I must be a different character to David Beckham because I
never had any desire to leave England. If the offer had come
from a big European side, the financial implications would
probably have been too good to ignore - for me or Liverpool.
I would have been forced to go.
But as Beckham begins in earnest his career with Real Madrid
this week, I am not sure that I agree with the theory that
he chose the greatest challenge of his life in opting to
play in Spain. What about the challenge of staying with
Manchester United and breaking more records? What about the
challenge of making up with Sir Alex Ferguson and getting on
with winning the club another European Cup?
Don't tell me that once you have been at a place for 10
years and won six Premiership titles that suddenly you
become bored of playing in a winning team. I won eight
league titles and the buzz was as good every time. If you
are playing in a mid-table team, then the desire to move in
order to win trophies will always be there, but I can never
understand why anybody would want to give up on a successful
team.
The financial aspect of moving to Real Madrid will have been
very enticing for Beckham, but the problems with Ferguson
were often of his own making. The United manager, who I have
played under for Scotland, might be ultra single-minded but
he is no fool. He could have been persuaded to keep one of
his best players if Beckham had demonstrated his commitment.
And believe me, nothing eases tensions within a football
club like winning trophies. Success is a miraculous healer
of arguments and rifts.
But the challenge facing Beckham now is to establish himself
in a team full of international stars, and getting a good
start will be crucial. In England, foreign players get six
months to settle, in Spain you are lucky to get six minutes.
What Madrid will get is a great English player who plays the
game the way we like it in this country. A brilliant crosser
and taker of free-kicks who hassles opponents and works hard
for the team. Except that in Spain, that work-rate is not
quite held in the same regard. When Gary Lineker first
chased down an opposing defender when he started at
Barcelona he was told by a team-mate not to bother.
So when the Spanish watch Beckham in his famous performance
against Greece in Oct 2001 the attitude will be much the
same. They will admire the free-kick goal, but the heroic
chasing and tackling that dragged England back into the game
will go largely unnoticed. You need to have more than that.
If Beckham starts by scoring a few goals, and makes a few as
well, then all his problems will disappear. The attention
that he gets from the media will not help him find his feet
in the team one bit. The personal publicity tour of Asia,
the adulation from fans will not mean a thing.