Where there once was adulation and optimism, now there is skepticism and annoyance. David Beckham is back, for a few months at least, and the mood is far different this time than it was on a sunny morning two years ago at the Home Depot Center when he was presented as the Los Angeles Galaxy's biggest star before an adoring throng of fans and journalists.We knew about the injuries, the losses and then the quiet negotiations for a loan to AC Milan. But we didn't know about the debacle behind the scenes -- his management team's de facto takeover of the Galaxy, his aloof behavior, his feud with Landon Donovan, and more. Those details were revealed in Grant Wahl's explosive book, The Beckham Experiment, released this week just in time for Beckham's perhaps reluctant return to MLS action.
Beckham takes the Giants Stadium field Thursday against the New York Red Bulls, having claimed this week that "what you've seen is that I've been very dedicated to the Galaxy, dedicated to the fans." Readers of Wahl's book might beg to differ. Ahead of Beckham's return, Wahl spent a few minutes with FanHouse discussing his year-and-a-half covering the Galaxy, what he learned about Beckham and what the future might hold.
FANHOUSE: We saw, with the failures of both Frank Yallop and Ruud Gullit, how critical it is to have the right coach when dealing with personalities like Beckham and Donovan, as well as those anonymous "piano carriers" making $30,000 a year. Does Bruce Arena have what it takes?
WAHL: I think this is a different team under Bruce Arena. He was hailed as a genius as far as managing players, pre '06 World Cup, and this is going to be one of the biggest challenges of his career, to manage this situation and actually have success on the field when you're two biggest stars clearly have issues with each other that probably will continue.
At the same time, winning solves a lot of things [L.A. has won three in a row heading into Thursday's game]. If Beckham can come in and make the Galaxy a better team, this is a team that has some potential. The question is how the Galaxy players will handle the reintroduction of the Beckham circus, the crush of media attention that follows him wherever he goes. I don't think they've dealt with that very wll in the past. Since Beckham's arrival [in 2007], the Galaxy has a better winning percentage with him off the field than on the field. ... Players told me it was just having to deal with the circus and trying to keep your focus on the game. They had a hard time dealing with it.
[Beckham and his management's desire to be in control] has not changed, but the Galaxy has changed. [Galaxy owner AEG's President and CEO Tim] Leiweke has changed. Bruce Arena won't be railroaded into doing things he doesn't want to do.
FANHOUSE: Will that make Beckham's re-assimilation more difficult?
WAHL: I think Beckham is going to have to adapt to the new situation, not the situation to him. Bruce has made Landon Donovan the captain of the team, and I think the question is, will Beckham and his handlers care about what Bruce has to say? The only people at the Galaxy who Beckham and his people cared about in the past was Leiweke and Phil Anschutz. They didn't care what Alexi Lalas had to say, didn't care what Yallop had to say, so I don't know how they feel about Bruce Arena, but the mere fact that Bruce Arena has Tim Leiweke's support suggests that Beckham should probably fall in line. Will Beckham put out 100% on the field? I would suspect he would but I'm not certain at this point. If he played like he did for Milan, he should be a useful addition to this team.
FANHOUSE: What is Beckham's incentive to play hard? He's likely just leaving at the end of this season anyway, either for another loan or permanently.
WAHL: He has an incentive to increase his credibility as an athlete here in the U.S. Maybe that's not that great of an incentive. The people who have embraced him in great numbers don't really seem to care about how the Galaxy is performing on the field. ... Maybe Beckham has made the calculation that what happens on the field doesn't matter much, but that would be antithetical to everything that is supposedly really important to him.
FANHOUSE: But how smart is Beckham? Was he the manipulative mastermind of all of this, or is he a bit simple? Certainly his comments to you in the book, especially when compared to those of Donovan, Lalas and the others, seem bland and devoid of any real insight. Is that by design? What sort of person is he?
WAHL: I don't totally know the answer to that, but my experience in dealing with him over the years has been as a member of the media only. I do think in interviews he's very pleasant and surprisingly normal acting. But that doesn't mean he's really saying all that much. I think he's trained like Michael Jordan or Tiger Woods or Mia Hamm, to talk without really communicating. That's an issue.
