David Beckhamto play for Los Angeles for $250 million
Discussion
[quote=pablo]
when you play on the right side of midfield what will "on the ball" skills offer you? nothing, good crossing skills, ah yes thats right the ball into the box and at the feet of the striker.
thats why footballers play in different postitions, to take into account their best skills...
[quote]
Have to say i completely agree, he hasn't got the pace or skill to dribble past people on the wing but he doesn't need it as he can get a pefect cross in almost every time even with a defender standing right in front of him.
As pablo said his work rate up and down the right side is tremendous and i can't imagine how many goals he and neville have created for Man U and England over the years swapping positions!
when you play on the right side of midfield what will "on the ball" skills offer you? nothing, good crossing skills, ah yes thats right the ball into the box and at the feet of the striker.
thats why footballers play in different postitions, to take into account their best skills...
[quote]
Have to say i completely agree, he hasn't got the pace or skill to dribble past people on the wing but he doesn't need it as he can get a pefect cross in almost every time even with a defender standing right in front of him.
As pablo said his work rate up and down the right side is tremendous and i can't imagine how many goals he and neville have created for Man U and England over the years swapping positions!
pablo said:
Top Trump said:
pablo said:
having had the opportunityto see beckham play on a number of occassions i would quite happily say he was the best player on he pitch every time. his work rate was immense, chasing back etc, you dont see this on the TV, the ground he covers is phenomenal, he is undoubtedly the best crosser of the ball from the right, his dead ball skills were and still are amongst the top few in the world and he has an excellent ability top read the movements of other players, how many times did he and gary neville link up on the right for man utd? . to say he is shit is to prove you have no knowledge of football and have let the his off pitch activities dictate your feelings.
its not the move i wanted him to make, i had hoped he would come back to the UK, play in the premiership and fight for his england place but under McClaren, that was never likely to happen, thanks steve!?!
so he goes to a place where he is wanted, can earn a fortune and will enjoy playing the football, cant say i blame him, this is a country which burnt effigys of him in 1998 and then worshipped him in 2002 against greece?
its not the move i wanted him to make, i had hoped he would come back to the UK, play in the premiership and fight for his england place but under McClaren, that was never likely to happen, thanks steve!?!
so he goes to a place where he is wanted, can earn a fortune and will enjoy playing the football, cant say i blame him, this is a country which burnt effigys of him in 1998 and then worshipped him in 2002 against greece? Edited by pablo on Friday 12th January 09:05
Oh please! His status is overblown and has been for a while. He is a good player, nothing more. All this talk of dead ball skills and freekicks is a cliche and is not enough to make him a great player. He is simply not as talented on the ball as some other European or South American players. I remember watching the World Cup and it showed me what real midfielders can do. Watching players like the Portugese 'Deco' or the Argentinian 'Messi' was a revelation.
sorry but i disagree, i have seen him play, watching him rather than the game made me realise how much ground he covers on the wing and his ability to be in the right place at the right time, his passing and crossing on that day won the game for England. how can his dead ball skills be a cliche when he has constantly scored from free kicks whilst at man utd and for england? it is not a cliche it is fact. from 25 yards out, i would bet aginst the keeper rather than beckham....
when you play on the right side of midfield what will "on the ball" skills offer you? nothing, good crossing skills, ah yes thats right the ball into the box and at the feet of the striker.
thats why footballers play in different postitions, to take into account their best skills...
i dont think there was one england player who played well in the last world cup, beckham included, but Deco and Messi played very well and i do rate them just as highly as beckham. messi needs to prove it for a few more seasons yet though.... beckham is 31 or thereabouts, making his debut for man utd when he ws 17 or 18, ten years as one of the worlds gretest footballers against the likes of ronaldo, zidane and figo isnt bad.
if you dont like him fine, but to say his talents are over rated is unjustified.
champions league, fa cups, league cups, more premierships than spurs and newcastle et al have ever won first division titles..... his honours list is pretty impressive for an average player....
out of interest who do you support?
