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A Galactic Mess

August 12th, 2008 By Kartik Krishnaiyer --> Comments

He was supposed to change MLS and soccer in America forever. David Beckham’s signing in January 2007 with the LA Galaxy was supposed to elevate his new club and by extension its league to heights never experienced before. Eighteen months later all parties (except AEG, the Galaxy’s owners who have made a killing off the Beckham name) must ponder whether it was really worthwhile.

David Beckham is a true footballer and a class act. Like most English footballers his work rate is exceptional and his understanding of true football is commendable. The truth is a footballer of Beckham’s stature deserves better than the LA Galaxy or what MLS has become thanks to his presence. It is ironic that on this day when we ponder the massive overhaul of Beckham’s team, that the two dominant forces in MLS remain the two sides that have lived within their means and have promoted continuity over flamboyance and mass marketing: Those two sides, Houston and New England should be held up as examples of what MLS was at one time and should return to once the league returns to its senses. The continued of presence of Designated Players and signings of overage foreigners has done little to sustain new support for the league. While it has stimulated some new interest, much of the interest has turned the television off when exposed to a bad product, which many MLS games not including Houston or New England remain. The one designated player who has helped transform his team for the better on the pitch, Cuauhtémoc Blanco I believe could have still been signed by MLS without the DP rule. How you ask? How did the MLS sign Luis Hernandez, then in the prime of his career in 2000? How about Carlos Hermosillo signing in 1998? Carlos Vaderrama and Roberto Donadoni in 1996? You do not really believe that MLS never had Designated Players before 2007 do you?

Blanco has been an important addition for MLS and for a Chicago Fire club that was previously under performing at the gate. But I believe Blanco could have and would have been signed by MLS without the DP rule. How sure am I of this? The second Blanco was thrown off the national team by former manager Ricardo LaVolpe, rumors in Mexico began circulating that he was coming to MLS. Unlike, Europe the examples of Hernandez and Hermosillo demonstrated that for top Mexican attacking players, MLS is always an option late in your career.

I have no comment on the firing of Alexi Lalas. While I have been very critical of Los Angeles personnel moves since the untimely death of Doug Hamilton over two years ago, I am less certain than ever Lalas was actually charged with building the squad. It seems Lalas, a man of near legendary status as a player for the US was used by the Galaxy’s owners to sell their product to the world. The responsibility for finding players was not important to the Galaxy, because after all they had David Beckham.

Regarding the resignation of Ruud Gullit, this is a black eye for MLS: for the first time since Carlos Quieroz in 1997 a big name international coach was attracted to the league, and despite having an obvious tactical edge on his competitors his employment to a team that is essentially a marketing outfit, not a proper football club made it impossible for him to do his job. No doubt the critics of MLS in Europe will come out of the woodwork with Gullit departure to heap scorn on the league. However, unlike many times in the past, this go round the scorn is roundly deserved.

Major League Soccer despite the continued success of Houston and New England has become more glitz than substance since David Beckham’s arrival. The league feeling a constant need to answer critics and over sell its product have made boastful claims about its competitiveness and the value of its franchises with no real substance to back up these claims. These are the unwanted corollaries of the “Beckham effect.”

David Beckham is a class act, a great footballer. He should once and for all talk to the Galaxy brass and ask if they are going to continue to use him as a way to sell shirts and make money or if they want him to settle down and help them win football matches. Beckham should also have a role in identifying players for the Galaxy. If the club does not want to do this, it is best both parties move on. Beckham can still find a club in Europe during this transfer window and MLS and the Galaxy can pick up the pieces of its broken reputation abroad and focus on the things that made the league successful for the eleven seasons before David Beckham came to America: fiscal discipline, player development and cultivating the American soccer media.

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Viewing 40 Comments

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    Nice writing style. Looking forward to reading more from you.

    Chris Moran
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    Hi. I read a few of your other posts and wanted to know if you would be interested in exchanging blogroll links?
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    How possibly can you hold Lalas harmless in the demise of the Galaxy? Old "SuperClub" broke out the same moniker for the MetroStars before driving them right into the toilet as well.

    His track record as GM unforunately proves that out. He is AEG's Tiki Idol.
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    Lalas is donkey. AEG tool and loser to boot!
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    LA simply does not have a good enough midfield or backline to win consistently. Whether that's Lalas' fault or not is up for speculation but it does not change the fact that what should be one of the 'crown jewel' teams of the league is instead struggling to make the playoff cut.

