FROM Hollywood passes to the Hollywood Hills, David Beckham is gradually conquering America and still has plans to conquer the world with England. And, as he tells FourFourTwo, he thinks Fabio’s the man to help him do it
For every country in which he has played, David Beckham has had a different way of greeting people. If you went to see him when he was in Manchester, he would welcome you with his big smile and a business-like handshake; strong and determined, yet friendly, in a uniquely English kind of way.
In Madrid, he adopted the kiss on both cheeks, even though it used to embarrass him and he never quite used it properly: you’re not supposed to kiss your team-mate when you’re being substituted, you see – you shouldn’t think that much of the guy who is replacing you, much less kiss him. It’s OK, though, to kiss all women when you meet them in a public place, and most male friends, providing they allow you to do so. For a foreigner, it’s a difficult sphere of cultural etiquette to master.
When Beckham – lean, smart (he’s even wearing a tie) and with a few more wrinkles these days – approaches FourFourTwo in the Los Angeles Galaxy’s strangely-named ground, the Home Depot Center, we have to be prepared for anything – the hug, the kiss, the handshake, heaven forbid the high five. There is a hug – no kisses anymore, which must be a relief to him – and a type of American handshake, that cross between the high five and the classic handshake favoured by footballers.
“I miss Madrid,” he says. “I want to go again soon.” But after spending a couple of days in LA (mostly research for this interview – honest) it is difficult to believe him. This iconic city has everything the world’s most iconic footballer could want. As we chat before the tape recorder is switched on, though, you get the feeling that it’s
something else he might be missing. It’s all football, football, football: transfer gossip, his game, tactics and quality in the MLS, Ruud Gullit…
Maybe he misses being part of the football world he has lived in all his life, maybe it is difficult to find complete satisfaction when you can’t discuss every minutiae of each game with your best mates. One of whom is in town, by the way. Cesc Fabregas is in LA the same day as FFT and we try to convince him to come and see the game against Chivas (top of the table with Galaxy when they meet) but Cesc sends his apologies – he’d already been invited by the Chivas chairman but he’s going to the desert with his girlfriend instead.
“It’s a shame,” says Beckham, admitting it would have hurt to hear all the stories about Spain’s recent triumph at Euro 2008. Thankfully (for any Englishman, at least), the conversation quickly turns to matters closer to his new home…
One of the reasons that LA Galaxy signed you was to gain attention and legitimacy. They also hoped to use you as an ambassador for the MLS, as happened with Pele some 30 years ago. How much pressure does that put on you and how successful has the project been so far?
For a start, I think we’ve been successful so far. We’ve had good attendances at every game and there has been the interest throughout America: an interest in the MLS and in the Galaxy. So in terms of interest, and progression, it has been a success. As for pressure, that’s part of my life. Pressure is part of the reason why I’ve taken on different challenges in my life. When I moved from Manchester to Madrid, there was pressure; when I moved from Madrid to LA, there was pressure. There has been pressure throughout my life, and this is the sort of challenge that I like.
You speak of pressure as a positive thing but surely that’s not always the case?
But you always learn from different pressures that you have in life and in your work. You can grow with that.
The British press are known for holding successful people up then knocking them down. It is said that in the US there is a very different attitude to that – how refreshing is that for you and Victoria?
That’s one of the most refreshing parts of living here, because everybody is very positive and very passionate about sports. I’m not saying that people are not passionate in England about sports, because they are. But everyone here has been so positive about us living here as a family and so positive about me playing here – that’s been a great thing.
Quite a few big players who have come to the US have talked about the time they’ve had to spend teaching American players tactical basics. How much of this is true and how much time have you had to spend teaching other players?
Well, obviously this season has been one of the best seasons for me because I’ve been able to be out there on the field. When players have asked me about my experiences and what they need to do I’ve been able to help them, which has been great. I’ve been able to use my experience this year more than any other. They ask me about certain aspects of the game, about certain technical areas that they can improve on in their game – whether it’s passing, their positional play, things like that… It’s always interesting. It’s great to actually have the sort of experience that means the other players want to come up to you and talk to you about all that – and know that they’re going to get the right answer… well, most of the time anyway!
How responsive have you found them to that kind of coaching and advice?
