Beckham, Finally Ends The Drama;

[redrus]

Beckham to quit Real for LA Galaxy

By Chris Harvey -Sky- Created on 11 Jan 2007

David Beckham is to leave Real Madrid at the end of the season and sign a five-year deal with Major League Soccer's Los Angeles Galaxy.

The former England captain is to quit Madrid when his contract runs out in June after agreeing a deal worth £128million. (thats around £480.000 a week, stoopid is he....!)

He will kick-off the new MLS season in August.

Beckham said in a statement: "This week, Real Madrid asked me to make a decision regarding my future and the offer to extend my contract by a further two seasons.

"After discussing several options with my family and advisers to either stay here at Madrid or join other major British and European clubs, I have decided to join the Los Angeles Galaxy and play in the MLS from August this year.

"I would like to thank the supporters and people of Madrid who have made my family and I feel so welcome in my time here, making this an extremely difficult decision to make.

"I have enjoyed my time in Spain enormously and I am extremely grateful to the club for giving me the opportunity to play for such a great team and their amazing fans.

"I am proud to have played for two of the biggest clubs in football and I look forward to the new challenge of growing the world's most popular game in a country that is as passionate about its sport as my own.

"For the rest of this season I will continue to give 100 per cent to my coach, team mates and fans as I believe Fabio Capello will bring this club and its supporters the success they truly deserve."

The announcement comes after days of speculation over Beckham's future with a host of clubs across Europe linked with the former England captain.

In terms of finances it is a mega deal and compares with the biggest in mainstream US sports American football and baseball.

The MLS have recently changed their salary cap rules to allow sides to make 'marquee signings' of top international stars. The Beckham deal will see the 31-year-old benefit directly from all his image rights and related sponsorship deals which, in the past, have had to be shared with his club.

Beckham's Madrid future had been shrouded in doubt, especially after coach Fabio Capello dropped him from the squad - the first time it had happened to Beckham since he moved from Manchester United in July 2003.

During those three and a half years, Beckham has seen six different coaches appointed while Real have failed to win a single trophy.

Good look to the lad. Not that he needs it like....!

redrus

[britmaveric]

Hollywood - well guess he wants to work on his acting.

[Jingthing]

Hmmm.

I can see it now.

President Arnold

Vice President Beckham

[Plus]

He was a good player once... even inspirational. Good players leave the game early because they run into problems, he is the first one to leave football for California.

What a <deleted>.

[Jingthing]

The US will become a real football nation once it PRODUCES its own Beckham. This is all show.

[Thug]

That's better for him than becoming an actor

[redrus]

he is the first one to leave football for California.

Besides George Best, Rodney Marsh....!

redrus

[britmaveric]

Recall in the past - he said he'd like to start acting more. Granted he did heap of it on the pitch, so might be fairely good.

[kayo]

Beckham to quit Real for LA Galaxy

"After discussing several options with my family and advisers to either stay here at Madrid or join other major British and European clubs, I have decided to join the Los Angeles Galaxy and play in the MLS from August this year.

either stay in Madrid OR go to another European club...

so I'll go to LA.

I suppose Geography wasn't his strong point.

I guess Posh Spice had a say in the issue?

(a real posh person would have chosen Milan, Monaco, something erm, Posh, like...

K.

Recall in the past - he said he'd like to start acting more. Granted he did heap of it on the pitch, so might be fairely good.

Shouldn't he go to Portugal, then?

Edited January 11, 2007 by kayo

[EastSaxCol]

It's not the 135 mil in 5 years that does my head in so much as the thought of him speaking with an American accent.

[EastSaxCol]

I bet that they're copying them as I write

www.soccer.com/images/catalog/productimages/600/525822.RE10.JPG

[mrbojangles]

Hollywood - well guess he wants to work on his acting.

They have also become very good friends with Tom Cruise and his Mrs

Anyways, good luck to him. Even though he was a red, i have always had a lot of respect for him. After he got sent off against the Argies years ago, his career could have gone either way but he took it on the chin and bounced back, bigger and better.

[mrbojangles]

Ten things you didn’t know about the LA Galaxy

So, Goldenballs is off to Major League Soccer (MLS) in LA, so for you Beckham fans here are ten things you need to know about the LA Galaxy.

1. The LA Galaxy are coached by former Australian national team manager Frank Yallop, the Galaxy also play in green and gold. Let’s hope Becks doesn’t have to cope with the sledging that usually accompanies English encounters with Aussies.

2. New teammate Cobi Jones is one of the most acclaimed American soccer stars. The dreadlocked winger has played for the USA at three World Cups and has more international caps (164) than any other American. Not bad for a Coventry City bit-part player.

3. Also listed on the Galaxy roster (surely that should be “squad”?) is American World Cup “star” and 2006 team Most Valuable Player Landon Donovan. Donovan was the team’s top scorer in the 2005 and 2006 seasons, although many of these goals were apparently “wormburners” (what we'd call daisycutters). At least Becks will have the opportunity to crack a quality joke if one of his team mates asks: “Where can I buy some kebabs?” He can reply: “From Landon Donovan.”

