PR guru Max Clifford has warned David Beckham he is not yet a star in the United States.
Talking to BBC Breakfast News he compared the former England captain's transfer from Real Madrid to LA Galaxy to the attempts to raise the game's profile in the US by legends Pele and George Best.
Both ended their playing careers in the States during a push to make the game more popular in the 1970s.
Clifford said: "Football is not big in America, David Beckham is not big in America - football does not mean much.
"This is a new challenge, but Pele and George Best could not manage it."
Clifford - who brokered the deal between Rebecca Loos and the News of the World in April 2004, when she claimed to have had an affair with Beckham - added he thought the move could signal a step away from sport and towards showbusiness in the future.
"He has gone from the centre of the football world to the centre of the showbiz world," he said.
"The LA Galaxy are not a great team. They would struggle in the first division over here. It is a change of direction.
"There are plenty of shops and television studios. Victoria might even bump in to a record producer. Other than that she will be famous for being Mrs Beckham.
Friends
"LA is the centre of the movie business so maybe there is a step towards that direction.
"Maybe he wants to go into the movies - if they are silent movies he has a good chance."
He added that the Beckhams are better known in the US for their famous friends than football. One friend of the family, pop star Justin Timberlake, told GMTV: "I think it will be amazing for them. They have already done some functions in America."
But grassroots football coach Stuart Underwood, Beckham's first boss when he was a boy at Ridgeway Rovers, in Chingford, told LBC Radio he was disappointed at the move.
He said: "I can't say I'm surprised. Perhaps I am a little bit disappointed I suppose.
"It's a huge amount of money. It is beyond anybody's wildest dreams. But I do feel there are another couple of seasons in David and I would have liked to have seen him in the Premiership.
"Apparently there were two or three clubs who were willing and looking to sign him and I would have liked to have seen how he would have got on.
"There are certainly some very good players still playing at 31, 32 or 33. They look after themselves. David has looked after himself.
"I don't know how his body is but I would have thought there are certainly a good two seasons in him to play in the Premiership."
CAN the Beckhams succeed in the USA? Have your say.
Tweet
Comments
Login or Register to comment
The NASL had no truly successful business model in place and that was the ultimate downfall. You cannot pay multiple international players huge sums of money to parade the stars in sold out stadiums and then pocket the gate receipts.
MLS utilizes a very sustainable approach to the business. Develop American talent in highly organized and league owned professional teams which play in their own stadiums (1/2 the teams own stadiums now). Teams share revenue, put money back into the league, and carefully allocate paychecks to ensure parity.
Becks is a marketing tool for MLS to continue building its brand.
Are they using Becks like Pele, Beckenbauer, Best, and others from an era when Americans knew nothing of the sport? Not really... kids know the game now, parents of those kids were born in the days of the NASL and have a better awareness of the game, Americans now have high expectations of their soccer teams to compete, win and knock off world powers. Becks is more of an attention grabber than anything.
In the past 24 hours, MLS got more publicity and news coverage than the first 11 years combined.
That's the power of Beckham.
Will the rest of the world fix their eyes on David while he's running central midfield (he won't play on the wing in this league) in LA? Better believe it.
Will America have their eyes on David and Posh while they floss and flaunt all the way from Carson to Malibu? Better believe it.
We do not need Beckham to like football, we already love the sport. We need Beckham to get the rest of the world to love us.
I won't worry about Beckham one bit. He doesn't need me to on £500,000 per week! Perhaps he can now afford to buy his wife a decent meal. She needs one.
Pele and George best didn't get a $1,ooo,ooo a week paycheck.
Why would Beckham waste 2 or 3 seasons in the Premier League with that kind of brass on the table in the USA?
I think its a shame that Beckham is going to usa .. for the premiership and europe loss its there gain.. i can see there will be many more stars leaving to join him and America will be world champions in 10 years time when football will be played by future generations and will become the number 1 sport over there
Even Manchester United could have benefited from Beckham but the Fergie factor stopped that move..and England will win nothing with a manager that cant spot talent when he sees it .. good luck Becks you are still a star .
They are doing it for the moneyand fame ,and thats all.
I like David Beckham. I think that he has been a great ambassador for english football. However I do think that his celebrity status has gone to his head & that the money involved in this deal has more to do with his move to the USA than he cares to admit.
How much money do the Beckhams want anyway? Haven't they got more than enough?If he is so passionate about promoting football then why not do it in one of the underdeveloped countries for a nominal fee? I am sure that his accountants would be able to write off the loss against something.
Who needs the yanks. They will probably want to change the rules anyway just like they did with rounders, rugby & netball.
Be honest David, it's the money & I hope that you fall flat on your face with this one.
Thats wot was wrong at man u he wanted to more than a player, he wants to be a movie star .....who knows they could bring the Carry On gang back , he is a Sid James for sure ttfn Al Williams .
Apart from the money (and let's face it, how much more money does he need?) David Beckham just wants to be a big fish in a small pond again. Chances are he'll massively outshine his team-mates and his opponents when he's playing in LA. The same could no longer be said of him if he joined a Premier League club or an equivalent league in Europe. It's a shame - I'd rather have seen him retire than make this move, personally.
So what if david beckham decides to play in america rather than play in the uk or europe,its his choice and if there willing to pay him an incredible amount of money i like him would take it by all means.
Who wants to come back to this country that is dirty and a hole with scum getting away with all kinds of stuff.
David take the money and dont come back to the uk as the usa is a better nicer country and youll have constant sunshine and a good lifestyle for your kids too.
Good on you lad.
That¿¿s not the point, the situation is this, he is NOT playing nearly as well as when he played well, so he¿¿s definitly going out of the Real Madrid, in fact he almost hasn¿¿t played at all this season. So what would you do? ok, let¿¿s play in uk again? where? in something like say, newcastle? f&%& that rigth? so oportunity knocks at the door, it¿¿s a lot of money combined with the Hollywood scene + a league where he can be "good" again. So it¿¿s an obvious choice for him, and to top it, he CAN and he IS doing a lot already for soccer in america, so, it¿¿s all good. But the point is that is level of playing is very low this day, and he has no real future in a BIG BIG team anymore. So what¿¿s really left for him instead of america? playing in a mediocre UK team? i don¿¿t think so... what would you do? exactly.