Bye bye Becks?

It never ceases to amaze me how many football experts there are in this country. There must be thousands, and twice a week they call the nation's largest football radio phone-in program to offer free, no doubt invaluable, advice to coaches and players who clearly have no idea how this game should be played.

This crowd of tragically ignored football geniuses have always had something to say about David Beckham. One year he's the indisputably greatest soccer player there has ever been, the next he's the greatest villain, the bane of English soccer and a traitor to the male sex. Oh yes! For no matter how many spectacular goals you score from your own half, you can't change the fact that English soccer is a masculine arena. Going out publicly in a sarong, launching your own fragrance or frequenting fashion shows doesn't go down well with a lot of the fans who - dare I suggest it? - might be a bit afraid of getting in touch with their own feminine side.

It's always been a national sport to either laud or revile David Beckham. Now that he has blown the chance for a fourth World Cup, people are again out to get him or praise him.

Yet here in Manchester many fans are taking a slightly more pragmatic approach. Those who followed him from age 14 on Manchester United's youth team until he left in 2003 know he was a reliable player, scoring 85 goals and contributing to many more. They also know he is no competition to some of the younger players now dominating both at Old Trafford and on the England side. As one life-long United fan friend of mine said: 'I'd rather have three Rooneys than one Beckham'.

Adding a bit of Spice

Not all at Manchester United were always that measured in their judgement of the man. Manager Alex Ferguson infamously threw (or kicked - no-one caught this incident for YouTube) a shoe in David Beckham's face so that he had to be stitched up. Ferguson was incensed at what he saw as Beckham's focus on celebrity. Towards the end of Beckham's United stay, Ferguson said of his one-time prodigy: "He was never a problem until he got married. From that moment, his life was never going to be the same. He is such a big celebrity, football is only a small part".

That marriage, of course, was to then Posh Spice Girl Victoria, who has had to take as much abuse from the fans as her husband over the years.

Few sportsmen have divided opinions like David Beckham has, and if this week's events are anything to go by, he will continue to do so. The day after the fateful tendon tear, one of the aforementioned football experts suggested that the England manager, Fabio Capello, must be smiling now, knowing he hasn't got to take the decision not to take Beckham to the World Cup.

Capello, as we now know, had already called Beckham to tell him he is going to South Africa whether he can walk or not. Such is Beckham's star quality that the England manager feels he can secure the 2018 World Cup finals for England to host. Capello even left the door open for Beckham to return as an England player in 2012's Euro qualifiers.

And what does David Beckham himself say about all this? He rarely comments on his worshippers or on those who accuse him of being a media creation and no more than a mediocre player. But when he does speak, he usually only says one thing - that he loves playing football. And you know what - I believe him.

Author: Lars Bevanger

Editor: Neil King