Edited by pablo on Friday 12th January 09:36
I've got nothing against the guy. He is a very determined footballer who loves the game, which shows. All I'm saying is is that he is not as good as everyone makes him out to be. I guess it's very subjective but he doesn't have the breadth of talent as some other players.
You've got to remember there's so much hype around football these days and Beckham is prime example of it. The Ameicans have fallen hook line and sinker for this hype because he is a megastar. They think he will elevate the game for them when he's out there. He is known the world over because he is the poster boy of English football, a good looking man with a penchant for fashion and a touch of bling and someone who represents so brilliantly, a now very fashionable game.
As I said I've got nothing against him but when you get people who come up to you and say 'he's the best passer and freekicker in the world' it just smacks of cliche and jumping on the bandwagon. He's a good player who became a global superstar.
Sorry to disagree with the Americans here, but over the last four years I've spent a year in Chicago - mostly a week at a time. I've seen a *huge* growth in the understanding of international football (soccer).
During the 2002 world cup we went to a bar to watch games and no-one was interested.
Last year games were on in the office, and people knew who the star players were, who was where in the groupings, who was likely go go through. More impressively there were balls lying around the office.
I get the feeling (from a Chicago perspective at least), that the US is starting to "get" football.
OK, so it's seen as a bit of a girls game. But then we think of rounders as a girls game here.
I wonder if the Beckham Academy in LA is built on the same socialist principals as the one here.
Simon
During the 2002 world cup we went to a bar to watch games and no-one was interested.
Last year games were on in the office, and people knew who the star players were, who was where in the groupings, who was likely go go through. More impressively there were balls lying around the office.
I get the feeling (from a Chicago perspective at least), that the US is starting to "get" football.
OK, so it's seen as a bit of a girls game. But then we think of rounders as a girls game here.
I wonder if the Beckham Academy in LA is built on the same socialist principals as the one here.
Simon
anonymous said:
[redacted]
mclaren would not have gone back on his decision as it would have made a fool out of him. he has tried to get paul scholes back but that was eriksons decision to leave out scoles. mclaren dropped beckham fromthe squad which was my interpretation of him saying, you are not part of my future plans.
lest we forget both Johan Cryuff and Pele went to play in the US and nobody holds them with the same contempt as Beckham..... and i would say the MSL is a damn sight better these days than the NASL! the US gave Italy a damn good game in the world cup last year!
I have a big problem with this..... not because he is good or bad, but because of two things:
1) The money in the sport
2) The headline figures
Firstly, I think that this type of figure for a contract is just plain silly. It cannot be justified and is unrepresentative of a sport in general. We have seen a major shift away from the "sport of the people" to the current restricted access spectator spectacle that it currently is. I am not a footie fan by any means, but the way that it is now locked down to pay-per-view and hyper expensive seats is just plain daft. I remember going to several matches with my dad (many years ago) to watch Middlesbrough at their Ayresome Road ground for a matter of a few quid. Yes, the grounds needed to improve and be much safer, but the £50+ per seat means its now out of the hands of the common man and into the "corporate entertainment" market.... not quite what it used to be. It also sets unrealistic standards for other contracts. Average players will be wanting £100k+ now while the top ones will be looking for millions - unrepresentative of their abilities. It drives up the costs even higher and means it gets even more expensive to watch.... this is NOT what sport is about.
Secondly, I have to cast major concerns on the reporting of this from our media. They talk of $250m over 5 years and x per week etc. Come on, its a contract and I expect that this figure is a maximum that he can earn over this time. There will be lots of get-out clauses and limitations within the contract and this figure will be a maximum payout for the period. Can he honestly expect to earn this over the 5 year period? Nah, not on your nelly. It will be tied to appearances, performance and other measurements. IF at any point he gets injured, this will drop his earnings down considerably and I would imagine that it will get harder and harder to remain at the top of his game over the coming 5 years. Ok, he's only 31 at the moment, but the risk of injury is increasing now and its going to be very tough to remain in peak fitness and abilities. Take for example him becoming injured and being out for 6 months..... this will seriously impact this contract and the money he makes. And guess who will be first on the attack going for the blood? Yep, thats right - the media again....
