't really think about who it is when you go in for a tackle," said Hendrickson. "You're just out there playing. If it's time for a hard tackle, you make a hard tackle. I don't have time to check the backs of the shirt to see who is playing."
Besides, many players are convinced that Beckham doesn't need particular protection.
"He still has a lot to give to soccer, because he was just champion at Real Madrid," said Chivas USA's Claudio Suarez, a long-time Mexican international. "Even though there's all that marketing around him, it goes along with good football. The most important thing is that you're a good player. I think David is playing well right now."
It's also not as if players in other leagues haven't defended the star physically in the past. Suarez viewed Beckham's U.S. experience as potentially more of the same.
"It's going to be hard for him, because everyone will want to mark him strongly and they'll be very motivated," said Suarez. "It's similar here as it is in England. There's a lot of physical contact. There's no need to protect him a lot."
In fact, given Beckham's own proclivity for sometimes awkward tackles, and occasional cards, what could keep him out of games might be the damage he inflicts on other players.
No matter how much the league might regard Beckham as the new golden goose bringing fans to games, for rivals, he's another obstacle in their way of a win.
"David has played in a lot of big games -- he's going to be fine," said Preki. "I don't think we have many malicious guys in the league. We expect him to play hard, like he did in Europe, and guys are going to play hard back. It's not going to be soft, but it should be fine."
The scrutiny will be not only on Beckham, or on those marking him, but also officiating in MLS, which has ranged all over the map at times. As much as some league observers feel MLS needs an influx of foreign talent to raise the quality, others believe there needs to be an similar importation of officials. Observers are expecting that more pressure than ever will be on MLS referees to prove their quality.
The players, for one, will be paying attention to how games with Beckham involved will be called. For anyone on the field, the most dangerous ref is often considered an unpredictable one.
"I'm sure he's going to get some calls that guys are going to disagree with, but that happens to anyone," said Hendrickson. "As long as the refs are consistent, you can't really complain. I imagine that he's going to get some calls that people will argue and think there's some favoritism, but I think the refs are going to try to do their job to the best of their abilities."
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07-17-2007, 11:11 PM
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