David Beckham

[Hanku Royiaki]

Here's where the English superstar that hinarei may be quite fond of will be discussed. He's now putting up a valiant effort for his remaining time in England. His performance with his team has skyrocketed. The superstar has once again become a craze in both England and the U.S. People here are even questioning if he'll stay with his 5-year $250 million contract with the L.A. Galaxy. Will he keep to his already-signed contract?

[hinarei]

never assume I'm not exactly fond of him

I reckon he'll play well for a couple of games and then settle back into the 'tired old man' formula he was playing out before he was dropped.

I think he may only be back for a maximum five further games, so he gets his century of caps... Steve McClaren showed that he couldn't find any better talent in the whole of England, so brought back the old captain... seems to have gone back on the one major decision he's made in his year in the job.

Whether or not this turns out for the best is to be seen, and I hope it does... somehow though, I can't quite see it...

[Hanku Royiaki]

Understandably, I mean come on. The man is being paid 250 mill to do the same crap he does there, just play and not care, I think.

[hinarei]

with the man comes the worldwide recognition, Brand Beckham, shirt sales and his pneumatic wife.

It's hardly about footie at all Sure, he'll be good for the game for the first few months he's over there, then interest will wane again and kids'll forget all about sawwwwkerrrr and go back to wussy pseudo-rugby like usual

Galaxy will not give him the games he needs to stay as fit as he needs to, it'll play havoc with his international schedule (the flights alone wil be horrendous... and you have to overcome jetlag before you'll be any good in a footie game), and all that'll realistically happen is he'll trouser his cash and spend three years out injured.

of course, that could just be the cynic speaking

[Kenji]

hmmm Beckham is simply an advertisement - he is a mediocore player with nothing so special about him, not even his "amazing" right foot. All his free kick goals were from easy to score straight forward positions which any good free kicker could have delivered also. He sometimes can dish out decent passes but...thats it, hes just one big commercial, no wonder he lost his captain position after some of the stuff he pulled *cough.penalty.cough*

ah well...hope he does something in the USA atleast

[Betong Åsna]

Oh god, the bloody media bandwagon that seems to dictate everyone's opinion on Beckham irritates me no end. He was amazing after the Wimbledon goal, then hated after France 98, and loved again after the Greece goal. Throughout this entire period he was consistently improving and had become an outstanding player, with a style and position quite unique to him. Then he started to falter, and had a few bad seasons, and the media didn't seem to notice, continuing to sing his praises. Suddenly, amongst the sudden growth in popularity in the lives of footballers' wifes (his especially), the sports media slowly turned on him and decided he was past it, despite his returning to form and moving to Real. Since then, he's had a few excellent seasons in Spain - although no Englishman would know, since so few watch the Spanish league ("he's hardly getting a game - he's past it!" - no, that's because they regularly play squad rotation with their best international stars out there). He had an excellent World Cup last year, one of England's best players by a country mile, but the media decided to continue to bombard him. Enter Steve McClown, making himself look big by dropping the biggest and "most overrated" player in the team. Cue England becoming even worse, until his reintroduction, and surprise surprise - we damn well nearly beat Brazil.

Don't be so quick to believe everything you read. Anyone can miss a penalty under pressure, especially when the spot seems to be made of flour.

btw, hina, surprised you didn't pick up on Hanku's outlandish claim the Beckham is 'making the most of his remaining time in England'

[Nohido Keisuke]

I do support his choice of going to the US.
At first i thought he was gonna play AFL, cuz i saw a picture of him in a AFL shirt in the paper

[eugenius]

he should have never left madrid

[noodleboy200]

As the rather grumpy old man I am I don't like sport. I don't even like people who like sport. I guess I'm just annoyed with sportsmens' earnings being so ridiculously high for such a mediocre career. Anyway. David Beckham was once a superstar, more like, a super quasar. Then interest in him weedled (that's an awesome made up word) and he became one of those guys who was just a publicity figure and not someone who was looked up to. Nowadays people are more interested in Victoria and how thin she is. Also I heard that the other "wags" in LA aren't too fond of her.

[Betong Åsna]

Originally Posted by eugenius

he should have never left madrid

He did leave a bit early - Real do have the tendency to play some very old players. But he would've had to go sooner or later.