To be cynical about David Beckham's latest antics

[Perriwinkle]

Yes, we've heard how absolutely marvellous it is that he's going to be donating the wags he'll earn during his 5 month stint at Paris St Germain to a French children's charity (and don't get me wrong I'm sure it is for the charity) but I really don't swallow this whole altruistic Francis of Assisi line.

I've heard people referring to him as "a real class act" but if he really was a "class act" would he not have done this privately, without the fanfare and circus of a full blown press conference in front of the world's media - which, incidentially, most normal footallers, irrespective of how good they are, never have when they sign for new other clubs. Most seem content to manage with a quick photo opportunity holding up the new club's shirt.

Does this deeply altruistic act have anything to do I wonder, with the fact that his wife has a burgeoning career as a fashion designer and would love to be lauded in Paris and taken into the hearts of the French?

Does it have anything to do with furthering the "Beckham brand"?

Does it have anything to do with wanting a knighthood?

Does it have anything to do with boosting an already planet-sized ego?

Does it have anything to do with Beckham's relentless worldwide charm offensive and the seeming obsessive desire to be adored?

I'd say a resounding yes to all of the above.

Realistically there is a huge personal and financial benefit to be derived by David Beckham from making what is, in reality, the equivalent in relative monetary terms of about a £20 charity donation to your average person.

He used to just sound thick too but yesterday I noticed that an annoying smugness appears to have crept into his voice

[ImperialBlether]

Do you think he's boasting, then, forehead?

[wonderstuff]

FGS I imagine that part of his motivation is to raise the profile of the charity. I consider myself quite cynical, but is it just possible that he is a nice bloke, he doesn't need the money so he's giving it away. I don't imagine he has done it to get a knighthood he's already mates with will n Kate, why would he need to build his brand? He got a ton of offers more than he expected, I think he was bowled over and decided to do some good.

[forehead]

AlexReid- I agree with you and that's probably why i am suspicious of his motives. It was as though he actually believed that he should have a role in the Olympics. They had to find something for him to do.
BTW, i actually like Victoria Beckam. However, her husband annoys me.

[ClippedPhoenix]

I don't really care to be honest. So what?

[SavoirFaire]

Fair enough sukysue. Like everyone else, I deal in rumour and speculation. We all speculate on MN all the time. Really I have no idea. However, I hear things that ring true to me. And I believe he has a very good PR team. I also believe that he's a pretty genuine guy when it comes to his charitable work and knows the power that his involvement can have, beyond what he does personally.

[SavoirFaire]

[forehead]

He obviously has a brilliant PR team judging by some the posts on this thread.
Why stop at giving him a knighthood, why not just give him a sainthood?

[simplesusan]

I find him less offensive than say Bono, or any of the host of celebs who bang on about poverty etc whilst donating very little of their actual wealth towards the cause.
At least Beckham hasn't brought out a cd and expects us to buy the bloody thing.

[sukysue]

I'm sure you are safe Savvy lol. Like you said we all like a bit of je ne sais quoi !

[zoobaby]

YAsoNBU. My vote is on him angling for a knighthood and minimising tax. Footballers don't earn wages. Just like the landed gentry, these people have an annual revenue (and an obscene one at that). I think true charity is more about percentages and can never be limited to monetary donations only. It's not like £3m is a huge chunk of his revenue and easy come easy go right?

[BarredfromhavingStella]

Don't really care tbh as I'm sure the charity that gets said money wont. Why does it matter if there is an ulterior motive, it's still a nice thing to do & it's a shame other dim fucking idiots who earn far too much money & would be fucked if they couldn't kick a ball in a good way footballers don't do the same.

They have been very savvy & made brand Beckham very lucrative, good on them.

[thefirstmrsrochester]

This

is it just possible that he is a nice bloke, he doesn't need the money so he's giving it away. I don't imagine he has done it to get a knighthood he's already mates with will n Kate, why would he need to build his brand

wonderstuff I salute you.

[AlexReidsLonelyBraincell]

I feel sorry for Vicky, she seems alright. All of his alleged antics must really get to her.
Then there was the world cup bid he shoved himself into the limelight for. Why? He wasn't even playing in the UK at that time. There are some very skilled players out there who do lots for charity (quietly) and just get on with it. I have far more respect for them. Paul Scholes I'm looking at you

[Perriwinkle]

Please, can someone tell me what drives the notion that Beckham is a "class act"? Let's look at some of the theories most commonly trotted out...

• He's supposed to "love the game" yet bailed out of proper competive football at a relatively young age to go and play football in a shit league (American MLS). Why did he do that? For an absolutely astonomical payday and publicity for the money making machine that is "brand Beckham". He certainly didn't do it for the love of the game, that's for sure. If he truly loved the game he'd have stayed in a competitive league. There are plenty of people the world over who try to amass as much of a personal fortune as they can, does that make all of them "a class act".
  
