How will David Beckham be remembered?
As a marketing icon who sold shirts for Real Madrid team but won no trophies there?
As an England captain who failed in three consecutive tournaments?
As a boy-next-door Mr Nice Guy who made the most of his limited natural abilities?
As a metrosexual pin-up who was bossed about by his pop star wife?
Or as a Manchester United hero who won six Premiership titles ?
At the moment David Beckham’s future isn’t what it used to be. The world’s most famous footballer is thirty one and a half and he wants to play and time is running out fast. There is not much football left in his legs and wants to be out there, not on the bench.
On Sunday he came on as sub against Barcelona but he only got nine minutes.
On Monday, we heard that he feels sad every day.
He said, “I love playing football and if I don’t do that, I can’t be happy. I feel frustrated as a footballer. I go over it again and again and can’t find an explanation. It’s really hard when I don’t play and I feel sad every day.”
On Tuesday he said he would be willing to rejoin Manchester United on a free transfer next summer. He had previously said he could not imagine playing for another English club against his beloved United.
On Wednesday we read that Real Madrid were willing to sell him for £5 million in January.
That night Beckham started for Real Madrid in the Copa del Rey against Ecija, a tiny Third Division club in the south, but they were held 1-1 with the second leg to come on November 8. The players at Spain’s top clubs regard the Copa del Rey in the same way that their Premiership equivalents look at the League Cup, so his second start in eight games was a mixed blessing
On Thursday, Ladbrokes offered these odds : evens on Beckham staying in La Liga, 9/2 on him moving to the Premiership, 4/1 on the MLS (American League), 33/1 on the Bundesliga, 14/1 on Serie A, and 9/2 Other.
In the New York Sun, Paul Gardner pointed out that while Beckham earns $8 million a year from Real Madrid, the MLS has a salary cap and the highest paid player, Landon Donovan, is on $900,000.
But Paul also said that the league now needs stars and that the Los Angeles Galaxy is based in Carson, where Beckham has his Soccer Academy in partnership with AEG mogul Phil Anschutz, who owns the Galaxy.
Since players started earning really big money around 1992 we have heard a lot about lazy footballers coasting in the “comfort zone”.
However, David Beckham is now trapped in a discomfort zone. He is proud guy who has to play and he doesn’t mind us knowing when he is hurting. His “resignation” speech from the England captaincy was so emotional he could barely read a short prepared statement. He tried to put on a brave face and failed.
He later admitted it took him six weeks to get over that little news conference. Emotionally, that was the end of a challenging journey, a big fantasy which had sustained him and motivated him.
Determination had taken him a long way with England, to five tournaments, three as captain.
He had started with Glenn Hoddle and a red card against Argentina in 1998, suffered abject failure with Kevin Keegan in Euro 2000, going out in the group stages, moved on to embarrassment in Japan when he jumped out of a 50-50 with Roberto Carlos, which led to a goal by Brazil and defeat by ten men, and endured failure again in Portugal 2004 after Wayne Rooney was injured. In 2006 another penalty shoot-out defeat by Portugal signalled the end of the Eriksson-Beckham project. He was injured in a tackle by Nuno Valente and came off after 52 minutes, so he wasn’t even on the field to take a penalty in the shoot-out. He watched misses by Lampard, Gerrard and Carragher.
Smooth Sven and his darling David talked a lot but failed every time, finished eighth every time. That flop was quickly followed by a “resignation” designed to allow the captain some dignity after a World Cup fiasco that was supposed to be his swansong.
Beckham, in his own mind, was a kid who “lived the dream” and he went to Germany in June feeling, for once, fit and in form. He genuinely believed he could climb the highest mountain and lift the World Cup for England, just as Bobby Moore had done in 1966.
He went into the Portugal game in Gelsenkirchen thinking England could win the World Cup. And after he went off a cliff, mentally and physically, there was always a chance that the end would come sooner rather than later.
To go from a World Cup quarter-final in June to nine minutes in October is a trauma for anybody. He now wants to play and win something to put Gelsenkirchen behind him, not come on when the game is already won and the score is 2-0.
Even the boy next door cannot grin through that humiliation. He used to lead out England and now he is an also-ran. In the papers and record books his name is in brackets : Guti (81, Beckham). Does president Ramon Calderon really expect him to sign up for another two years with his name in brackets ?
When David Beckham played for Manchester United he was part of a team that expected to win the league, and when he played for England he was part of a team that expected to win the World Cup.
The difference between Manchester United and England is the difference between everything and nothing. Engerland have won nothing since 1966 and Manchester United have won everything. And Beckham helped Manchester United win everything
For England, his peak was October 2001, the one-man show against Greece at Old Trafford, the stunning free-kick that got us to the 2002 World Cup in Korea-Japan. In this era we do not talk so often about a footballer “turning it on” but Beckham turned it on that night.
Ultimately, David Beckham will be remembered as Manchester United hero who won six Premiership titles and the glorious treble of 1999, which may never be repeated by Chelsea, or any other club. In the games that mattered most that season, Manchester United beat Arsenal 2-1 in the replay at Villa Park, beat Juventus twice, and came from behind to grab that treble in the Nou Camp, leaving Bayern stunned
That was Beckham’s finest hour, as he played a big role in a big midfield : an Irishman, a Welshman and two Englishmen, a beautifully balanced quartet with pace, flair and spirit. Scholes created, Keane tackled, Beckham crossed, Giggs dribbled.
Bayern Munich was his biggest game, his finest hour, because of what had happened a year before.The game was a comeback and the year was a comeback.
With eleven men in St Etienne, England would have beaten Argentina but now, a year on from his shame, and an aftermath of hate and ridicule, here was Beckham, the wing-technician, the self-made quarterback, grafting against the Germans and 1-0 down with 90 minutes on the clock in the world’s biggest club final, where Keane and Scholes were absent through suspension, and Uefa president was already going down in the lift with Bayern Munich’s ribbons tied to the European Cup, and never-say-die David Beckham took a corner and Sheringham equalised. Then he took another corner and Solskjaer scored and Manchester United were kings of Europe
Yes, David Beckham, the lad from Leystonstone, was never a finalist with England but he was a finalist with Manchester United and a treble winner.
Big clubs need big nights and they are made into big clubs by big nights like that and that dramatic victory will stand in time. The Nou Camp 1999 will be reference point for the next hundred seasons.
ARSENAL need a big night like that.
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