With admirable pragmatism Stuart Pearce has not picked 37-year-old Beckham for Olympic football honours. And now the pundits are doing their accustomed ritual dance, which is more about sycophantic sentiment than sense.
Beckhams’s celebrity has long been fuelled by his wife’s activities and hardly affected by football played in the soft USA underbelly of the sport, his pants advertising keeping him alongside Victoria in the fashion limelight. Only recently he has horned in on the British Olympic scene, being introduced in Athens when the torch was lit as ‘Sir David’ which must have spurred him on.
Now if I were Beckham, I’d have made sure I wasn’t picked for yet another losing squad. And maybe, just maybe he did.
Boadicea's Chariot 
I’m no football expert, but since Beckham wasn’t picked for the European championship squad, why should he expect to be in the Olympic squad?
I’m a big fan of David.
He is as you suggest passed his sell by date, time to give the youngsters a chance.
I wish him well.
Mr ‘Shrek’ Rooney, please note. Your place in the squad is not down to your agent and publicist. Go and talk to Rio for a ‘heads up’.
OZ
Too often national teams are simply a loose collection of established stars who do not play well together. I’d like,just once, to see them select 2 or 3 Premier League stars and build a team around their strengths comprised of up and coming players who still know the value of teamwork.
Hiya McBill – Agreed. Any national team needs players who feel honoured to pull on the jersey, not those who view a national call up as just another marketing opportunity. The ‘CR7’ brand is far more lucrative to Christiano than a Portugal shirt, as was evident last night with his expectation of scoring the ‘winning’ penalty. Pride cometh before a fall.
Likewise Rooney should not expect that his place is guaranteed every time he comes back from suspension.
OZ
p.s. Well coat me in chocolate and throw me to the lesbians! Balotelli has just scored his second goal for Italy.
Janus, good evening.
I realise that you probably will just accuse me of daring yet again ‘to allow facts to get in the way of sports bigotry.’
But, as our boy Rabbie had it, ‘facts are chiels that winna ding’.
Sir David did not just come on board in Athens this year. Google will show you, if you care to check, that he was an integral part of the team which won the bid in Malaysia in 2005.
Despite being non-English myself, I have always admired his passion for wearing the Three Lions and his extra time goal against Greece all those years ago was proof of that passion for me. Pure ‘boy stood on the burning deck’ moment.
Moving on, Pearce was, of course, right not to pick him for our team but it is a shame.
A bigger shame for me is that Pearce has picked Mr X, eventually revealed as Ryan Giggs, I presume that our manager was prepared to turn a blind eye to the moral turpitude of the 38 year old Giggs because he was Welsh and gave an ethnic balance to the team.
I personally would have preferred it if he had picked Sir Tom Jones who might be slightly older but is equally Welsh and would have done a far better job of singing the National Anthem,
JM, I wouldn’t presume to question your team selections but on the moral turpitude scale I’m afraid Sir Tom fares no better than young Giggs! 🙂
PS I see that Stuart has even dared to mention that Beckham ain’t fit enough (in the traditional meaning of the word, ladies)! Off with his head!
Now, Sheona – back to your excellent point! If you’re going to inject logic into this discussion you’ll lose many old friends! 🙂
The voice of ignorance (me!) would like to know why Beckham at 37 is ‘past his sell by date’, but Giggs (whoever he is) is not at 38?
I’d also like to know why ‘moral turpitude’ should count against a player if they are good at the sport? I thought that the whole idea of picking a team was to pick a team that was likely to win.
Boa, I can help out here! 🙂 Giggsy (to his mates) is still playing for Man U, still fit and competing at that level. Golden Balls plays in L.A., where soccer is a low-level entertainment and whose standards are much lower. I’ll leave JM to answer your other question – he’s better qualified!
Right – thanks Janus.
Janus, beware! I feel there’s a good deal of logic in your #11 and it answers my question too.
Sheona, as you know, I do try to defy logic whenever possible. 😉