I am not his biggest fan, nor a sentimentalist and frankly dont give a toss about the Olympic football, but I have to say that I fail to see why Stuart Pearce would axe him at this point. The reason given is 'to provide more defensive cover' by selecting Richards as the 3rd overage player, but frankly his presence is worth a lot more than that - and to treat someone who has done so much to support the bid etc is pretty shabby. Rant over....
Yes, Giggs is in. The showpiece aspect is exactly my point. Football in the Olympics is nothing more than a sideshow - and dropping your only global icon appears to be somewhat counter-productive....
Sorry, I've got to laugh! ...what a ****er to believe he has something to offer anyway, he's found his level in the MLS. What with his missus who thinks she can sing! what a pair of idiots! Places in other Olympic teams are not given on nostalgia either, so no exception should be made here.
Beckham shouldn't have been near the team. He'd have stuck out more for Stuart Pearse than Benson and Hedges did for Mike Bassett. Although Giggs and Bellamy's positions could have gone to better players, or at least Fletcher and Healy in the intrests of equality across the home nations, especially considering Bale and Ramsey should be dead certs for the team.
If you think Beckham deserves his 'come uppance', then there would be plenty to agree with you. But to recieve that come uppance from a dork such as Stuart Pearce in such an a poor way (after including him in the original squad), is surely a bit shabby ??
im glad he was dropped..before it became the Beckham show...maybe he is a good ambassador etc etc...regardless of how important the competition is or is not...the point is that its not the Beckham show and the rest of the squad deserve to be deemed as just as important...if he had been picked people would have complained if he didnt start. good! this is football not a self promotion exercise!
Seven years of blathering on about leading out his country (as well as Scotland and Wales) at the Olympics, only to be told he won't be captain...because he isn't in the squad.
We'll have to disagree then mate, there's always more to it with Beckham, maybe sponsors were appeased with the initial inclusion, dunno, don't care too much either really. The Olympics is about being the best, from countries that have sent their best available, as I said other sports don't give away places. So if someone is going to tell me were down to David Beckham in quality stakes to represent GB, well I won't be getting into that one. Its the very notion of him thinking all that time ago that at 37 he'd have any chance anyway. Every other Olympic event is taken seriously, so why does anyone think football should be made a 'spectacle'. What next, Carl Lewis in the 100m! Thats my point really, not come uppance, its not fair in the Olympic spirit, that a fitter, better suited player for matches in succession should miss out, just to give him a last hurrah pat on the back...and I have to say, for what? Chris Hoy has done just as much promo, but deserves his place in his sport. Him and his missus have just become a joke to me.
Just take Beckham, Bellamy (apparently) getting picked is the biggest joke. You've already got Giggs, Bale and Ramsey going, atleast so the other space should go to a Scottish player over 23 or Beckham.
Why all this sympathy for an overrated self publicist He's done nothing to deserve being in the squad and we need to start building a team instead of continuing with the failed policy of focusing around one or two big names that has let England down so badly in the last 15-20 years
It's unfair to group Beckham with those that failed England. He's record is far more positive than negative. I would argue he almost single handedly qualified us for the WC 2002. There have been very few great England performances in the last 20 years but I think his effort against Greece in the final qualifier is one of them. For such a "self-publicist" as many suggest, he has never refused to represent England and indeed does seem to consider it an honour (Richards I believe refused to be on the standby list for the Euros?). He regularly flew over from the States for England matches just to sit on the bench. Many others have declined to represent their country any more yet received far less hostile reaction than Beckham (Giggs I believe did not turn out for Wales many times when available). He also put a lot of effort into the bid, and helped us get the Olympics in the first place. Basically I can't think of anyone more suitable to represent the nation at Olympic footie. I'm also thinking Coe and Co must be having a mare as they must have assumed he was a shoe in! Yet again with the Olympics, an assumption has not been followed through with making sure something actually happened.
"Lap of honour" what at the expense of all the young players, who hopefully will be working their guts out to win the trophy, well done SP I say, if RH had shown the same bottle and left that c**t Rooney at home we may have performed better in the EC!
I thought Beckham was just a footballer, quite skilled, who had one good game for England, but always tried hard. I forgot that he is a 'celebrity' a 'nice' airhead who has managed to fulfil the vicarious dreams of all the airheads in the country. For this he should be recognised and his superficiality respected. It really is a bit much that the ultimate statement of massive irrelevance should not include one of it's hero's.
I must say, that I cannot take this debate (ie. the general debate surrounding Beckham, not this particular forum debate) at all seriously. It's another example of the gutter tabloids and more respectable media (which ought to know better) frothing itself up into a state of pious indignation on a nothing-story. Who really gives a toss whether Beckham plays or not? Honestly? It would have been interesting to watch him play and have rings run around him by more talented, technically gifted, younger players, but (on the other hand), we are probably going to be a better team without him. But whether he had played or not, we're still going to get outplayed by the South Americans. I am not one of those who subscribe to the idea that he "deserves" to play merely because he's been involved in leading our bid for the Olympics. So what? A lot of people have been involved. Also, I cannot understand why Stuart Pearce is suddenly the villain of the peace. One or two of your here might not take Olympics Football seriously, but it is clear that he does. Some of you here may well be content to use the football as nothing more than a freak show - something for nothing more than a laugh - but it's clear that Pearce doesn't. Why should he be vilified for that. I confess, I find some of the frothing little more than pathetic, like all that stupid wailing and grinding of teeth at Princess Di's funeral, but people who never who knew her. Grow up FFS!