They’ve been great: both the American players that I’ve played with and the American players that I’ve played against. They’ve all been so positive, there’s not been any player that I’ve come up against – well, actually, maybe one, but I think he was Canadian, he kicked me and he said at the start of the season he was going to kick me, but I think that’s just the way he plays. No, but the American players have been brilliant. They’ve come up to me, shaken my hand and said what a good thing it is for me to be playing here and for me to be involved in the MLS. Everyone’s been great.
Didn’t you get the kind of treatment you got from the Canadian in Spain? Isn’t it a normal part of football to say to a newcomer, “Be careful, I’m going to break your legs” and all that?
In Spain it was strange, in that first year especially, because every time that I got a yellow card, or there was a tackle, or there was an argument on the pitch, it ended up being an Argentinian player. So every time it happened people said, “David Beckham doesn’t like Argentines – and they don’t like him.” But I love Argentina – as a country it’s so passionate about the game. I had no problem, but it just worked out that way. By the way, none of those Argentinian players used that tactic you mention, it must be from another era! [laughs]
What’s surprised you most about football in the USA: both good and bad?
In a good way: the people are very passionate about football and they want the sport to grow. People can see that there is a chance for the game to get bigger and they’ll do what they can to make it happen. And that’s something that’s true about America as a country: they’ll make it happen. Whatever they want, they just put their energies to it and generally they get it. Negative? Well, people want it all ‘now’ but it’s going to take time. It’s going to take five, 10, 15 years for this league to be as big as other leagues in the world and to be as big as other sports in this country. There definitely need to be changes, there need to be changes in the league, in the way certain things are run, in the wage cap, things like that. There’s always something that needs to be looked at.
When you consider the relatively low wages and the wage caps, can the MLS really hope to become one of the best leagues in the world?
Well that’s one of the things that has to change because if you want to grow a sport and you want to grow a league, the rules have to change and more money has to be put into the competition and more has to be given to the players. I’m not talking about the top players, I’m talking about the footballers who are under a wage cap and don’t earn that much money. But in other countries, players are earning more because the leagues are generating more money. That’s why I say that it’s not going to happen in the next year or two, it’s going to take a while. But there are things that you can see changing already. For instance, half the teams in this league didn’t even have their own stadiums, but now there are stadiums going up all over America for MLS teams. That’s one of the progressions that we’ve made already.
When you first arrived, you were talking about the fact that the kids here stop playing football when they are 15 or 16. What are you doing to address that issue?
I think we just need to create awareness that there can be a great life in football, beyond the ages of 14, 15 or 16, like there is in other sports, where you can go out and earn a really good living out of it. That’s what we’ve got to teach the kids.
What about the quality of players you’ve seen in the MLS so far? Is that something that needs to be addressed?
The quality of play is a lot higher than people talk about. People have always said that the level is not high. People have said all sorts about this league: about the players and its level, but it’s a lot higher than people actually give it credit for. If they followed the MLS closely they would be surprised.
How does it compare, then, to the other leagues you’ve played in?
There are teams in this league that could give some Premiership teams a good game. I’m not saying that they are up there with the top teams, but they could definitely compete with some of the Premiership’s teams and give them a hard time.
Still, it is a drop down from La Liga or the Premier League. Do you ever worry that your level of performance will drop because you are playing in a competition that is at a lower level?
No, because my game has always been about my hard work, it’s always been about my passing, so wherever I play I don’t think it’s going to affect me as a footballer. I will still run 13, 14, 15 kilometres and will go for the long pass, the short pass. I train hard and those two characteristics of my game will never disappear. I can run faster or slower as the years go by, but I think the quality of my feet and the running I put into a game will give me the chance to play for few more years yet.
You joined Galaxy at a low point in your career – you’d been dropped by both England and Real Madrid. Is there a part of you that wished you had waited a little longer before moving to the MLS?
No. I felt that it was the right time for me to move on from Real Madrid, especially when things had been made a little bit difficult. I had to make a decision and I didn’t want to be treated in a certain way. So no, I don’t regret moving here, I don’t think it was too early because I wanted to come to America and the MLS while I was still fit enough to get around the field and play at the top level: at my level.
Is it fair to say that had former Real Madrid chairman Florentino Perez stayed, he would have offered you a two-year deal and things might have worked out differently?
