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Fabio Capello Unlikely to Budge over Beckham Selection |
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Written by Administrator
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Wednesday, 11 March 2009 08:00 |
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David Beckham’s unique "timeshare" agreement between the LA Galaxy and AC Milan appears to have left him in the middle of a tug-of-war between club coach Bruce Arena and national manager Fabio Capello.
The fresh dispute is over England’s scheduled friendly fixture against the Netherlands in August.
Beckham will be back in the MLS at this time, and his club are extremely reluctant to lose the midfielder for any longer, given that their star man is already missing the first two months of the MLS season, while he sees out the rest of the Serie A campaign with AC Milan.
England face World Cup Qualifying double-headers in June, September and October, which will see Beckham miss an increasing number of MLS matches, if selected for national duty.
Galaxy coach Bruce Arena is thus extremely hopeful of being able to keep hold of Beckham in August, rather than see the player travel thousands of miles for a midweek friendly.
However, Capello has previously been very clear in his determination not to be dictated to in regards to player selection.
An FA spokesman made the following statement, further backing up this claim: "Fabio Capello has no plans to make any special exemption with regard to the call-up of any players for England squads.”
The fact that Beckham has self-financed the "timeshare" deal with the primary objective of making himself available for England makes it unlikely that he will be willing to sit out the August friendly.
This will further infuriate the Galaxy as they lose their main attraction for even more games and increasingly appear to be a distant third priority for Beckham, behind his country and AC Milan. Source: Click Here
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A Look at David Beckham's Deal |
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Written by Administrator
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Wednesday, 11 March 2009 10:41 |
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There has been a lot written about the “timeshare” arrangement between the LA Galaxy and AC Milan for the services of a certain David Beckham. The deals and sub-deals are confusing but I will try to explain it as best I can.
Basically AC Milan agreed to pay MLS $1 million to extend the current two-month loan until the end of the season. In addition Beckham paid $3 million himself to continue the loan deal paid and an exhibition game between the Galaxy and AC Milan was arranged for July 19.
Milan were already scheduled to tour the US this summer and had three games scheduled. What they did was extend the tour by one game. In addition to the Galaxy game, AC Milan are rumored to be playing Chelsea in Baltimore in July.
Last week MLS Commissioner Don Garber mentioned that one of the “major deal points” of the negotiations was the modification of Beckham’s opt-out escape clause.
Basically, Beckham had the right to walk away from MLS at the end of the summer, but now he will have to buy himself out. of his contract. Published reports have the value of the buyout as high as $11 million.
I am not sure why Beckham would agree to this change. Come November Beckham is going to have to cough up $11 million if he wants to play for AC Milan next year, which is what he needs to do if he is going to play for England in the 2010 world cup.
In an interview with the Sun last week Beckham said:
“I have a right to own an MLS franchise, which I will action immediately after I have stopped playing football.” Beckham claimed he was pleased with the deal because “it allows me to continue my commitment to develop soccer in the United States, which is something I’m passionate about,” and “my family is happy and settled and will remain in Los Angeles.”
There is no word from MLS on whether this is a new franchise that Beckham will get getting or when this will happen. I would expect that Beckham will retire in the next two years, so does that mean that Beckham will be getting a franchise that will play in the 2012 season?
With Beckham’s profile and status, there are not many cities that Posh would be happy spending time in. So does that mean that the Miami franchise option is back on the table?
I expect that the MLS will crank up the publicity in anticipation of Beckham’s return this summer. Unlike in 2007 when he first came to the U.S., will anyone be paying attention this time?
Source: Click Here
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Welcome to MLS, Portland and Vancouver |
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Written by Administrator
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Wednesday, 11 March 2009 10:17 |
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There's a been a lot of chat about how the going price for an MLS team—$40 million—is way too high.
It started as a low grumble last January when MLS announced that whoever got to MLS headquarters with a check first—St. Louis or Philadelphia—could have a team for $30 million, but the next guy through the door was going to need another $10 mil.
But it really got rolling when L'Impact de Montreal Head hoser Joey Saputo figured he could buy in for considerably less and "Donny the G" told him to take a hike.
Then late last week prospective Miami owner Marcelo Claure, implied that the price was just a bit steep and the ITTET Group backed out of the deal. Although in the fullness of time, it's becoming increasingly apparent that nobody involved was particularly interested consummating the deal, and for a lot more reasons than just the price.
Be that as it may, it now appears the two new teams are more or less in the bag. Globe and Mail reported on Saturday that Vancouver and the league have come to an agreement, and that Portland, despite some last-minute temper tantrums, door slamming, and breath holding, will quickly follow now that Merritt Paulson has agreed to limit the city's financial liability.
I'm still pretty unhappy with the Vancouver offer, which started out last fall saying they'd use BC Place as a temporary home, a meme which has been totally forgotten, apparently, but that's for another day.
So the question I have for the legions of people who have been droning on about how $40 million is "too much, particularly ITTET," let me tell you something.
I know that education in economics has gone by the boards—particularly amongst journalism students, apparently—but last I knew a price wasn't "too high" if people are willing to pay it.
If Merritt Paulson and Greg Kerfoot are both putting $40 million checks in the mail, then even the most obtuse of North American soccer writers will have to admit that the price was right.
In any case, some time today, out in Portland, Ore., the City Fathers will give their blessing to the stadiums projects which will result in a soccer specific stadium in their fair location.
Over the weekend there was a good deal of posturing, door slamming and negotiating via the media over the whole thing, but in the end, the city got Paulson to agree to cover any cost overruns and the deal was set.
This goes with the news, first reported by the Globe and Mail late Friday and since claimed as their own by 50 or so of the less-reputable soccer Web sites, that Kerfoot is busy crossing the t's and dotting the i's on a contract to put MLS into Vancouver.
I have to say that this one mystifies me. Back last summer, Garber visited up there and toured BC Place which, everyone agreed, was a fine venue to use as a temporary home while the new waterfront stadium was being built.
All of a sudden, BC Place is being touted as a wonderful soccer stadium and the actual soccer stadium never gets mentioned.
It will be interesting to see if, when the formal announcement is made, someone mentions the original plan, but in the absence of anything of that sort it appears that MLS wanted Vancouver so badly that they agreed to play in a 60,000 seat football stadium covered in plastic grass.
If this isn't a step backwards, I wish someone would explain how.
Otherwise, it appears that St. Louis has, once again, gotten the shaft. I'm certain the commissioner will make some very kind, conciliatory mouth noises in their direction, but the bottom line is probably that MLS is now a dead issue there.
As for the other remaining candidate, Eugene Melnyk's Ottawa bid, the less said the better. MLS loved the plan and loved Melnyk, but Ottawa just isn't a town they want to be in.Source: Click Here
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