Beckham's ill-starred LA adventure is laid bare
Team troubles, Tom Cruise and an unlikely takeover come to light in a new book. Guy Adams reports
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In January, 2007, it was confirmed that David Beckham was leaving Real Madrid for the American team LA Galaxy, in a deal reportedly worth $250 million. Madame Tussaud's in New York launch wax Beckham figurines
in pictures: beckham in LA
David Beckham's love affair with Los Angeles first started to sour when the waiter in an upmarket Hollywood restaurant refused to serve him a glass of wine with dinner because he didn't look old enough, it was claimed yesterday. The revelation is one of several harmless, but headline-stealing, items of tittle-tattle contained in a new book chronicling the former England captain's ill-fated attempt to popularise the beautiful game in America.
Beckham and his pop-star wife, Victoria, arrived in Hollywood in 2006, in a blaze of publicity, after signing a five-year deal with the local Major League club LA Galaxy which, including sponsorship, was worth an estimated $250 million (£169m).
However, they behaved like typical out-of-towners, failing to establish themselves in the premier league of local celebrity and, according to Sports Illustrated writer Grant Wahl's forthcoming book, The Beckham Experiment, unwisely choosing to hitch themselves to the falling star of Tom Cruise.
Click the image on the right for pictures of Beckham's time in LA.
Despite being household names in the rest of the world, the couple first realised their failure to crack Hollywood when restaurant staff failed to recognise them, and asked to see photographic ID before they would serve a Pinot Grigio with dinner.
Since "Posh 'n' Becks" aren't in the habit of carrying identification papers with them, they suffered the humiliating experience of being forced to go thirsty.
Beckham, at 33, is more than a decade older than the legal drinking age in California. But his experience will be familiar to many visitors to the US, where drinking laws are enforced with a draconian zeal that is perhaps only rivalled by the Arab world.
On the field, Beckham never became close to his team-mates at Galaxy, claims Wahl. He scored just five goals, missed many games due to injury, and in his second season left the club tied for the worst record in Major League Soccer.
The publisher Random House announced this week that the book will provide "a detailed account of Beckham's aspirations and worries about his American adventure, his interactions with Galaxy team-mates earning as little as $12,900 a year, his icy relationships with Galaxy star Landon Donovan and former team president Alexi Lalas."
It will be released in mid-July, to coincide with Beckham's scheduled return to Los Angeles, where he'll play out the remainder of his contract with Galaxy. Last month, the footballer paid several million dollars from his own pocket to persuade Galaxy to let him finish the Italian season with Milan.
That deal, which Beckham hopes will help his chances of playing in the 2010 World Cup, left the US club's credibility in tatters and angered many fans who had already bought Galaxy season tickets, but will now only see their star player for a handful of games.
Quite how it was negotiated has yet to be fully explained, but Random House says Wahl's book will allege that Beckham's management company, 19 Entertainment, somehow "engineered a shadow takeover of Galaxy".
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Comments
r u serious? arab WORLD? dude, it's a big big diverse world. the ARAB world is not only Saudia Arabia.
I have been numerous times to the middle east, they don't even card people when you order liqor. It's weird. Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, Jordan, they all serve liqour almost at every other corner without even carding people. I thought their alcohol-enforcement is so relaxed that at some times, dangerous to their socities.
go visit before u lash your ignorance.
So, the Beckhams were asked for their ID ... big deal! Perhaps they should have treated this request as a compliment to their youthful appearance and passed it off with good humour! I would love to have someone ask me for ID!
What a stupid analogy! The State of CA does not deny any one the right to imbibe alcohol unlike most Arab governments. The State of CA requires that anyone wanting to drink alcohol possess the requisite identification to purchase the alcohol. If David Beckham had been pulled over by the California Highway Patrol, he would still be asked to produce his license. If Beckham failed to produce the license, he would be cited. Beckham's citation would not reflect a "draconian zeal" to enforce driving law. Rather, when in Rome do as the Romans do. Most Americans do not like pretentiousness. It appears that the Beckhams took their fame for granted. The waiter did not. Guy Adams your analogy is stupid.
I don't think it will be a very dtailed "plot" - do you ?
Just another money spinner - band wagon jumper.
Two years - seems more like two weeks !