Oh, without a doubt. I was in talks with Florentino at the time, and he wanted me to stay at the club until the end of my playing career, until I retired, and he was passionate about that. [Perez quit in February 2006.]
When you left Madrid, many people assumed your England career was over and now of course you’ve broken the 100-cap mark, but in that time England have never really got close to winning anything. Looking back, why do you think that is and what was the closest that England got to winning something?
We went to the World Cup in Germany believing that we could go all the way. Everybody was really hyped up for it, we had great players, the team had matured. People had talked about it being our year and maybe we listened to that a bit too much. We didn’t play well in one game in that competition and we didn’t deserve to go any further. It’s like Spain; people have always said that they have talented players, but they never get past the quarter-final – and they’ve proved people wrong this time. So now it’s about time that we did the same, and hopefully we can do that with Fabio Capello.
So, is that the difference between Spain and England; it’s just a matter of everything falling into place?
Yeah, you’ve always got to have luck as well. I never like to look back on competitions and say we got knocked out there because of bad luck. But there have been decisions in big competitions that have not gone our way, penalties and things that. Yes, it’s been our own fault, but you need that certain amount of luck.
Is there something to be learned from the Spanish victory – technically perhaps?
Technically we’ve got some of the best players in the game. It’s about it all coming together at the right time and most of the time it hasn’t. Next time it might.
You came into an England team that had just reached the semi-finals of Euro 96, playing some excellent football and with lots of confidence. How different was the mood in the camp when Steve McClaren called you back to the England squad for the Brazil match in May 2007?
I remember when I first came into the England team that there were a lot of Man United players and back then people always talked about the rivalry with the Liverpool players in the squad – when, in fact, there wasn’t. People like to cause problems and say that there are problems when there aren’t. The atmosphere’s always been pretty good, although I must admit that under Sven was probably the best time, in terms of atmosphere. Football-wise, I think the best was under Glenn Hoddle. We played some great football and he was a good
manager to play under. He loved playing the game and he knew how to make us play well. But now the atmosphere with Fabio Capello has changed again and there is a real seriousness there. There’s the feeling that there is a job to be done and this is how it’s going to be done. The manager’s saying, ‘I’m going to tell you how to do it – this is how I believe you’re going to be successful’. Everybody is listening to that. I worked with him for a year at Real Madrid and it ended up being my successful year at Madrid. He knows how to win.
Is it also true that one of Capello’s targets has been to ease the excessive or negative pressure on the players?
Yes, he did that at Real Madrid and he took the pressure off the players and put it upon himself or in a different area that didn’t affect the players. He’s doing that again with the England team. Of course, he’s finding out that there are different sorts of pressures associated with England and that when you pull on that shirt you have to be passionate, and rightly so. But he’s doing everything possible to make the
players relaxed going into games.
With the exception of Italy at the last World Cup, winning teams have tended to have players who have played abroad. How much do you think that would help England, and how much did you improve as a player when you went to Madrid?
Going to Madrid, I definitely feel I improved as a player. As soon as I started playing there I was moved to the centre of midfield, and during those first few months I probably played some of the best football of my career. I kind of surprised myself, but I also realised that technically you have to be very good to play in La Liga. There are a lot of very good technical players that play there and it’s not as if you play the bottom team in La Liga and it’s easy. Every team that you come up against in Spain is a tough game. Technically you have to be very good to play for Real Madrid and also in La Liga.
England’s World Cup qualifiers are coming up and you obviously hope to be involved. How do you see the group?
Tough. People saw that with Croatia before, and we are going to come up against them again. But there can be no excuses this time. We need to qualify and if we fail again it will be a disaster. Not qualifying for Euro 2008 was devastating for the country. I think people from other countries also miss England fans in big tournaments, and the Euros without England fans was strange. That can’t happen again. To get to a World Cup you’ve got to beat the best, but I’m confident.
What about your future? What happens when your contract with the Galaxy is up? Is that it or will there be something else?
I can’t see me playing football anywhere else now, apart from here. I’ve got a contract for another four years, I’m 33 years old, so I can’t see myself playing in Europe again.
How about the next level of involvement football-wise?
I don’t want to be a manager. I’ll never be a manager.
An owner?
That’s a possibility. I always like to
challenge myself and I always like to have different things to look forward to in life. There are different things I’d like to be
a part of and if that means being an owner of a franchise or a club, then of course, I’d like to.
