David Beckham retires

David Beckham has announced his retirement from football.

The former England captain, who turned 38 earlier this month, has quit at the top three days after helping Paris St Germain to their first French championship in 19 years.

That made him the first Englishman to win titles in four different countries, and PSG were keen to hold on to the midfielder beyond the end of his short-term contract.

But Beckham has instead opted to follow his old mentor Sir Alex Ferguson into retirement, calling a halt to a senior career which began with a Manchester United debut on December 7 1994.

Beckham went on to win six Premier League titles, two FA Cups and a Champions League with United, where he was voted PFA Young Player of the Year in 1997.

Glenn Hoddle gave him an England debut in September 1996, and he survived the fall-out from an infamous red card at the 1998 World Cup to become his country's most-capped outfield player, 59 of 115 appearances coming as skipper.

Beckham left Old Trafford for Real Madrid in the summer of 2003 and won the Liga title in the last of his four seasons in Spain before signing for LA Galaxy, where he was twice an MLS Cup winner.

He spent two loan spells in Italy with Milan and made a final move to Paris in January this year.

http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11095/8716089/

Fantastic player whose legacy has ironically suffered from his marketability as some have chosen to denigrate his ability due to the perception that his fame was ill justified by his talent. A very likable and classy player, who will be missed now that he has departed from the playing field altogether. I wish him all the best with his retirement.

Respect

Yeah... he becomes world ambassador for PSG and Qatar WC. That's his new job.

It's been long overdue if I'm to be honest

Lex wrote:It's been long overdue if I'm to be honest

played well enough for PSG to more than hang with Barca just a couple months ago

Retired as a Champion

What a career he has had. A true legend in football.

dostoevsky wrote:Fantastic player whose legacy has ironically suffered from his marketability as some have chosen to denigrate his ability due to the perception that his fame was ill justified by his talent. A very likable and classy player, who will be missed now that he has departed from the playing field altogether. I wish him all the best with his retirement.

This.

Will miss him tbh, one of my favourite players.

A true legend of the game

Would have been cool to see him do a year or two in the A-League though.

Average player wildly overrated due to his PR constructed "nice guy" image.

Thuggish player with a nasty petulant side. Won't be missed by true football fans.

shit player etc

The_Badger wrote:Average player wildly overrated due to his PR constructed "nice guy" image.

Thuggish player with a nasty petulant side. Won't be missed by true football fans.

what ? If you have nothing worthwhile to say then stay away from this topic.

Average footballer

You probably started watching him at PSG

Why is it not worthwhile? Are we not allowed an opinion and to express it even if others disagree?

By far the best long passer and crosser i have ever seen.Some of his passes were mind blowing.

A great player who was as professional and dedicated to his craft as one can get. Despite his obvious flaws (like most players that aren't Raul Gonzales), you know, being that "One Stupid Boy", Golden Balls would retire one of the games great wingers (well, certainly our generation).

As for his flaws, George Best summed it up nicely:

He cannot kick with his left foot, he cannot head a ball, he cannot tackle and he doesn't score many goals. Apart from that he's all right.

The_Badger wrote:Why is it not worthwhile? Are we not allowed an opinion and to express it even if others disagree?

That post was clearly a trolling attempt. Don't try to fool anyone here. It wasn't an' opinion' but a dire remark contributing nothing to the topic which is about him retiring. If you have something against Beckham, make a new topic. Leave this one alone.

I'll always remember for this:



He really was an exceptional free-kick taker.

Extremely good player. Gentleman through and through. But it's true that his greatness was more his image than his game. When your public image is bigger than the quality of your game... it creates resentment with some unfortunately. But to me, it's more power to him. He maximized everything he had and created a brand.

He has done more to promote football in the world than anyone out there by far. His personal success did not come at the detriment of others... he created exponentially more value and wealth than he received.

None of his clubs ever regretted having signed Beckham. He was a prized asset everywhere he went.

It was an opinion on Beckham. Please don't try to insist it was an attempt at "trolling" simply because you disagree.

As far as I can see this isn't an appreciation thread, it's a thread about his retirement; for discussion and comments about him as a player and his career. Whilst my opinion may not be shared by yourself, it is in the same vein as other contributions on here and just as valid.

Rather than your ad hominem attacks, why not dispute what I posted rather than stifle debate and throw around unnecessary accusations of trolling?

sportsczy wrote:None of his clubs ever regretted having signed Beckham. He was a prized asset everywhere he went.

Unfortunately, for the wrong reasons. Those being the reasons that make football so incredibly detached from the fan.

Beckham was never detached from the fans lol. He was the main reason the LA Galaxy became attractive in Los Angeles for more than just the latino crowd. His name was also sung whenever he warmed up or entered the game at PSG.

Beckham is everything you want in a football player as a fan: Loves the game, respectful to everyone, brings publicity to your club and was a darn good player if not a great one. There's absolutely not one thing about Beckham that causes you to be detached as a fan.... quite the opposite in fact.

Only fans who disliked him where the opposing ones lol.

The_Badger wrote:It was an opinion on Beckham. Please don't try to insist it was an attempt at "trolling" simply because you disagree.

As far as I can see this isn't an appreciation thread, it's a thread about his retirement; for discussion and comments about him as a player and his career. Whilst my opinion may not be shared by yourself, it is in the same vein as other contributions on here and just as valid.

Rather than your ad hominem attacks, why not dispute what I posted rather than stifle debate and throw around unnecessary accusations of trolling?

Why don't YOU justify your post as a serious discussion material and actually post why you believe he was an average footballer ? You made the claim. Support it. Also do tell which "true football fans" are you talking about. Because as far as i can see, none of us here are true football fans according to your genius logic

Beckham's greed and self-promotion created the damaging culture we have in modern day football which has made the sport inaccessible to type of fan that enjoyed the sport before.

He was the leader of the pack when it came to player power and their ability to exploit the club and marketing, the fans suffering as a result.

Because of Brand Beckham, players see themselves as celebrities, not as servants.

Simon Fuller and the others have shown how remarkably great they are at promotion.

N/A

That was a response to sportsczy, not you.