He's a major reason for England failing Everything was built around him. He was the playmaker, set piece taker and captain. That is far too much to be given to one person. Opponents knew that if they stopped him they won. We give Arsenal a lot of stick about being a one man team with RVP but Beckham was far worse and a lot less effective As for the Olympics, that's no different than celebrities pretending to be concerned about charity and choosing to do things that benefit them such as concerts instead of donating some of their vast fortunes
David Beckham has had his moments in the sun. It is time to move over His seizure of the limelight could well have provoked muttering of discontent among Stuart Pearce's London 2012 football party Louise Taylor guardian.co.uk, Thursday 28 June 2012 15.10 BST When Barack Obama held a White House reception for David Beckham and his Los Angeles Galaxy team-mates in May, the president of the United States briefly seemed mildly taken aback. When talk turned to the prospect of Beckham playing for Stuart Pearce's Great Britain side at the Olympics, Obama reminded the former England captain that he was old enough to have fathered several of his potential team-mates, most of whom are under 23. Beckham is 37. At that age the majority of outfield players have long since retired, which is very possibly what the former Manchester United winger would have done a couple of seasons ago had he still been playing in the intensity of the Premier League or La Liga rather than amid the sunnier, appreciably more relaxed, environs of California. There are rare exceptions to this rule. At 38 Ryan Giggs still gets a game for United but at Old Trafford he is surrounded by younger, faster, fitter colleagues. In naming Giggs in his squad Stuart Pearce, the GB coach, effectively left himself no option but to exclude Beckham. Two midfield slow-coaches would be one too many, especially if you aim to actually win the tournament. Pearce travelled to California at least twice to watch Beckham in action, most recently a couple of weeks ago when, in Carson, he saw LA Galaxy beat Portland Timbers 1-0 in the MLS, with the winner created courtesy of a corner from guess who? Although Beckham now suffers from a chronic lack of pace and mobility, even if he can still unleash a few Pirlo-esque passes, there was arguably a case for naming him in the squad on exceptional dead-ball ability alone. Giggs, though, is currently a bit more versatile – as well as possessing the added benefit of being Welsh and thereby bringing geographical balance to the squad. His critics may question his tactics at times but everyone agrees that Pearce is refreshingly honest and very much his own man. Having watched Beckham in action he clearly decided he would not be right for his squad and that Giggs, Craig Bellamy and Micah Richards would make more impact as the three permitted over-age players. In many ways the antithesis of the celebrity culture which surrounds modern football, Pearce is also among the least likely to have been swayed by Beckham's fame. Indeed he may instead have harboured real concerns about the media circus which invariably surrounds a man who appears to spend as much time modelling underwear and cosying up to politicians and royalty as actually playing football these days. Although he is, by all accounts, a decent person and in some respects a fine role model, Beckham's celebrity can do strange things to delicate dressing-room ecosystems. Back in 2003 some England players were criticised for not accepting an invitation to meet Nelson Mandela when they played a friendly against South Africa in Durban. Those who stayed behind at the team hotel did so partly because they were fed up with the whole "Beckham circus" and questioned precisely why the meeting with Mandela had been engineered. The same year Beckham joined Real Madrid from Manchester United. On the pre-season tour of the Far East his new colleagues were clearly taken aback by the added scrutiny and generally craziness that his presence generated. When he and Luis Figo co-hosted a press conference in a Tokyo hotel, Beckham was ushered to an ostentatious gold throne and Figo to a normal chair placed to its side. The Portuguese was having none of it. "I am Luis Figo," he said as, much to the horror of his Japanese hosts, he sat down on the throne and told Beckham to take the chair. There may not be too many Figo-sized egos among Pearce's Olympic party but Beckham's predilection for the limelight could well have provoked a muttering of discontent. Moreover the potential chemistry between the LA Galaxy midfielder and the notoriously straight-talking Craig Bellamy – another overage Welshman in the squad very much on merit – may have proved combustible. Pearce, being Pearce, would have overlooked such potential problems if he believed Beckham could help deliver a meaningful campaign. Instead he clearly feels that the extra midfield place could be more profitably utilised by a young player who will gain invaluable tournament experience. Some Olympic ticket holders may be disappointed by Beckham's absence but after being excluded from the senior England coaching setup by the manager Roy Hodgson and with his Under-21 side facing a tough-looking European Championship finals in Israel next summer, Pearce cannot be worried about upsetting anyone. Moreover, in this age of spin, shallow celebrity and, above all, commercial greed, everyone should be grateful that the GB team is being managed by a man of principle. Beckham has enjoyed sufficient moments in the footballing sun – it is now time to offer someone else a turn.
Meaning he was to England what Jamie O'Hara was to us? If his free kick against Greece cannoned off the bar, that alone would have stopped people being so ready to wax lyrical about him in the England shirt.
