You knew it was coming. As sure as night follows day, David Beckham would one day have to retire. But somehow, like Sir Alex Ferguson before him, Beckham is one of those ageless figures who seemed to have it in him to carry on forever.
Ten years ago England played South Africa in a friendly in Durban, and in the run-up there was a PR meeting set up where Beckham, then the captain, met Nelson Mandela.
At that time, Beckham said: "If I look after myself and treat my body right – which I have done – then I would love to be here in 2010 leading England into that tournament."
It seemed so far-fetched back then, but as fate would have it, only an injury denied him the chance to be part of that 2010 squad.
Not that that stopped Beckham, of course, from assuming centre-stage. He put on a smart suit and he stood near manager Fabio Capello and he wished the rest of the team well. My, how he cheer-led – as England crumpled 4-1 to Germany in the last 16.
He was still a footballer at 35 – hell, at 38 he has become a Ligue 1 champion and a Champions League quarter-finalist. But by now Beckham has long since transcended football - he isn’t even being paid for it any more, with PSG donating his 'salary' to a children’s hospital instead. Instead he is an entity, a fascination, a being who interested men, women, sports nuts, fashionistas, you and your grandmother.
Hence, with the help of his 'people' he has mastered the art of being the perfectly-manicured story even when he isn't the story. It was oddly natural that he could be a face of the 2012 Olympics when he wasn’t participating in the Games. He could have 'BeckCam' set up to track his every movement on his Paris Saint-German debut – one in which he spent the first 76 minutes on the bench. It had largely stopped being about the football a while ago.
So rest assured: Beckham after football will be very similar to the Beckham we know and love/hate/feel indifferent to today.
And this is perhaps to get to the heart of the matter. His retirement will not change the way you look at the man.
If you admire Beckham the footballer, today is a chance to bask in an excellent career, in which he won titles with Manchester United, Real Madrid, LA Galaxy and PSG.
If you think of Beckham as the man who will sell you sportswear, scent or a new pair of pants, you can bet your bottom dollar that he'll still be making top dollar.
Resent the man for his success, or his lifestyle, for his interests outside football, his ever-changing hairstyles and ever-expanding tattoo collection? I've got bad news for you.
Like Beckham, the gentleman? The statesmanlike figure who appears just as comfortable drumming up support for your upcoming World Cup bid, or who can promote Chinese football and be an ambassador for Sky TV? Don’t worry, he’s all those things.
Prefer the caricature of Beckham the idiot? The man who once said that "my parents have always been there for me, ever since I was about seven"? Those sorts of quotes won’t disappear any time soon.
Beckham emerged in the early days of the Premier League, and more than any other figure he has embodied the marketability of the English game. He has made his fortune from the game, bagged the pop star wife, exploited every commercial opportunity going, and taken his brand around the world.
If the infamous 39th game proposal were a footballer, it would be David Beckham.
You might not have liked it, you could even argue it was in bad taste - but it would put bums on seats.
People's views of Beckham, accordingly, often tell you a lot about their views on football.
If they think he’s a money-grabbing opportunist, they’re probably not hugely sympathetic towards any footballer on six-figure weekly wages.
Ignore his talent – and there are plenty who do – and it points to the public disillusionment with modern football. His trophy haul is remarkable and there were unforgettable performances amid a lengthy career at the top of the game. He was not on the level of Zinedine Zidane, Luis Figo or Ronaldo mark one, but he was for a time one of the world’s best players.
But for all the cynics there are equally a number of people who think Beckham personifies all that's good about football – that his willingness never to turn his back on England duty, his professionalism and politeness and now his longevity allied to his talent, mark him out as a special figure in the game.
Is he all things to all people? He certainly means something, for better or worse, to almost everyone.
And that’s the magic of Beckham. He's a blank, handsome, canvas, who will happily do his thing while the rest of the world projects their hopes or prejudices on him – whether or not he’s kicking a football any more.
No comments:
Post a Comment