Stranger things have happened than Beckham succeeding where the likes of Pelé tried and failed. However the rumblings out of LA indicate a level of rancour that threatens to eclipse the charming Ms Goody (I wish somebody bloody well would).
The money makes no sense to me, but I do wish Beckham well.
He's gone a long way with limited talent and a lot of hard work, ruthlessly exposed recently with England and Real Madrid as a fading force. A lot of people scratched their heads when Lord Ferg took 25 million pieces of silver for the Boy David; not I. Fergie's vision may get blurred when his Masters' millions burn a hole in his tracksuit pocket, but he certainly knows when the guild is off the lilly.
Veron was admittedly a stunning blunder, along with the less-heralded (and less costly) Eric Djemba Djemba (still rattling around on the periphery of English football). He never looked remotely likea United player, whereas Veron flattered to deceive, doing just enough to linger on, giving the balanced OT faithful time to construct their effigies and a portable scaffold. Good old Chelsea still took Seba on; at least he was performing when the Rowdies got suckered; by the time he packed his bags for the Bridge he was about as useful as Mrs Shevchenko.
There's a two-pinter* in this, discussing Fergies' best (and most horrendous) buys - a 'colourful' record in the transfer market is one advantage of managerial longevity. Never easy to pick out a winning purchase when so much talent to emerge under that puce edifice was home-grown. Many plump for Schmeichel and he was certainly a snip considering his contribution, not least in '99. For me the number one will always be Eric; a million from Leeds, and in its way very much a 'Veron to Chelsea' scenario. We all
knew Cantona was trouble, yet he'd helped the Yorkshire Yobbos nick the League. It was an audacious gamble, the dice famously rolled when Martin Edwards was in mid-call with his oppo accross the Pennines. Fergie scrawled 'Cantona?' on a piece of paper initiating the first contractions in a bloody yet ultimately glorious birth. The only sadness for me was his failure to perform in Europe, albeit his best years coincided with the punitive 'foreign player' rule that hit United harder than their continental counterparts.
Then there's
that issue. I work with a Palace fan who spits feathers whenever he hears so much as a gratuitous Clouseau accent. History has a warped lense. Cantona didn't machine-gun row after row of innocent Eagles supporters; he assaulted a thug who had repeatedly racially abused his dear old Ma; I doubt many of us would have walked away from that one. I was interested to note the very different reactions to a recent repeat of French outrage (admittedly on the pitch) when instead of an eight months ban Zidane followed his violent conduct by walking off with a FIFA award. As shocking and heinous as Cantona's ungainly leap into the Sellhurst Park crowd was, it was also very, very funny. What I remember most vividly from that episode was not the crime, nor the punishment, but the day of rehabilitation when the mercurial Frenchman slid home a penalty against the Enemy and celebrated by leaping into the crowd . . . and swinging around a pole before joining his jubilant team-mates.
West Ham had their own Euro-Looney Genius in Paulo Di Cannio. It looks like we'll not see their like again, at least for a while. Shame really, unless The Son of Roman dons a large red nose and a curly wig for his next outing.
There; it's nailed on.
Shevchenko to bag the opener tomorrow lunchtime
[SIZE="1"]* A conversation that lasts the span of two pints. Four if SP's in the equation
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