>From The Times
IN FOOTBALL, perhaps more than other walks of life, people move on. Manchester United�s decision to sell David Beckham was something that all but the most blinkered individuals understood and which, if the projected �24.5 million on offer from Real Madrid is reinvested in the right way, should come to be regarded as a masterstroke. Few, with the bizarre exception of John McEnroe, have suggested otherwise, yet it is a topic that remains off-limits with Sir Alex Ferguson, as one American journalist discovered to his peril in Seattle this week. It is an attitude that perpetuates the absurd portrayal of Ferguson as villain in the Beckham affair, one which was reported in some quarters to have �split the United dressing-room�. The sale may have surprised some people, those who presume that the most celebrated player in the world must be the best, but splits in the Old Trafford dressing-room? Hardly; this is a club that has withstood the departures of Bryan Robson, Mark Hughes, Eric Cantona and Peter Schmeichel, usually emerging stronger than before. Gary Neville had admitted it would be �weird� sitting on the team bus without his best friend, who began training with Real on Thursday, but, to judge from a fiercely competitive training session yesterday at the headquarters of Nike, that sensation has quickly subsided. If it is possible to cut through the hype, the sale of the England captain represented simply the first departure from United�s band of brothers, the tightly-knit group of home-grown players who have been synonymous with success since their youth-team days, but even they have been quick to shrug it off. �At the end of the day, Becks has gone,� Nicky Butt said, incredulous at the inference that his former team-mate was more than just another player. At 28, Beckham is the first of Fergie�s fledgelings to fly the nest. Ryan Giggs, 18 months older, survived a testing time last season, while Butt also has Gary Neville, Phil Neville and Paul Scholes, the five of them raised within ten miles of each other in Greater Manchester, for company. Often now with Ferguson having sought to rejuvenate his squad, they form the �oldies� team in five-a-side sessions, with only Phil Neville, a mere 26, still clinging to his youth. �In our minds, we still think of each other as the young lads,� Butt said. �But there are six or seven younger than us now.� Tellingly, also, there have been changes in the cultural make-up of the dressing-room. Even before the summer arrivals of Tim Howard, Eric Djemba Djemba and David Bellion � respectively from the United States, Cameroon and France, and all three aged 24 or less � the local lads were in the minority. �It was always going to happen sooner or later,� Butt said, �but that spirit that we have together will always be there. It�s not just us. It�s also the likes of Roy Keane, who�s been here for ten years, and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. Players from elsewhere will learn to fit in around that.� If anything, Beckham, an adopted Mancunian, had already begun to drift from the core that is personified by Butt and the Neville brothers. On the tour of the US, where Beckham is the only English player with even the slightest media profile, questions will continue to be asked of Ferguson. One day � perhaps in the next update to his autobiography or in response to whatever Beckham divulges in his own book in September � he will give his side of the story, admitting, as one source suggested, that he �wants to manage footballers, not movie stars�. For now, though, his silence serves only to indulge the conspiracy theorists, even if he, like his players and like Beckham, has moved on. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Free shipping on all inkjet cartridge & refill kit orders to US & Canada. Low prices up to 80% off. We have your brand: HP, Epson, Lexmark & more. http://www.c1tracking.com/l.asp?cid=5510 http://us.click.yahoo.com/GHXcIA/n.WGAA/ySSFAA/tsUolB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> *************************************** Reply to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe to the list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe from the list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
