NEWS: Beckham Retires: Joins LA Galaxy

CELEB: Beckham Retires: Joins LA Galaxy

In a move that no one saw coming, Posh Spice's soccer playing husband David Beckham has decided to leave the Galactico's of Real Madrid and head out to the good ol' West Coast to take football to a new level.

Why leave? Well, there's probably many reasons. Victoria's career hasn't been brilliant since she hopped over to Spain three and half years ago—her attempt within six months of arriving to kick-start her pop career with the double A-side of "This Groove / Let Your Head Go" was not a grand sucess, hitting #3 in the UK Top 40 in the lowest selling week of 2003. Since then, she's had to deal with the 2004 scandal involving her husband and Rebecca Loos, and seems to have lost a scary amount of weight.

Family reason: the oldest of the Beckham children will be eight-years-old by the time they move. Do they want their children in the Spanish (albeit probably private) education system, or amongst people who speak an English-variant, in Los Angeles, given the choice?

The football, of course, is an important factor. Beckham was dropped by new England manager Steve McClaren shortly after this summer's World Cup, after he'd given up his captain status. His days on the international scene have been effectively ended.

As for club football, new Real Madrid manager Fabio Capello is someone you don't mess with: he's won Italy's Serie A seven times with three different clubs, the Spain's La Liga once, and Europe's Champions League once. He's not a fan of the former president Perez's hiring of Galacticos and has restricted most of Beckham's time to that of a "super sub"—putting him on the field in the last part of the game, hoping he'll make an impact. He's only been involved in one win from the four matches where he's been on the pitch for the whole game—and he's only started three of the last ten. So perhaps the challenge lays in Major League Soccer for him, where he must surely be guaranteed the full 90-minutes every match.

And why LA Galaxy? Put aside Los Angeles and all of the attractiveness of the bright lights and celebrity—LA Galaxy is associated with Adidas, who has Beckham on the payroll. The company is also owned by the Anschutz Entertainment Group, who just so happen to have partnered up with Beckham for his soccer schools, the David Beckham Academy. So, no conflict of interest there at all.

Rumours abound that he's turned down offers from clubs in Italy, France, England, Scotland, and Spain. But perhaps it was the $250m (£128m) over five years that really swayed the Beckhams?

50 mil a year for a glorified sub. Awesome.

There can only be one posh in southern california, and thats Posh

also, sorry but i just have to do this:

Fair play to him , his England international career is over , he would not realistically come back to england to play. He's played for two of the largest teams in the world.

And thats one hell of a paycheck

"In a move that no one saw coming"???? Thats all I heard from the commentators this past world cup whenever they'd mention his name. He and Ronaldo were mentioned as possible future MLS'rs. This is a good move in terms of drawing crownd attendance, but didn't Pele also play for a NY team a couple decades ago in a league now defunct? I don't think soccer will ever become as popular here as it is the rest of the world.

I assume that was sarcasm on the submitters part, since the link goes to a Nov. 6th article talking about interest from the Galaxy in acquiring Beckham.

And apparently money has nothing to do with it. *cough*

G'bye, razor boy.

Beckham is bent...

"Victoria's career hasn't been brilliant since she hopped over to Spain three and half years ago_her attempt within six months of arriving to kick-start her pop career with the double A-side of "This Groove / Let Your Head Go" was not a grand sucess, hitting #3 in the UK Top 40 in the lowest selling week of 2003."

Clear SG stance on the Poshest of Spices. I'm more of a Mel B girl myself, esp after the baby mama drama with the donkey from Shrek.

Didn't Best play in Californiaaaaah!? At least Beckham won't have ended his career playing in a glorified Sunday league like Lineacre or that Gaztro fella. Good on 'im I say.



.... actually, who cares is what I say but good on 'im anyway and good on the old socker which they call socker on account of you having to wear socks or else the ref will send you for an early bath. None of that stockings/cross dressing malarky in your good old socker.

I bet Stan Collywobbles wishes he ended his career in LaLa Land instead of drowning with Sharon Stone. He certainly liked to sock 'er or am I getting confused?

Freddie Ljungberg should follow Beckham and they can compare six packs. Shane Warne aught to as well though he'll probably bring a Party Seven, the dog.


It's far too late.

At least he wont pronounce it : "Cal eee for neee ah" like Arnold....haha

I'm sure they'll find it nice to be able to eat in a restaurant without being pestered for autographs.

Clever boy....5 year deal at his age....most british prem clubs only give one year conteacts to those age 30 and over. He gets a new club and a decent place to promote himself and share what he has in another corner of the world...as for posh....blah

*Yawn*

they ask why??? c'mon! Beckham in LA...it's like a dream come true. Beckham's skills on the field never even came close to his skills in the media. His image will be remembered long, long after his free kicks. I'm sorry, but any athlete who worries about doing his hair before a game definitely loses a lot credibility.

I want a job where I'm making a million dollars a day.

*pouts*

Good info in this piece, some tidbits I didn't know before. But as for the sarcasm about conflicts of interest, etc ... who cares as long as his move helps develop US soccer, which it does. Even if he had a mediocre first year then tanked, the global attention he undeniably attracts will help legitimize US soccer for the up-and-comers (the youth, as it were) and help lure other aging international superstars here. Who cares if they're older, as long as they can help US soccer reach critical mass.

The money has to be wrong. Who makes 50m/year at their peak playing for the best clubs? MLS/Uncle Phil certainly can't afford it. If they could, they'd hire 50 good players at 1m a year and the quality of play would increase exponentially. I've checked several sources and they're all quoting the same figures, but if you know anything about mls you know this can't be possible.

He might even get to run for G'vnr in few years..

Yeah, I bet it's more along the lines of Tom Cruise recruiting him to Scientology Land.... with a payola like that, I bet the church's mouth is already watering.

#3 in the UK is "not a grand success"? How did your single do?

L.A. has a soccer team?????

It may be because I only pay attention to soccer once every four years, but yesterday I probably wouldn't have believed that the whole of MLS could sell for $250 million.

Beckham's "salary" includes everything including endoresements etc, it's not just his players salary from the club. He gets money from merch and % of profits from the club. The figure quoted is a guestimate of his potential earnings and probably a fairly accurate one. Beckham's not old though, he could play for 5 years in the Premiership and then another 3-5 after that in the US if he'd wanted to.

I thought only girls and sniffly boys with notes from their mum played your socker in the US&A? That and touch rugby which, if we're being brutally honest, is pretty much socker these days anyway.

Talking of brutally honest, Britany Spears ............. w'appen!?!

You're welcome to the guy.

It's frustrating enough having them hang around here, turning up at premieres/ charity functions to demonstrate how much money they have just in case we didn't know. Also Victoria Beckham? A woman who releases a book about how to look good, and she's just boobs on a stick. But I suppose this is all just needless bitching.

I suppose he's not bothered about leaving Real. He's got to put his behind in his past.