  He's supposed to be a fantasic family man. Yeah, right. He's cheated on his wife so I think he fails on that one. Wayne Rooney did that and everyone seems to loathe him.
  
  He was a fantastic player. I think it's fairly widely acknowledged that he wasn't all that. Could take a decent free kick and put in a half decent cross back in the day but apart from that, nothing special. The hype created by adverts of him in underpants with socks stuffed down the front, sunglasses and the like have long since eclipsed his mediocre abilities as a footballer.
  
  He was a great England captain. Err, I can't say I ever noticed that he did anything anything different from any of the others.
  
  He was at the London 2012 Olympics as an ambassador as well as a fervent supporter of team GB, despite not being picked for the football team. Many high profile athletes who do not make their teams tend to disappear during the Olympics, but not good old David Beckham. Err, they made him the centre of attention at the opening ceremony didn't they thereby ensuring that his smug image was beamed across the globe giving the "Beckham brand" a level of publicity that Beckham could hitherto only dream of.
  
  Give me a break. David Beckham is a shameless self publicist who seems to be on a relentless global charm offensive for self gain. It is unbelievable that so many people have got caught up in his hype.
  
  The general public now seem to be brainwashed into believing that it is treason to speak against David Beckham even though they don't really know what it is that makes him such "a class act".

[forehead]

Here, here Perriwinkle..

[ihavenonameonhere]

ha well having worked in football I can tell you all players get a press conference when signing, just the world media doesnt normally show up!

[Perriwinkle]

Oh, and plenty of footballers, other sports people and celebrities set up their own charitable foundations. You just don't always hear about it and they don;t always put their names to them, preferring to do good work while keeping a low profile.

Actually he and his wife have set up a charity which is registered in England. Look at its record on the Charity Commission's Register:

www.charity-commission.gov.uk/Showcharity/RegisterOfCharities/CharityWithoutPartB.aspx?RegisteredCharityNumber=1091838&SubsidiaryNumber=0

It seems to me that its income and expenditure has dwindled away miserably since it was established. In 2011 its income was just over £2,000. Probably registered it with a huge fanfare for maximum publicity and now it's gone on the back burner as he has bigger fish to fry.

Everything about Beckham seems to be very carefully stage-managed to me.

[ilovesooty]

I think we get it *Perriwinkle". You don't like him much.

[RedPencils]

I find him a bit smug, it would have been a class act to give it away and not tell everyone.

Perri - he went to LA in his mid 30s so 'old' for a footballer.

He's a good looking bloke though.

[forehead]

There are definitely three peiople in the Beckam's marriage. David, Victoria and David's BIG ego.

[Perriwinkle]

ihavenonameonhere I haven't really got an issue with the press conference but really it was the timing of it.

Beckham had been a free agent for a few months and had announced that he would be leaving the MLS months ago. Paris St Germain would no doubt have made contact with Beckham's "people" months ago now. So why did he leave it until the last day of the transfer window to make that move when he could easily have done it weeks ago? He did it because he knows about the hype of the last day and he knew that he could grab all the limelight on the biggest stage possible. I hate his faux modesty.

Again, all very carefully stage-managed to make it all about him.

[Remotecontrolduck]

I don't care why he's doing it. The charity is getting a large sum of money and that's all the matters to me.

Why do we always have to look at everything so negatively? Does it really matter if he's doing it for publicity? He's still giving £150,000? per week to charity. And anyone who does that is a good person in my opinion.

[Southeastdweller]

Completely agree. Him and his wife are publicity crazy and have been since they got together.what the hell else was putting Romeo in a Burberry campaign about?! I'm glad the charity benefits of course but also wondering if this is some kind of tax dodge...

[Perriwinkle]

ilovesooty I just don't get why people love Beckham so much when he displays all the behaviours that they seem to loathe so much in other footballers.

He's the epitome of extravagent conspicuous consumption - when Wayne Rooney does the same thing he's slated.

He's cheated on his wife - when Wayne Rooney did that all it prompted the public to do was to loathe him.

He plays football and spends hours sitting in aeroplanes getting to various far flung locations in order to play football. So what? Hundreds of other footballers do that too.

Sorry but I just don't get it.

Actually RedPencils he was 32 when he went to the States to play. Plenty of players have stayed in competitive leagues playing proper football way beyond that age. Paolo Maldini, Gianluigi Buffon, Clarence Seedorf, Carles Puyol and Frank Lampard to name but a few off the top of my head.

[AnuvvaMuvva]

Ugh. Now donating money to charities isn't good enough? It has to be done in secret, in random countries your wife hates, with no publicity got the charity at all ever shhhh quiet, and only if you sign a waiver saying you expressly never want a knighthood?

Jesus. In the time you're wasting sitting here judging someone else's good deed for not being good enough, you could've contributed something to the world.