    The vast gulf in salary between Beckham and his teammates can't do much for team chemistry either.
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    The Galaxy are only a few points out of first place despite the negative tone of this several other pieces on the internet. They can and still make the playoffs. Lewicke made a change to satisfy his board members at AEG but the truth is the Galaxy with the addition of Cory Gibbs could still win MLS Cup.
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    I guess my point is that the Galaxy are one defender away from winning the west. Gibbs could be that defender.
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    Beckham could find "a club" in Europe, yes. But once you've played for Man Utd, then Real Madrid, anywhere else is a step down, and once you step down, the sponsorship and endorsements - which have always far outweighed his on-pitch earnings - start to dry up. Moving to LA Galaxy was an innovative way to sidestep this problem. One of the world's most marketable men moving to the world's largest market. He knows full well that he is "a way to sell shirts and make money", but he's getting his fair share of that money and it wouldn't be in his interest to leave. Leaving the US as a failure would be far worse for him commercially than having never gone in the first place.
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    Nice post - I don't think Beckham is going though. He plans to use the five years in LA to slowly build out an empire of youth soccer academies as well as continue to get endorsements and advertising deals. He has effectively retired from European football - perhaps a year earlier than he should, but it was a smart move.

    Lalas isn't an idiot but I don't think he's a good person to go out and build a team. Gullit leaving is sad - he's a good, real coach but if you read between the lines a lot of it is that HE wanted out - sounds like his family didn't like the US and he can still get a top level coaching job in Europe so he's not going to worry.

    Galaxy need a solid defence and they can really start to do well - they are already one of the if not the top attacking teams in MLS.
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    I agee with much of what the author said, but we part company on his appraisal of Beckham. He might be a "class act" but he does very little on the pitch. He looks like he no longer cares, and it's been that way ever since he figured out that his arrival wasn't going to make him the #1 sports figure in the USA. Sure he can still make a nice pass, but only if he doesn't have to run more than 10 metres to do so. And since when is making a nice pass a unique skill? If you put a monkey in front of a typewriter he'll eventually write "War and Peace", and if Beckham takes enough free kicks he'll eventually score a goal. Every week during football season I guess about 30-40 goals are scored on free kicks world-wide, yet when Beckham does it the media gushes about how great he is while never mentioning any other successful free kick. But "bend it like Beckham" is such a cute headline...
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    This is a good piece, and a lot of your points are well taken. I must disagree, however, with your suggestion that Beckham should adopt a quasi-managerial role and help identify new players. From the team's and the league's standpoint, it would not be appropriate to heap even more responsibility on Beck's shoulders. There is no indication that scouting talent is within his field of expertise. No doubt he can tell whether someone can play a bit, but is that a unique ability? Also, I get the sense that, from the player's standpoint, he would like nothing better than to focus on his football. He has enough distractions, as it is, with the constant media circus that surrounds him. Adding scouting to his brief would surely be too much.

    Considering Becks' limited impact to date on raising the game of his current teammates, what you are suggesting is equivalent to the league's going "all in." If Becks takes on more responsibility and still fails to improve the Galaxy, he will be the scapegoat, instead of Lalas, or the league, or bad luck. In short, you're advocating a huge gamble, and if it doesn't work out, MLS will leave the table with nothing but lint in its pockets.
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    Rainer,
    It is not actually true that a monkey can write War and Peace given enough time in front of a typewriter. I've known a few monkeys in my time, and none of them has shown even the slightest glimmer of literary talent. (I have to say, by the way, this analogy needs to be freshened up for the 21st century . I mean, what's a typewriter anyway?)

    But on to a real point: Beckham is most definitely "trying." That does not mean he runs around like a headless chicken, as players are wont in England. (I'm not accusing you, Mr. Scheer, of being English.) Huffing and puffing with no result will earn you plaudits from Fleet Street hacks, but Becks has grown wiser with age and a bit of experience on the continent. He has not been signed as a midfield ball winner. Rather, he's supposed to provide quality passes, accuracy in dead ball situations, and leadership. He's doing that. But, quoth the naysayers, the Galaxy are still terrible! True, but it's not because Becks doesn't run hard enough.