What would you do as an owner? Choose managers, players?
I don’t know, because I’ve never been in that position before. I don’t know, It’s something that, maybe, is a possibility.
This first appeared in the November issue of Australian FourFourTwo.
In Madrid, he adopted the kiss on both cheeks, even though it used to embarrass him and he never quite used it properly: you’re not supposed to kiss your team-mate when you’re being substituted, you see – you shouldn’t think that much of the guy who is replacing you, much less kiss him. It’s OK, though, to kiss all women when you meet them in a public place, and most male friends, providing they allow you to do so. For a foreigner, it’s a difficult sphere of cultural etiquette to master.
When Beckham – lean, smart (he’s even wearing a tie) and with a few more wrinkles these days – approaches FourFourTwo in the Los Angeles Galaxy’s strangely-named ground, the Home Depot Center, we have to be prepared for anything – the hug, the kiss, the handshake, heaven forbid the high five. There is a hug – no kisses anymore, which must be a relief to him – and a type of American handshake, that cross between the high five and the classic handshake favoured by footballers.
“I miss Madrid,” he says. “I want to go again soon.” But after spending a couple of days in LA (mostly research for this interview – honest) it is difficult to believe him. This iconic city has everything the world’s most iconic footballer could want. As we chat before the tape recorder is switched on, though, you get the feeling that it’s
something else he might be missing. It’s all football, football, football: transfer gossip, his game, tactics and quality in the MLS, Ruud Gullit…
Maybe he misses being part of the football world he has lived in all his life, maybe it is difficult to find complete satisfaction when you can’t discuss every minutiae of each game with your best mates. One of whom is in town, by the way. Cesc Fabregas is in LA the same day as FFT and we try to convince him to come and see the game against Chivas (top of the table with Galaxy when they meet) but Cesc sends his apologies – he’d already been invited by the Chivas chairman but he’s going to the desert with his girlfriend instead.
“It’s a shame,” says Beckham, admitting it would have hurt to hear all the stories about Spain’s recent triumph at Euro 2008. Thankfully (for any Englishman, at least), the conversation quickly turns to matters closer to his new home…
One of the reasons that LA Galaxy signed you was to gain attention and legitimacy. They also hoped to use you as an ambassador for the MLS, as happened with Pele some 30 years ago. How much pressure does that put on you and how successful has the project been so far?
For a start, I think we’ve been successful so far. We’ve had good attendances at every game and there has been the interest throughout America: an interest in the MLS and in the Galaxy. So in terms of interest, and progression, it has been a success. As for pressure, that’s part of my life. Pressure is part of the reason why I’ve taken on different challenges in my life. When I moved from Manchester to Madrid, there was pressure; when I moved from Madrid to LA, there was pressure. There has been pressure throughout my life, and this is the sort of challenge that I like.
You speak of pressure as a positive thing but surely that’s not always the case?
But you always learn from different pressures that you have in life and in your work. You can grow with that.
The British press are known for holding successful people up then knocking them down. It is said that in the US there is a very different attitude to that – how refreshing is that for you and Victoria?
That’s one of the most refreshing parts of living here, because everybody is very positive and very passionate about sports. I’m not saying that people are not passionate in England about sports, because they are. But everyone here has been so positive about us living here as a family and so positive about me playing here – that’s been a great thing.
Quite a few big players who have come to the US have talked about the time they’ve had to spend teaching American players tactical basics. How much of this is true and how much time have you had to spend teaching other players?
Well, obviously this season has been one of the best seasons for me because I’ve been able to be out there on the field. When players have asked me about my experiences and what they need to do I’ve been able to help them, which has been great. I’ve been able to use my experience this year more than any other. They ask me about certain aspects of the game, about certain technical areas that they can improve on in their game – whether it’s passing, their positional play, things like that… It’s always interesting. It’s great to actually have the sort of experience that means the other players want to come up to you and talk to you about all that – and know that they’re going to get the right answer… well, most of the time anyway!
How responsive have you found them to that kind of coaching and advice?
They’ve been great: both the American players that I’ve played with and the American players that I’ve played against. They’ve all been so positive, there’s not been any player that I’ve come up against – well, actually, maybe one, but I think he was Canadian, he kicked me and he said at the start of the season he was going to kick me, but I think that’s just the way he plays. No, but the American players have been brilliant. They’ve come up to me, shaken my hand and said what a good thing it is for me to be playing here and for me to be involved in the MLS. Everyone’s been great.
