by Howdareyou Watchit

Created on: January 15, 2007   Last Updated: October 31, 2008

David Beckham signed a contract this week to move from the Spanish La Liga side; Real Madrid across the Atlantic to the United States MLS side LA Galaxy. The move is seen in Europe as the signal to the end of David Beckham's career, Beckham himself is insisting he is moving to Los Angeles for footballing reasons and no other. But with the best players in America moving to Europe and with soccer still viewed as a minority sport in the States many here are sceptical. Beckham's career as been an illustrious one, in 1999 he helped Manchester United to an unprecedented treble, wining the league title, FA Cup and European Cup (Champions League) in the same season. This came after Beckham was railed as a pariah, following his sending off at the World Cup finals in France in 1998, his then England manager, Glen Hoddle called David Beckham 'a very stupid boy'. This led to effigies of Beckham been hung from lampposts up and down the country, but it was his bounce-back-ability that saw him win the treble with Manchester United and then go on to captain England and see them through to the 2002 World Cup with a dramatic, last minute free kick from all of 35 yards against the Greeks at Old Trafford. That was at the beginning of a promised golden era for England, with ironically a Scotsman at the helm of the FA (Adam Crozier). It was Crozier's idea to get a foreign coach to help England improve, it was also his idea to follow the French template for success and build a new football academy where youngsters could come and learn about the game away from the pressures of trying to secure a professional contract. The academy was planned for a site in Burton in the North of England, but was recently scrapped in favour of spending a phenomenal amount on the long overdue national stadium; Wembley. The Crozier era is long since over as it would appear is the Beckham era, Steve McClaren, England's current manager apparently did not get on with David Beckham when the two were at Manchester United and Beckham knows that there's no chance of playing again. But even though cynics are saying that the move is purely about enhancing brand Beckham, the fact is that David Beckham has shown commitment to opening and running football academies for the young. He has opened one in his native East end of London and now has one in LA, the French have already shown that academies such as the Clairefontaine, near Paris; produce talent and ultimately world champions. Could it be that Beckham actually ends up being the saviour of English football, by providing future stars, trained at his academies? For the sake of English football, there are a lot of people who hope so.

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