Sensationalist media reporting.... yet again....
1) The money in the sport
2) The headline figures
Firstly, I think that this type of figure for a contract is just plain silly. It cannot be justified and is unrepresentative of a sport in general. We have seen a major shift away from the "sport of the people" to the current restricted access spectator spectacle that it currently is. I am not a footie fan by any means, but the way that it is now locked down to pay-per-view and hyper expensive seats is just plain daft. I remember going to several matches with my dad (many years ago) to watch Middlesbrough at their Ayresome Road ground for a matter of a few quid. Yes, the grounds needed to improve and be much safer, but the £50+ per seat means its now out of the hands of the common man and into the "corporate entertainment" market.... not quite what it used to be. It also sets unrealistic standards for other contracts. Average players will be wanting £100k+ now while the top ones will be looking for millions - unrepresentative of their abilities. It drives up the costs even higher and means it gets even more expensive to watch.... this is NOT what sport is about.
Secondly, I have to cast major concerns on the reporting of this from our media. They talk of $250m over 5 years and x per week etc. Come on, its a contract and I expect that this figure is a maximum that he can earn over this time. There will be lots of get-out clauses and limitations within the contract and this figure will be a maximum payout for the period. Can he honestly expect to earn this over the 5 year period? Nah, not on your nelly. It will be tied to appearances, performance and other measurements. IF at any point he gets injured, this will drop his earnings down considerably and I would imagine that it will get harder and harder to remain at the top of his game over the coming 5 years. Ok, he's only 31 at the moment, but the risk of injury is increasing now and its going to be very tough to remain in peak fitness and abilities. Take for example him becoming injured and being out for 6 months..... this will seriously impact this contract and the money he makes. And guess who will be first on the attack going for the blood? Yep, thats right - the media again....
Sensationalist media reporting.... yet again....
The other thing to remember of course is that the defintion of sport is different in the US to the rest of the world. In most places it is a competition, in the US its primarily about entertainment and advertising.
Have you every watched the Superbowl live? Four to six hours of coverage for a sport that takes one hour? There's more advertising time than sport coverage.
CART/NASCAR, which basically involved driving round for ages before the final full course yellow with 5 minutes to go that leads to a sprint finish and crashes left, right and centre.
The signing of Beckham is perfect for the intended market. A Hollywood A-list celeb who's covered in advertising. He truly is the American dream.
Have you every watched the Superbowl live? Four to six hours of coverage for a sport that takes one hour? There's more advertising time than sport coverage.
CART/NASCAR, which basically involved driving round for ages before the final full course yellow with 5 minutes to go that leads to a sprint finish and crashes left, right and centre.
The signing of Beckham is perfect for the intended market. A Hollywood A-list celeb who's covered in advertising. He truly is the American dream.
anonymous said:
[redacted]
If I was Becks I would be thinking f*** McLaren and England.
England have the worlds worst history of treating their icons and heros. The average Englishman can't look passed the money/wife to see a pretty good footballer. He has been used as a scapegoat over and over when you should have all been looking elsewhere but he was man enough to take the brunt. If he was Welsh, we on this side of the border would see nothing but a hero and good role model a'la Giggs or Zouzou in France.
He has dug your very average national team out of the hole on many occasions and you still rip him to bits.
England fans = short minded fools
I'm slightly surprised so many people are quick to castigate him as a merely 'good' footballer. Whilst he never had the on the ball skills of Ronaldinho / Ronaldo / Zidane etc there's a bit more to being an effective footballer than being able to dribble past someone; I'm happy to side with Ferguson & Eriksson's opinions ahead of a keyboard pundit.
I cant help but think that this move plays perfectly for him to spend 5 years investigating the possibility of a career in hollywood; film, modelling, whatever.
I cant help but think that this move plays perfectly for him to spend 5 years investigating the possibility of a career in hollywood; film, modelling, whatever.
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