Didn’t you get the kind of treatment you got from the Canadian in Spain? Isn’t it a normal part of football to say to a newcomer, “Be careful, I’m going to break your legs” and all that?
In Spain it was strange, in that first year especially, because every time that I got a yellow card, or there was a tackle, or there was an argument on the pitch, it ended up being an Argentinian player. So every time it happened people said, “David Beckham doesn’t like Argentines – and they don’t like him.” But I love Argentina – as a country it’s so passionate about the game. I had no problem, but it just worked out that way. By the way, none of those Argentinian players used that tactic you mention, it must be from another era! [laughs]
What’s surprised you most about football in the USA: both good and bad?
In a good way: the people are very passionate about football and they want the sport to grow. People can see that there is a chance for the game to get bigger and they’ll do what they can to make it happen. And that’s something that’s true about America as a country: they’ll make it happen. Whatever they want, they just put their energies to it and generally they get it. Negative? Well, people want it all ‘now’ but it’s going to take time. It’s going to take five, 10, 15 years for this league to be as big as other leagues in the world and to be as big as other sports in this country. There definitely need to be changes, there need to be changes in the league, in the way certain things are run, in the wage cap, things like that. There’s always something that needs to be looked at.
When you consider the relatively low wages and the wage caps, can the MLS really hope to become one of the best leagues in the world?
Well that’s one of the things that has to change because if you want to grow a sport and you want to grow a league, the rules have to change and more money has to be put into the competition and more has to be given to the players. I’m not talking about the top players, I’m talking about the footballers who are under a wage cap and don’t earn that much money. But in other countries, players are earning more because the leagues are generating more money. That’s why I say that it’s not going to happen in the next year or two, it’s going to take a while. But there are things that you can see changing already. For instance, half the teams in this league didn’t even have their own stadiums, but now there are stadiums going up all over America for MLS teams. That’s one of the progressions that we’ve made already.
When you first arrived, you were talking about the fact that the kids here stop playing football when they are 15 or 16. What are you doing to address that issue?
I think we just need to create awareness that there can be a great life in football, beyond the ages of 14, 15 or 16, like there is in other sports, where you can go out and earn a really good living out of it. That’s what we’ve got to teach the kids.
What about the quality of players you’ve seen in the MLS so far? Is that something that needs to be addressed?
The quality of play is a lot higher than people talk about. People have always said that the level is not high. People have said all sorts about this league: about the players and its level, but it’s a lot higher than people actually give it credit for. If they followed the MLS closely they would be surprised.
How does it compare, then, to the other leagues you’ve played in?
There are teams in this league that could give some Premiership teams a good game. I’m not saying that they are up there with the top teams, but they could definitely compete with some of the Premiership’s teams and give them a hard time.
Still, it is a drop down from La Liga or the Premier League. Do you ever worry that your level of performance will drop because you are playing in a competition that is at a lower level?
No, because my game has always been about my hard work, it’s always been about my passing, so wherever I play I don’t think it’s going to affect me as a footballer. I will still run 13, 14, 15 kilometres and will go for the long pass, the short pass. I train hard and those two characteristics of my game will never disappear. I can run faster or slower as the years go by, but I think the quality of my feet and the running I put into a game will give me the chance to play for few more years yet.
You joined Galaxy at a low point in your career – you’d been dropped by both England and Real Madrid. Is there a part of you that wished you had waited a little longer before moving to the MLS?
No. I felt that it was the right time for me to move on from Real Madrid, especially when things had been made a little bit difficult. I had to make a decision and I didn’t want to be treated in a certain way. So no, I don’t regret moving here, I don’t think it was too early because I wanted to come to America and the MLS while I was still fit enough to get around the field and play at the top level: at my level.
Is it fair to say that had former Real Madrid chairman Florentino Perez stayed, he would have offered you a two-year deal and things might have worked out differently?
Oh, without a doubt. I was in talks with Florentino at the time, and he wanted me to stay at the club until the end of my playing career, until I retired, and he was passionate about that. [Perez quit in February 2006.]
When you left Madrid, many people assumed your England career was over and now of course you’ve broken the 100-cap mark, but in that time England have never really got close to winning anything. Looking back, why do you think that is and what was the closest that England got to winning something?
