Patrick Barclay: David Beckham is no England great ... to call him that is ludicrous

 
David Beckham
Getty
20 May 2013

David Beckham is becoming one of those good things you can have too much of.This is not to agree that he fails to merit inclusion among the 1,000 best footballers to play in the Premier League but merely to sympathise with Chris Waddle’s exasperation — at least it stemmed a tide of hyperbole.

Beckham, though failing to reach the top notes in Paris, got out just in time to preserve the notion of an exemplary career. In his prime, which expired in Madrid, he deserved to be rated among the best English players since his boyhood, discussed in the same breath as Bryan Robson, Gary Lineker, Alan Shearer and even Gazza (to name some, but not all, of the nation’s galacticos).

A measure of class was that he had a style of his own. Designed to overcome a lack of pace, it entailed making the ball do almost all the work and, when the prospect of a race for possession loomed, earning free-kicks by stopping and getting his bottom bumped by the pursuing opponent. Everyone does it now, of course. But Beckham was ahead of the game.

This apart, Waddle was right: Beckham didn’t have a trick. But how much better to teach the ball tricks? For generations to come, managers will exhort young players to learn from Beckham how to make the most of themselves.

The point that a discerning neutral would be more likely to cross the road to watch, say, Waddle is irrelevant. Beckham was a winner and anyone sneering that he had the advantage of excellent company at Manchester United should remember not just Real Madrid but — for what, dollars apart, it was worth — Los Angeles. However, the expression “England great” has been bandied about and, like Waddle, I find it ludicrous. It’s not a quirk that England jousted with the world’s giants between 1966 and 1970. It happened because, as well as an outstanding manager, they had great players in Bobby Moore and Bobby Charlton.

Measure those who have followed against them and, while we all have our criteria, mine make a powerful case for only Lineker. Ten goals in eleven matches in World Cup final tournaments resonate. So did Diego Maradona’s gesture before kick-off in Mexico City — he trotted across the centre circle to shake Lineker’s hand. Those who remember that — and Waddle was yards away — find the idea of Beckham as an “England great” hard to credit.

Although Beckham is too modest to make such a claim himself, he has said it “hurts” to be taken more seriously as — well, whatever he is, a wearer of fame, purveyor of underpants and ambassador for causes, ready to flatter any audience and even embrace the appalling Jack Warner of Trinidad if he thinks (however mistakenly) that favour might be bestowed on an England bid for the World Cup — than a footballer. But he set out to do that! He can’t have it both ways. My guess that he’ll now become a sort of tattooed Pele, a global glad-hander, raises the possibility that with time more and more people will come to realise that he never was — even as a builder of soccer in the United States — in the same league as Pele.

Or Franz Beckenbauer, whose glad-handing actually helped Germany to host a World Cup. Or Michel Platini, who is president of UEFA. And they were great players.

Diving to Bale’s defence

There are mistakes and mistakes and, while penalty decisions can be debated and forgotten, the yellow card issued to Gareth Bale (right) for diving after being blatantly fouled by Sebastian Larsson will linger horribly. Andre Marriner and fellow referees ought to be disturbed, too, for the anti-diving card encourages officials not only to favour offenders but stigmatise their victims. It turns the football-lover’s stomach.

My fear over Ash cash

The Premier League seemed relaxed about Mike Ashley’s £1million incentive to Newcastle’s players yesterday — it was to be shared among the tea lady and other staff if they won — so maybe I was over-sensitive in discerning a dangerous precedent. But what next? A promise to donate to a squad’s favourite charity, thus enabling them to siphon money back into their personal accounts? If you think that unfeasibly labyrinthine, welcome to football.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in

MORE ABOUT