This article was complete and utter bollocks. As Terry said, it is pseudo-psychology.
I've reached the point where I just want Becks gone so that we can get on with supporting United and looking forward to another triumphant season. On Saturday, June 14, 2003, at 03:35 pm, Terry Dale wrote: > This is largely a pro-Becks, anti-Fergie/plc article. It's also wrong, > in my > opinion, but worth a read if you're into pseudo-psychology. It's just > another angle on the story from increasingly desperate hacks.TD > > Like a red rag to a bully (Guardian) > Fergie sees Beckham as a threat to his birthright, ego and sexuality > > Feuds between men are usually caused by them wanting the same job - > Tony > Blair and Gordon Brown - or through sexual insecurity. Gore Vidal and > Norman > Mailer have similar politics and complementary prose-styles but a > waspish > Californian homosexual and a burly Brooklyn bar-brawler were always > destined > for a vendetta by the different swish of their bits. > The spat between David Beckham and Sir Alex Ferguson - which climaxed > this > week with the manager seeking to move the player to Barcelona against > his > will - is a little of both. The pair are competing for the single > position > of the public face and biggest celebrity at Manchester United. Fergie > would > say that he can stand no player being bigger than the club but the > truth is > that he can take no red-shirt being bigger than himself. > > But this is mainly a stand-off over masculinity, although both are > heterosexual. Son of a Scots docker, Sir Alex believes in men's men > with > quiet, non-working wives. He has often named Roy Keane as the favourite > player he has managed: a hard-living Celt whose idea of a photo- > opportunity > is walking his large dogs menacingly past the waiting press. Sir > Alex's dad > never prepared him for a world in which men wore skirts, bandannas or > braids > on long afternoons spent clothes-shopping. Freud would tell us that > last > February, when Ferguson kicked a boot towards Beckham and cut his > eyebrow, > the manager was, at some subconscious level, trying to dent the pretty > face > he was sick of seeing in the papers. > > As for Beckham, my theory is that - after the flying boot hit him - he > mentally gambled on Arsenal winning the Premiership. Even the > supernatural > self-regard of Sir Alex would have been challenged by a second season > without a trophy and he might have opted to spend more time with his > racehorses. It's statistically unlikely that regime-change at Old > Trafford > could have brought in another manager who found Becks as much of a > challenge > to their birthright, sexuality and ego. > > But, due to Arsenal losing the title more than Man Utd winning it, the > footwear-hurling champion of Lancashire is untouchable for at least > another > 12 months. So what should Becks do now? Logic suggests a lucrative > move to > Real Madrid, although the decision to holiday in Beverly Hills > suggests a > couple who are fussy eaters and non-linguists, not natural expats. > > So consider this possible left-field pass. In football, the name > Milburn > invokes Jackie rather than Alan, but suppose the No 7 dramatically > followed > the health secretary and announced that he's giving up football in > order to > see more of Brooklyn and Romeo. A man already admired by feminists for > his > rethinking of masculinity would become the subject of statues outside > the > nation's primary schools, unveiled by Camille Paglia and Naomi Wolf. > > But, unlike a politician, a footballer who goes to the backbenches > never > comes back. Part of the genuine sadness of this story is that, at 28, > Beckham probably has around four years left in which his feet will > perfectly > obey the signals from his brain. A man who still seems young is > effectively > deciding in which city his retirement party will be held. > > Becks is often compared to a movie star and there's no doubt about the > ending Hollywood would want. At the moment, the player's departure > happens > to suit the plc's greed and Fergie's ego. But he could set the club > against > the thug by refusing to move and collecting his bank-emptying cheques > for > the two years still due on his contract. > > Denying the plc the �30m, which is their main interest in the matter, > puts > the boot in the other hand, as it were, and challenges his rubicund > bully of > a manager to keep him on the bench or in the reserves all season. As > Sir > Alex's rage against his playmaker clearly results from his own name > always > being bracketed with Beckham's, this would be an exquisite revenge. > Fergie > would be asked about Becks at every single press conference. A couple > of bad > results and the Manchester United manager would be ripping his own > hair into > braids. > > The problem with that option is that celebrity is fickle and cannot > long > survive the absence of the glamour-magnet. Admirers of Princess Diana > believed that the royal team would collapse once she was playing in the > stiffs. But, within two years, she was almost forgotten. Even more than > monarchy, football is used to the concept of succession. > > Diana always talked of going to live abroad to escape the strangely > destructive English fame and this seems the only solution for her > natural > successor among blond icons. Posh had better start learning how to say > "I > used to be a popstar" in Spanish. > > > <image.tiff> > > > Subscription info WWW http://red11.org/list > > Reply to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [EMAIL PROTECTED] = subscribe to the list. > [EMAIL PROTECTED] = unsubscribe from the list. > Post message [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Get A Free Psychic Reading! 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