4. The Galaxy’s first game was a 2-1 win over the NY Metrostars way back in April 1996. Their biggest ever win was an 8-1 away win against the ludicrously named Dallas Burn.

5. Galaxy team president and general manager is the bearded hippie scourge of Graham Taylor’s early nineties England team Alexei Lalas. The ginger defender memorably scored in the USA’s friendly victory over the Three Lions in 1993.

6. In trophy terms, the Galaxy are an extremely successful franchise, or team to you and me. They famously completed the MLS double in 2005, claiming the MLS Cup and the revered US Open Cup (isn’t that a golf tournament).

7. The Galaxy have two key rivalries. The first is their local derby (the only local rivalry in Major League Soccer) with Chivas United, the team with which they share a stadium. The second is an historic rivalry with DC United, the team that defeated them in MLS Cup Finals in 1996 and 1999.

8. Drew Carey is the Galaxy’s most famous celebrity fan. In fact, he’s the Galaxy’s only celebrity fan. The Brooklyn native made his name as a stand-up comedian before hosting his own chat show and the US version of Whose Line Is It Anyway?

9. The Galaxy boast Mexican goalkeeping legend Jorge Campos and American legend Clint Mathis among their former players. Campos was briefly toted as the world’s best goalie before the 1994 World Cup. Mathis famously sported the Travis Bickle mohawk haircut along with Beckham at World Cup 2002.

10. The Galaxy played at Pasadena’s famous 100,000 seater Rose Bowl stadium until 2003. But with average attendances levelling at the 21,000 mark, the team wisely decamped to their current home, the footballing mecca known as The Home Depot Center.

[mrbojangles]

Ten things you didn't know about US Soccer

We all know that Americans resolutely refuse to call football football. But what else do we know about US Soccer? Impress your friends down the pub this weekend with these nuggets of sporting wisdom.

1. Rumour has it that when the Pilgrim Fathers settled at Plymouth Rock they found American Indians along the Massachusetts coast playing a form of football. The Indians called it “Pasuckquakkohowog,” which means “they gather to play football.”

2. The Oneidas of Boston were the first official football club in America. So good were the team that they pulled off an unbeaten run of three years between 1862-65. A monument to the team still stands on Boston Common.

3. The USA fielded a team at the first World Cup in Uruguay. Striker Bert Patenaude was the third highest scoring player, chalking up a total of three goals.

4. Throughout its 90-year history, the US Soccer Federation has been known by three different titles, the US Football Association, 1913-1944, the US Soccer Football Association, 1945-1973 and its current incarnation as the US Soccer Federation.

5. The US Soccer Hall of Fame welcomed its first inductees in 1950. In total, 122 players are now listed.

6. The word soccer is a slang corruption of the abbreviation assoc.

7. In the United States about 20 million people play soccer. Almost every urban community has at least one amateur association, and many rural communities do as well. Local leagues are governed by their state’s soccer association. The 50 state associations fall under the control of the United States Soccer Federation (USSF), the governing body for all U.S. soccer. The USSF in turn falls under FIFA.

8. The Major League Soccer season runs from April to September, followed by an eight-team playoff. The top two teams to emerge square off in the championship match, called the MLS Cup.

9. LA Galaxy are owned by sports and entertainment giants AEG, who are also partners in Beckham's soccer academy in Los Angeles.

10. Beckham’s new team mates include Landon Donovan, Cobi Jones, Josh Gardner and Guillermo Gonzalez.

[Plus]

he is the first one to leave football for California.

Besides George Best, Rodney Marsh....!

redrus

Yeah, but Best was kicked out for heavy drinking, Beckham left because he doesn't really want to play football anymore. He still has good 4-5 years in him to play at the top professional level for any club in Europe.

Not interested.

[taxexile]

he's been pussy whipped by posh. its her decision , not his.

odds on a divorce within 3 years after he is photographed getting a chewie in the back of a car with some l.a. brass.

Edited January 13, 2007 by taxexile

[calibanjr.]

Pretty good article on the back story of the deal being worked and its actual value.

sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/grant_wahl/01/17/beckham.qa/index.html

[Jockstar]

ated: Jan. 19, 2007

Beckham vents fury over Calderon remarks

David Beckham has allegedly vented his fury over the 'lies' peddled by Real Madrid over his departure from the Spanish giants.

Click here

The former England captain has so far bitten his tongue following the outspoken attacks made on him by Real president Ramon Calderon over his decision to join Major League Soccer side LA Galaxy.

But yesterday he finally snapped, reportedly getting to his feet in front of the entire Madrid squad and Calderon, yelling: 'You told the fans that I had already got a house in Los Angeles.

'That is not true. That's a lie. You have treated me with a lack of respect. My team-mates will always have my respect, but you never will now.'

Calderon had accused the 31-year-old of betraying the club over his decision to move to America on a lucrative £128million five-year contract, claiming Beckham had no intention of extending his stay at the Bernabeu.

The Real supremo also taunted Beckham by saying he 'will be an average cinema actor living in Hollywood' and suggested no other European club wanted him.

Calderon has since apologised for his candid remarks.