The main story on Around The Horn today, and one of the main stories on Pardon The Interuption, was the report from the Daily Express in England saying that Beckham might transfer back to England for four months. What's crazier about the report is that BOTH tv show's critics are actually buying the report and reporting it as a done deal, after we've all seen how uncredible most of the British press' MLS-related reports have been, and the fact that Beckham AND Lalas have already denied the report after the report first came out.... http://sports.espn.go.com/broadband/video/videopage?videoId=3006422&n8pe6c=2 What is to make of the reports? Is the London report suddenly credible enough to take seriously, or are the denials credible enough to question the motive behind the report that sparked the debates from the American sportswriters who honestly wouldn't know any better what to believe coming out of British press?
Re: Wussup with ESPN's Beckham/England reporting today? wussup, indeed. but, what would be so bad about (a healthy) Beckham getting games from Jan 1 - April 1, should some club want him? What does the Galaxy have on the calendar on those dates?
Re: Wussup with ESPN's Beckham/England reporting today? Good question. It'd probably be some exibitions across Asia and Europe, some training dates, and pre-season; none of which I think has been scheduled yet. But even if the reports weren't already denied by Lalas, can you really see someone requesting a transfer to play while they're injured and mentioned they need time to heal, especially after not having any offseason of rest from playing football or being injured since last season when LA Liga ended? It sounded from the beginning like a fabricated report from a London paper hoping to undermine MLS and see Becks play for the Premiership again.
Re: Wussup with ESPN's Beckham/England reporting today? Its Around the Horn and PTI (outside of Wilbon) they hate soccer. So of course they will latch onto anything bad. They will take any chance to bash it until he gets back on the pitch
Re: Wussup with ESPN's Beckham/England reporting today? Um what would be bad about going back to Europe to play games? Well last time Beckham did that he got an ankle injury, and since Real Madrid knew he would no longer be their player they let him play through the injury, which made it worse, and then when he got to LA he was too hurt to play. He got up to 50% and then since he was only going into challenges with 50% effort he picked up another injury. Remember the knee injury occured in a Real Madrid game. The ankle injury occured in an England game. Beckham was also played in the final La Liga game of the season when he wasn't fit.
Re: Wussup with ESPN's Beckham/England reporting today? As a LAG fan I wish New York would have had Beckham, I'm tired of all the bullshit. We are the laughing stock of the league now and our reputation around the world has been tarnished.
Re: Wussup with ESPN's Beckham/England reporting today? Not really. Before July, Galaxy was a laughing stock without Beckham. Now, Galaxy's a laughing stock...laughing straight to the bank, and with major potential for 2008. And you say that Galaxy's reputation around the world was tarnished? Before Beckham signed, what reputation did Galaxy have in Europe? And what would happen if before Becks finishes his current contract, Galaxy won the MLS Cup after a season like this one? Imagine winning the MLS title with the world watching this time, and knowing that just a few years before, Galaxy were at rock bottom. THAT would be a reputation...
Re: Wussup with ESPN's Beckham/England reporting today? Other than the fact that it would mean Beckham would've essentially played football year-round without any significant offseason for a body-crippling 3 years? Nothing.
Re: Wussup with ESPN's Beckham/England reporting today? Because that's illegal. Beckham couldn't come back until the transfer window opens. Which means he'd miss the first couple months of the season. How many threads are going to pop up about this? The loan thing ain't happening.
Re: Wussup with ESPN's Beckham/England reporting today? And Reali, so 2/3rds of the regular on air talent likes soccer, but obviously the show hates soccer.
Re: Wussup with ESPN's Beckham/England reporting today? Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't the tranfer windows prevent the scenario from happening the way it was suggested in the English media and discussed on ESPN? Something like if an MLS player went to Europe on loan they couldn't be back in MLS till June. Am I wrong in that?
Re: Wussup with ESPN's Beckham/England reporting today? Theoretically, He could go January 1, and return by March 31, the end of the US transfer window. That's what Landon Donovan did. The relevant transfer window is that of the destination country.
Re: Wussup with ESPN's Beckham/England reporting today? I could be wrong (wouldn't be the first time) but that was buying a player's contract, not a loan to another team. IIRC, some other loan scenarios have been scuttled because the player couldn't return before the season starts.
Re: Wussup with ESPN's Beckham/England reporting today? If things go right, Becks will not be in America anyway part of Summer 2008 anyway because of Euro 2008 (given England qualifies). But the thread is more about the speculated reports being reported as facts on ESPN's shows to try to fool casual fans that don't follow MLS into thinking that Becks' era is already over
Re: Wussup with ESPN's Beckham/England reporting today? I understand why you might feel this way. It's not Beckham's fault, but his arrival has induced AEG, Lalas and Yallop to do many stupid things--like essentially trying to revamp the entire team in mid-season, like the ridiculous schedual, like trying to cash in on Becks without taking into account that he's an athlete (who can/will get injured) not a movie star guranteed to show up on the red carpet whenever he's needed. It's been handled badly. Not to mention the spotlight has been on the Galaxy at a time when they are playing really, embarassingly badly. On the other hand, this is all set for the wonderful comeback story of 2008. Galaxy will end up bottom of the league this year. Then next year, while Beckham is healthy and playing, the Galaxy will do much, much better (since they couldn't do any worse, this won't be much of a problem). Then everyone will say "Oh, look how much Beckham has done for the Galaxy!!" Even if they don't win the playoffs or anything, people will still be thrilled and impressed. Reputation restored. Happiness all around. So, take heart. There's only one way to go from here. As they say: When you're so low you need to look up to touch bottom...whose bottom you touch can make all the difference!
