I am a staunch Arsenal fan. Yet, when I woke up this morning, I felt a tinge of sadness. Both Sir Alex Ferguson and David Beckham have decided to retire at the end of the season. From an Arsenal fan's perspective, SAF leaving can only be a positive thing, but from a football fan's viewpoint their retirement brings to an end an era that has spanned more that 20 years. An age that has launched football into becoming the global brand that it is today.
First, Sir Alex. What that man has achieved at Manchester United cannot really be put into words. People will say that it can through the facts and figures but you look at the way he conducted himself throughout the 26 years he has been there and the way that people who have played for him and played against him talk and you see that it just cannot be described. His record as a manager is nearly faultless, bringing what everyone regards as the 'Holy Grail' of football, the Champion's League Trophy, to Old Trafford not once, but twice and completing what few managers have done in the famous 1999 Treble.
He will be missed by everyone involved in football. I know I'll miss him. Principally because I had this ridiculous notion of Ferguson and Wenger having one last season as adversaries. The two longest serving managers in the top flight of English football signing off with one last full-on season where they would go head-to-head for 38 or more matches and one would emerge victorious. Then they'd retire to become board members of their respective clubs and pass on those incredible squads to the next generation.
Of course, that's just a fantasy. Similar to the one that fellow Arsenal fans experienced during this season's January transfer window when it looked like we were going to sign David Villa from Barcelona. Now, it seems, Spurs have nearly got him. The heart sinks.
Ferguson's legacy will be measured by the success of his successor. David Moyes has a real job on his hands. On the one hand, if he does well, it'll be because of Ferguson's squad that he has inherited. If he does badly, it'll be his fault. Although the fact that he has signed a six-year contract makes me believe that the board have absolute and unwavering faith in him. So I wish him good luck.
Now onto David Beckham who, like Sir Alex, cannot be described purely by words. I looked through twitter earlier and found that Phil McNulty, a man who has never got a good word to say about anyone or anything and knows jack all about sport, said that he should not be considered as one of the game's 'greats.' Funnily enough, I think he's wrong.
He has won the league title with every team he has played for, with the exception of AC Milan but he spent a grand total of 3 months there. Not only that, but he has helped those teams win those titles. Look back at the Galacticos at Real Madrid in 2007. Look at the players in that team that could have won them the title. Robinho, Guti, Roberto Carlos, Ruud van Nistelrooy and Sergio Ramos but no, it was to David Beckham, who during the January transfer window said that he was going to play for LA Galaxy in America the following season and was then marginalised, they looked to and who came back and helped them with the La Liga trophy for the 30th time.
Now, we can't say that it was purely down to Golden Balls, but there was a period when he wasn't playing that Madrid suffered a severe dip in form. Then, when he came back, he was more determined to prove future England manager Fabio Capello wrong.
As a player, he was one of the world's greatest. Committed on the pitch and humble off it. All he wanted to do was play the game that he loved so much and enjoyed being a part of for 20 years. I will have a lot of fond memories of David Beckham, not least the free kick that saw us through into the 2002 World Cup Finals.
I wish them both the best of luck in their future endeavours and note that the landscape of global football has changed. Whether for the better, we are yet to see.
No comments:
Post a Comment