We went to the World Cup in Germany believing that we could go all the way. Everybody was really hyped up for it, we had great players, the team had matured. People had talked about it being our year and maybe we listened to that a bit too much. We didn’t play well in one game in that competition and we didn’t deserve to go any further. It’s like Spain; people have always said that they have talented players, but they never get past the quarter-final – and they’ve proved people wrong this time. So now it’s about time that we did the same, and hopefully we can do that with Fabio Capello.
So, is that the difference between Spain and England; it’s just a matter of everything falling into place?
Yeah, you’ve always got to have luck as well. I never like to look back on competitions and say we got knocked out there because of bad luck. But there have been decisions in big competitions that have not gone our way, penalties and things that. Yes, it’s been our own fault, but you need that certain amount of luck.
Is there something to be learned from the Spanish victory – technically perhaps?
Technically we’ve got some of the best players in the game. It’s about it all coming together at the right time and most of the time it hasn’t. Next time it might.
You came into an England team that had just reached the semi-finals of Euro 96, playing some excellent football and with lots of confidence. How different was the mood in the camp when Steve McClaren called you back to the England squad for the Brazil match in May 2007?
I remember when I first came into the England team that there were a lot of Man United players and back then people always talked about the rivalry with the Liverpool players in the squad – when, in fact, there wasn’t. People like to cause problems and say that there are problems when there aren’t. The atmosphere’s always been pretty good, although I must admit that under Sven was probably the best time, in terms of atmosphere. Football-wise, I think the best was under Glenn Hoddle. We played some great football and he was a good
manager to play under. He loved playing the game and he knew how to make us play well. But now the atmosphere with Fabio Capello has changed again and there is a real seriousness there. There’s the feeling that there is a job to be done and this is how it’s going to be done. The manager’s saying, ‘I’m going to tell you how to do it – this is how I believe you’re going to be successful’. Everybody is listening to that. I worked with him for a year at Real Madrid and it ended up being my successful year at Madrid. He knows how to win.
Is it also true that one of Capello’s targets has been to ease the excessive or negative pressure on the players?
Yes, he did that at Real Madrid and he took the pressure off the players and put it upon himself or in a different area that didn’t affect the players. He’s doing that again with the England team. Of course, he’s finding out that there are different sorts of pressures associated with England and that when you pull on that shirt you have to be passionate, and rightly so. But he’s doing everything possible to make the
players relaxed going into games.
With the exception of Italy at the last World Cup, winning teams have tended to have players who have played abroad. How much do you think that would help England, and how much did you improve as a player when you went to Madrid?
Going to Madrid, I definitely feel I improved as a player. As soon as I started playing there I was moved to the centre of midfield, and during those first few months I probably played some of the best football of my career. I kind of surprised myself, but I also realised that technically you have to be very good to play in La Liga. There are a lot of very good technical players that play there and it’s not as if you play the bottom team in La Liga and it’s easy. Every team that you come up against in Spain is a tough game. Technically you have to be very good to play for Real Madrid and also in La Liga.
England’s World Cup qualifiers are coming up and you obviously hope to be involved. How do you see the group?
Tough. People saw that with Croatia before, and we are going to come up against them again. But there can be no excuses this time. We need to qualify and if we fail again it will be a disaster. Not qualifying for Euro 2008 was devastating for the country. I think people from other countries also miss England fans in big tournaments, and the Euros without England fans was strange. That can’t happen again. To get to a World Cup you’ve got to beat the best, but I’m confident.
What about your future? What happens when your contract with the Galaxy is up? Is that it or will there be something else?
I can’t see me playing football anywhere else now, apart from here. I’ve got a contract for another four years, I’m 33 years old, so I can’t see myself playing in Europe again.
How about the next level of involvement football-wise?
I don’t want to be a manager. I’ll never be a manager.
An owner?
That’s a possibility. I always like to
challenge myself and I always like to have different things to look forward to in life. There are different things I’d like to be
a part of and if that means being an owner of a franchise or a club, then of course, I’d like to.
What would you do as an owner? Choose managers, players?
I don’t know, because I’ve never been in that position before. I don’t know, It’s something that, maybe, is a possibility.
This first appeared in the November issue of Australian FourFourTwo.
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