Beckham Better Off At The Toon?
By Nu Mad
Updated Monday, 2nd July 2007
We laughed off reports that David Beckham was heading to St James' Park in the fall ... having already signed a $1m a week deal with Major League Soccer team Los Angeles Galaxy. BUT ... Big Sam said it could be possible!
Sam Allardyce has already offered Becks a chance to play Premiership football in the winter when the season closes in the States. And if the tabloids are to be believed, Los Angeles Galaxy could be coaxed to pick up some of his ridiculous wage bill while he is out of action.
And one person who thinks Becks has made the biggest mistake of his life by going to the States is ex-Man City winger Rodney Marsh, who says life in the United States will be "hell" for Beckham.
Marsh moved to the States in the 1970s to play for the Tampa Bay Rowdies in the North American Soccer League, a fore-runner of MLS, and believes the huge amounts of travelling involved in playing away matches in the US will be nothing like what Beckham has been used to in England and in Spain.
Marsh: "David's life is going to be hell in America. He won't know what's hit him. Every other week, you have to make a road trip for away games. That does not mean a 200-mile trip up the motorway in England or Spain. It requires travelling 4,000 miles to play the New England Revolution, and there tends to be a second away game on the road.
"Over a four-day period, you can fly almost 9,000 miles and play twice. Do that four or five times, factoring in time changes, training and media engagements, and it becomes very wearing.
"Other aspects he won't understand until he gets here is the fact that the referees are next to useless and offer little protection from young men who will be looking to make a name for themselves at David's expense."