How does that connect with the start of your question -- was Beckham actually aware of all that stuff or was his head in the sand? On one hand, I don't think Beckham's stupid. I think he shared his opinions about players in the team with Byrne, who was asked to chime in by the Galaxy which players he wanted to keep for the expansion draft list, or whatever, so I think Beckham, being a human, shared his opinions with his best friend. I think Beckham is one of these guys who does like to have his head in the sand, doesn't want to be bothered with organizational details, just wants to play soccer and have decent teammates to play with.
I don't think he's an idiot by any means. But at the same time, I think any star needs to be held accountable for the actions of his handlers and can't just say "I wasn't a part of this." This was all done in Beckham's name. I don't see his handlers taking much responsibility for what the Galaxy became over the last couple of years.
FANHOUSE: Who was more naive? Leiweke, Alexi Lalas and the Galaxy for underestimating the ambition of Beckham and 19 Entertainment, or Beckham and his people for thinking they had MLS all figured out?
WAHL: I think Beckham didn't know all that much about the situation he was getting into. To be honest, I don't think his handlers did either. I don't think the Galaxy did a very good job explaining. ... It's one of the strangest things I've ever seen in sports, that Beckham's best friend and personal manager [Terry Byrne] would be a paid consultant to the team that conducted a search for the coach [Gullit].
Beckham had only been with the team for four months. What did they know about this strange and unique world of MLS? Big name Europeans come to MLS and see the standard is so much lower and think what they know from Europe will make this better. And some of that no doubt is true, but a lot of it isn't. It's almost like two different sports.
FANHOUSE: So was there a point where things went sour, or was the Beckham Experiment doomed from the start?
WAHL: I think it's easy to look back and say this was inevitable. I don't think it was completely inevitable. When you look back, his being injured in '07 was an absolute killer. To have unprecedented attention on MLS when he arrived and not be able to play much at all, he really missed that big window of opportunity.
And then, I think there are choices made by people, like at AEG, Tim Leiweke and Beckham's people, to go down a path with 19 Entertainment's shadow takeover of the team, a path that just didn't seem smart. I think it's still possible to bring a big-time soccer star into this league and for it to be successful, and on a smaller scale it's worked with [Guillermo Barros] Schelotto at Columbus. Last year it worked with [New York's] Juan Pablo Angel in the playoffs, and with [Chicago's Cuauhtemoc] Blanco to an extent.
You really have to be smart about how you make the decision, how you handle the player and his management team and if I'm the Galaxy, you have to have some pride in your team and not just hand over the keys to your star player and his people.
FANHOUSE: Have your impressions of MLS changed after reporting and writing the book?
WAHL: I think through all of this I've gained an even greater respect for the Americans in this league, players and coaches who invariably work their tails off. Maybe the players don't have the most talent in the world, like Alan Gordon [a featured player in the book], but they put in an amazing effort and get paid very little. I know Alan Gordon is never going to star at a World Cup, but here's a guy who's gotten the most out of his talent and is symbolic of all these other players keeping the league afloat.
I understand the Beckham stuff has gotten all of the attention, but I think other parts of the book are just as compelling, including Gordon and some of the unintentional comedy that results from these two different sporting worlds colliding.
Who you sign for $30,000 in MLS is more important than who you sign for $6 million. Look at Brad Evans for Columbus last year. That's a guy who had a big role for Columbus winning the championship. Sigi Schmid found him, got him on his team. If you look at the guys the Galaxy had for $30,000, they weren't at that level or anywhere near that. A guy like Ruud Gullit wasn't going to get into the bushes of college soccer.
FANHOUSE: You've written this book before we find out how this story really ends. How will it ultimately be evaluated? Where do you think it will go from here?
WAHL: It's never really been about the soccer, this whole experience, and that's been it's main downfall. We still don't know if the Galaxy can really win with David Beckham. Everyone's made money. Good for them. And yet there's a real lack of credibility in the whole enterprise because the team's been so awful on the field. That for me is what it has to be about over the next few months. That's putting a lot on the Galaxy players and an awful lot on David Beckham to back things up on the field and work things well with his teammates and win games.
