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Beckham not getting babied by Hoddle
English coach builds midfielder up after breaking him down
Posted: Tuesday June 30, 1998 11:12 AM
Special from L'Equipe, the French sports daily PARIS
(L'Equipe) -- The sea wind was blowing in from the Liverpool docks, that
morning, in the "Cliff," Manchester United's training camp. David Beckham
was shooting at a tire that was hanging from the cross bar. The man who
made Beckham what he is, coach Alex Ferguson, was watching from his office,
which overlooks the camp, deep in thought. They brought him tea and
newspapers. He sharply cut off a picture on the front page of the Daily
Telegraph that showed Beckham in the arms of his girlfriend, Spice Girls
singer Victoria Adams. He would later delicately tear off a whole piece in
the Sun about the couple. "Since Diana's death, the tabloids have had to
find other positive heroes. Beckham is beautiful, young, gifted, and he
lives a love story that fascinates England, with a
girl who's even more famous than he is. She's just as beautiful, young and
gifted as he is. It's only normal that the press should jump on this," a
reporter with the Daily Star, one of "trashiest" English newspapers,
said. The following day at the same time, it was raining, and Beckham
was with the trainers. Ferguson was reading through the previous day's
pieces one last time, mumbling, and finally decided to throw them out.
"That's the danger for David. I try to protect him as much as I can and to
make him stay down to earth, or else," Ferguson commented. He refuses most
of the interviews for him, as he does for Ryan Giggs, the Neville brothers,
Nicky Butt and Paul Scholes. They have to remain isolated for Manchester
United to succeed. Things are different with the national team. "The
problem for Alex is that he can't totally control his protégé's activities
anymore. Beckham escapes his control and coach Glenn Hoddle pushes him to
the forefront, where he has to deal with the English journalists," famous
English journalist David Meek, who formerly wrote for the Manchester
Evening News, explained. These past few days, Ferguson and Hoddle
have publicly argued about the handling of Beckham. Last week, Hoddle sent
Beckham to a press conference so that he could say how he felt about being
left out against Tunisia. In a
Sunday Times column, Ferguson then criticized Hoddle for not
protecting his player. But Hoddle knew what he was doing.
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Beckham started and scored a goal in England's match against Colombia (AP) |
In exposing
Beckham like he did, he momentarily weakened him. All of England saw, that
day, how difficult it was for him to handle his career's first real
disappointment. Once Beckham was destabilized, Hoddle could then easily
justify the boycott of the player he then accused of "not coming to the
World Cup focused enough." In a country where Umbro, with Alan Shearer,
or Nike, with millions of dollars spent in advertising, occupy strategic
positions, Adidas has a lot at stake with Beckham. The other player they
signed, Paul Gascoigne, whose bad reputation was already problematic for
the brand, managed not to keep his spot on the squad, so Beckham appears
all the more important for the Adidas advertising campaign in Britain.
Last Friday, Hoddle made another change in the Beckham story line. After
his brainwash and stay at the purgatory, he started him with Scholes in the
center, put them both in charge of filling Gascoigne's shoes. A dream come
true for Beckham, if only for one night. "I dream to play in the center,
that's where I think I can give of my best. I dream of playing in
Gascoigne's spot, and to see my soccer have as much effect on the national
team as his had," he said. But Hoddle fears Argentina,
and could very well choose to play David Batty instead. After the rout
of Colombia,
Beckham took advantage of his performance to talk back to his coach. "I
played my best match for England. I had a great time in the center. And
contrarily to what's been said about me, I came to France with the
World Cup on my mind. I'm as focused and motivated as my teammates," he
said. Hoddle wasn't totally convinced. "Whatever he thinks or says,
there is no doubt he wasn't sufficiently focused on the World Cup. I can
tell you, with the experience I have. I have witnessed the transformation
of his mental approach, these past few days. I claim my behavior in his
regard as the most fit to his problem. I knew he would have a role to play
in this World Cup. Now, he's at 100 percent, and you saw what it
generated," he said. After 16 scoreless matches for England, Beckham
finally fulfilled Hoddle's expectations. But that doesn't mean he'll be
playing from now on. "David needs to be put in a situation in which he's
confident to give of his best. By scoring, he made that feeling only
stronger. Now I'm waiting for his next goal. It has to come quickly. At the
next turn of the road," Hoddle said. Ferguson chose to be a father
figure to Beckham, but Hoddle chose not to baby-sit him. If that's the
price to pay to see him score goals like that he scored last Friday, Hoddle
certainly will continue toying with his ego.
Copyright 1998,
L'Equipe
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