Re: Wussup with ESPN's Beckham/England reporting today? No it's not illegal. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/m/man_utd/6198464.stm
Re: Wussup with ESPN's Beckham/England reporting today? At the rate they're going, England will not even qualify for Euro 2008, so the question will be moot.
Re: Wussup with ESPN's Beckham/England reporting today? may be true, but i've changed my tune on this general issue. i've basically done a 180. now I think that Beckham SHOULD go on loan to an EPL team. i think he SHOULD play with England in Euro 08 should he be called up (and miss a ton of MLS time). i think overall, as far as MLS is concerned, they need David Beckham to be relevant. lemme repeat: RELEVANT. all this stuff that's going on: 1. bickering about 'Beckham' ticket prices 2. bickering about Beckham no-shows in away cities 3. 'bickering' between English FA and LAG about DB's services this stuff is all viewed as a distraction, but deep down, it means that David Beckham is still a very relevant force. that means hype. and that hype means $$$$ for MLS. the worst -- very worst -- thing that can happen for MLS is to have Beckham retreat to his Beverly Hills mansion for 6 months, not playing for England, then start the 2008 MLS season healthy, but with no hype or fanfare. if that happens, Becks/LAG will NOT be selling out stadiums. they WON'T be getting any run on Sportscenter, and other sports news shows. they'll just be another MLS team. and Becks will be just another MLS player. and once you've done that, you've killed off your golden goose (or severely neutered him). LAG/MLS did not get the full Beckham buzz they were hoping for this summer, due to DB being injured. if DB is on SkySports/SportsCenter all winter scoring great goals in the EPL ... and scoring/contributing to England goals at Euro '08, then you keep Beckham's status as a 'wow' player and a world elite player. if you take all that out of the equation, you lose a lot of the sizzle. Americans want to see the best in the world. they get it with MLB, NFL, PGA, and NHL. they were getting it with Beckham, b/c fans believed they were getting to see one of the best in the world. and that belief was shown in the outrageous ticket prices and kits sold. once the Beckham phenomenon dies down, you've just got a very good MLS player. and no one pays any extra money to see a very good MLS player ... ask Dwayne De Rosario or Christian Gomez.
Re: Wussup with ESPN's Beckham/England reporting today? DeRo and Gomez and Toja and Johnson and Altidore should also go on loan to the EPL for a couple of months early in 2008. Certainly if Beckham is good enough to have interest from clubs there, those players are as well. MLS's schedule allows for players to spend a good portion of the year elsewhere. of course it is a player-by-player decision, and who knows if these loans are really feasible, but if MLS doesn't have matches scheduled during the first 3 months of 2008 (and who knows what MLS will do with it's schedule, but i'd imagine the 2008 season would run during the same months as the 2007 season) i'm guessing that the decision makers are considering what is in the best interest of the clubs/league and especially its biggest DP signing. even if an MLS player did go on loan starting in Jan, they'd still have anywhere from a 1.5 - 2 month layoff (Nov/Dec) depending on how far their team went in the postseason, or if they made the playoffs at all (as is likely the case with Beckham's Galaxy -- regular season scheduled to end of 10/21). that's about as much of an off-season as Becks ever got while with ManU or RM. how many competitive matches will Becks have played during 2007, 20-25? that playing schedule and 2 months rest, and I'd imagine he'd be fully fit and eager to get some games with a club in January, as opposed to just a few off-MLS-season friendlies/exhibitions and waiting for MLS to kickoff in April.
Re: Wussup with ESPN's Beckham/England reporting today? What happened to the whole "I could never play for another team in the Premiership after playing for Manchester United"? Guess that went out the door.
Re: Wussup with ESPN's Beckham/England reporting today? This is correct. Where this becomes a hurdle for MLSers is that few teams are willing to bring in a player for 3 months, unless it's an emergency, like Larsson at ManU last year. It takes a few weeks to settle in and for all the players to get on the same page, you get 8-10 weeks of play, and then the guy leaves, and everyone has to readjust. Except for a position like goalkeeper, 99% of the time the negatives will outweigh the positives for the team bringing in the loaner.
Re: Wussup with ESPN's Beckham/England reporting today? Only if you're like the ATH and PTI guys whom this thread is about, and you're buying this story lock, stock and barrel.
Re: Wussup with ESPN's Beckham/England reporting today? This same type of thing happens in straight news as well. Totally fabricated or "half true" news articles get picked up eventually by what people consider respectable news services sometimes they include a "this was reported by" disclaimer sometimes they don't but regardless people accept it as truth when in reality some blogger or less than ethical journalist manufactured the story.
Re: Wussup with ESPN's Beckham/England reporting today? Honestly, I'm amazed anyone is taking this seriously. Beckham is out with an injury, Galaxy is playing like crap (I'm sorry to say), he can't even play for England against Israel and Russia...and his hair is too short for an interesting new style rolleyes, so what can they write about...? This is just a rumor that, with no other news going on, is getting more attention than it deserves. Beckham is not going to risk being out for next season with Galaxy by getting injured anywhere else (unless it's an England NT qualifier). I doubt any Premiership club would seriously consider trying to intigrate Beckham for a few months--DB's a great player but, let's be honest, he's not a 25 year old world class striker. Besides, Galaxy needs the off season, not to rest Beckham, but to finally have a team that has done extensive training together and learned to work as a team. Hopefully, the positive results of this will show up in 2008.
Re: Wussup with ESPN's Beckham/England reporting today? Well, I may be an idiot when it comes to knowing the rules. But even this idiot knows that loaning Beckham out makes no sense and the article that started this whole debate is a total fabrication with no true source behind it.