    My guess is that the team is awful because Gullit was mailing it in. The Galaxy defend woefully, in large part because of poor positioning and, more generally, tactical naivete. That's the coach's fault, and we're talking about a man who ought to understand tactics, given his pedigree. But poor Ruud has never had much success as a coach, and I reckon a day came sometime this season when he looked around himself and, recognizing the shambles that his managerial career has become, said "f--k it" or its nearest Dutch equivalent. Now he's left the team in mid-season because he lacks the stomach to see things through to the bitter end. Bedankt, Ruud.
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    Two points:

    1. Beckham as a player has always been extremely overrated, a creation of the English media and their tendency to exaggerate the abilities of English players and obsession with celebrity. His time at Real Madrid from a soccer standpoint was extremely disappointing - two poor seasons and then a league title in the third - thanks to a late season run, for most of which Beckham was dropped from the team. There is a reason that his contract with Madrid wasn't renewed and that he had no serious offers from other top European clubs. When he can do is sell T-shirts and can his picture taken a lot when he goes out with Posh Spice. As a player, he's a fraud, and so is the nice-guy routine - every word out of his mouth sounds like it was carefully crafted by his marketing team.

    2. The MLS is making the same mistake with the excessive marketing of David Beckham that they made with Freddie Adu four years ago - emphasing hype and merchandising at the expense of actually putting a quality product out on the field.
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    Mark:
    I would have to disagree with you. Beckham did have a meaningful career in Spain. He, for example, successfully dragged back Capello's stuttering Real towards the title by redeeming himself in the season's second half, especially after Capello kicked him out in the first. Remember the 4-2 game vs. Barca sometime in April 11, 2005 where Beckham was imperious?

    But I still feel that Beckham is a quasi-Messiah. Americans are proud of their sporting culture, and while they admire Beckham the man, it would be hard to see most American men following the MLS because Beckham is playing.
    American male culture loves machismo-like most other cultures. Among most American males, soccer has always been looked upon as the anti-machismo sport in the US, unless you are the off spring of immigrants or politically liberal. Indeed, Beckham is mostly the pin-up for the the well travelled, multi-cultural loving, Volvo or Prius driving, anti-Iraq war, NY Times reading person. In other words, Bechkam's relatability is limited to a certain crowd. In contrast, Cuatehemoc Blanco has made a very visible effort to become a voice for the Mexican immigrants in the United States. Every word that Beckham utters is designed to be totally marketable.
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    Forxa Barxa dramatically overstates Beckham's success in Spain, and to call him "imperious" is laughable. This idea that he dragged Madrid to the title in the second half of his last season is a myth perpetuated by his marketing team and by the English media, desperate for an example of a successful English player abroad. Unless by 'dragged them to the title', you mean 'played about half the games, ran around a lot to little effect, and took some free kicks with occasional success.' I would have to say that the only thing meaningful about Beckham's time in Spain was his affair with Rebecca Loos.
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    Michael: Our dear brother Sid Lowe wrote of Beckham in 2007 thusly:



    "With Madrid collapsing, Capello granted Beckham clemency on February 11, insisting "wise men correct their mistakes". Beckham's first act was to rescue the Italian from the sack with a free-kick in a 2-1 win over Real Sociedad. Injury followed but he returned for the crucial final weeks of the season - just as Madrid began to believe in a title that had appeared beyond them. Now an undisputed starter, Beckham has proven fundamental."
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    Gross exaggeration from the English media, but what else would you expect? When you let the media form your opinion for you instead of using your own judgement, you'll find that you get things wrong more often than not...
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    The Beckham idea was good and still is. It has brought attention to the MLS that never existed before. The US media have shown marginal interest where they showed none before.
    For those of us who have known and followed the game for years, Beckham has been a failure as a player. He has never dominated or stamped his personality on a game the way Blanco does or Valderrama or Donadoni did. He hasn't scored from a free kick since last year and his dead ball distribution is now average. However his arrival has been good. It is now important that teams sign foreign players that want to produce.
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    Beckham's lack of impact with the Galaxy has been striking. The team has now gone something like 45 games without scoring off a corner. He may have been a great marketing tool to the types of people described above but as a footballer, Blanco has had a much bigger impact and thus Chicago is far ahead of LA in the table.
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    Beckham seems a step slow in MLS without adequate cover. MLS was supposedly a slower league but the league is almost moving too quickly for him. He cannot do anything down the flank and seems uncomfortable in the middle. How Bruce Arena works this out will be a real test to his coaching caliber.
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    Bruce Arena's appointment is a nightmare. He wil bring in the typical English style game: long passes, and physical play. This sort of game will, however, suit Beckham, a style which may compromise its p opularity in the MLS. IF my true fears are confirmed, then Go Chivas!