The real issue here is all the rubbish David talked about building the game in the USA,
being a role model to young palyers and feeling like he " can really acchieve something
for the game in the U.S. "
pass the sick bag - David you are a grerat player - and all the idiots who now rubbish you -
forget all the great games ypu have played for club and country.
But to give us all this bull - and as soon as abtter offer came along - "I'm off "
Shame to end your career in such a sleazy way ....
And Posh wasn't Posh but a fem impersonator with implants.
The "real" Beckham was carrying on with his Galaxy mates in a beer joint in East LA. Victoria was in her mansion along with Tom Cruise practicing Scientology.
"Victoria was in her mansion along with Tom Cruise practising Scientology" Or maybe discussing Ugandan affairs?
True story: Rumsfeld, our bellicose Secretary of Defense under Bush, had a baby face, especially after witnessing extreme violence, such as when the razing of Iraq was well under way. And Rumsfeld--age 70-something--was asked to provide proof of his age when he ordered a lite beer outside a military base in North Carolina.
Known for his keen sense of humor, the Secretary of Defense laughed it off, provided his driver's license, and proceeded to get drunk on Bud Lite (he drank American exclusively).
His burly, shaved-head bodyguards kept watch outside, because in these dark days terrorism exists even in North Carolina.
As for Beckham's much publicised spat with Landon Donovan - Donovan was the blue-eyed boy, the star of the Galaxy show before Beckham arrived on the scene, and his consequent throwing his toys out of the pram are more a condemnation of his own lack of grace than anything that Beckham himself has done.
The timing of Wahl's book is an unsubtle attempt to do the most damage to Beckham - and 19 Entertainment - by slagging off a global sporting icon that does not fit the American ideal i.e. he's not American and excels at a sport that most Americans still are unable to understand.
Tough, their loss.
But Beckham did not really take to Los Angeles. He could have sat out his final game in Madrid but he insisted on playing and injured himself further. Thus he spent an inordinate amount of time on the Galaxy bench instead of playing football as soon as he landed in Los Angeles. Furthermore, Beckham did not endear himself to his fans. Everything was choreographed, every interview had to go through a byzantine process. Not surprising since Beckham was clearly marketing himself as much as he was marketing the sport. In contrast, Cauthemoc Blanco-the Mexican-had endeared himself to his legions of fans in Chicago. Not Beckham. Some football lovers wondered why, Beckham, was coming to the Los Angeles. He has never been a creative midfielder like either Waddle, Hoddle, Magath, Platini, Riqueleme, Fabregas or Carrick. His passing is superb but he has never been able to pull orchestrate a match like the greats. Just what did he expect to accomplish in Los Angeles while positioned on the outside wing? Don't bash Americans. Beckham sold so many Americans a pipe dream. He did not deliver what he promised to do-a messiah of US football. It is not only Americans who have taken unkindly to Beckham. Grahame Jones of the Los Angeles Times lambasted Beckham for Beckham's serial evasion of his contractual duties to the Los Angeles Galaxy. At the end of the day, one wonders if Beckham has subtracted more from English football than he has added to it.
1998: Argentina? Red card
2002: Brazil? Beckham's poor defense positioning that led to Brazil's second goal.
2004: Missing the penalty against Portugal
2006: Beckham's tearful exit in Germany. When Arron Lenon came on for Beckham, England acquired an effervescence that they had been lacking until that point in time.
Are you joking? Real Madrid won the league on the last game of the season...A game which Beckham had to play in. You don't "sit out" of these games mate. It's not the NBA Finals where you have best of seven! Each game matters!
I'm trying to figure out if you're a disgruntled Barca fan (whose team lost the title on that last day) or an Orange County Barca "fan" who really has no idea.
"...one wonders if Beckham has subtracted more from English football than he has added to it." --> I'm not even a Beckham fan, but this just shows you clearly have no idea...not in the slightest.
Welcome home lad.
"1876 (earlier Draconic, 1680), from Draco, Greek statesman who laid down a code of laws for Athens 621 B.C. that mandated death as punishment for minor crimes."
So, northwest0161, do you still think "most people would agree" that draconian is the right word here?
Nothing to see here folks. Just another example of an Independent Journalist who scraped a GCSE in English taking a cheap shot at the USA - and their words being lapped up by an uncritical readership . Happens every day.
It takes a big leap from there to see American bashing...