11/05/24
June 30, 2009
Landon Donovan in New Book: David Beckham's a Bad Teammate: In an excerpt from Grant Wahl's new book The Beckham Experiment, Landon Donovan says that Beckham has been a bad teammate on the L.A. Galaxy. "Somewhere along the way -- and in my mind it coincides with [Coach] Ruud [Gillit] being let go -- he just flipped a switch and said, 'Uh-uh, I'm not doing it anymore,'" Donovan said. "I can't think of another guy where I'd say he wasn't a good teammate, he didn't give everything through all this, he didn't still care. But with [Beckham] I'd say no, he wasn't committed."
And of course Donovan was totally committed to Bayer Leverkusen when he was there.
/Not defending Beckham - can't stand either of them.
posted by owlhouse at 08:44 PM on June 30, 2009
This surprises me as while the Beckham "brand", (I hate saying that), is a reality and his reputation has for a long time exceeded his talent, I've always heard that he's a hard worker.
When he went to Milan most people there, including a lot of the players, wrote it off as a publicity move before being won over by his effort.
Maybe he only puts the effort in for a big club.
posted by Mr Bismarck at 09:58 PM on June 30, 2009
Or maybe Landon is just a douche who didn't like him and decided to bad mouth him.
posted by Drood at 10:35 PM on June 30, 2009
Maybe Beckham came to the realization of just how much of a drop off in talent there is between European club soccer and MLS and decided to mail it in. Not that that would be excusable, but it could explain it.
posted by holden at 11:02 PM on June 30, 2009
If Beckham didn't know that about the MLS going in, he's too stupid to put his pants on in the morning.
Which, come to think of it, explains some of his photo shoots.
posted by rcade at 11:46 PM on June 30, 2009
rcade: Have you heard him interviewed? He may very well BE that stupid.
posted by Drood at 12:35 AM on July 01, 2009
Beckham isn't very bright, but he's genuine. He's not as good as the media hype that has surrounded him for years might suggest, but he's still an exceptional passer of a football and a very gifted player. He also works incredibly hard, so if Donomoan's assertion is correct and he really has just been phoning it in lately, I can only assume that it's because sooner or later even Beckham can get pissed off with delivering perfect balls to space that some no mark decided not to run into after all, or knocking it 70 yards across the pitch onto the laces of a talentless idiot who proceeds to put it in row Z.
The whole thing about his outrage at Beckham not picking up the tab in the restaurant sums Donovan up. Why the hell should Beckham pay just because he's making more money than the rest of them combined? Do any of us means-test our dinning companions at the end of a meal to work out who pays what? Maybe fair enough to expect him to pay if it was some swanky and expensive place that he had invited everyone else to, but it was a Mortons!
I don't really like Beckham, but I respect him. I've never heard a thing about Donovan that would make me either like or respect him.
posted by JJ at 07:16 AM on July 01, 2009
What JJ said. Donovan seems content to be a little fish in a little pond. He thinks he is a big fish, but his time in Germany (and complaints about wanting to go home) prove he really isn't. So when a real big fish with years of experience (and silverware) came to his pond Mr Donavan got jealous.
posted by scully at 09:20 AM on July 01, 2009
The thing about Beckham from that article that I can't excuse is his insistence on being the captain of the Galaxy from the minute he arrived.
If you're the captain of the team, you should be there all the time except when international play requires you to be gone. You also have to be a team leader. When Beckham arrived he had no idea what the culture was on an MLS club or what the captain was expected to do. He was big-timing the team by making himself the captain, and I don't see what he gained by doing so.
As for the steakhouse incident, it's petty for that to be raised against him, but the onus here was on Beckham to make this MLS experiment work. He had to come in and do everything he could to elevate the play of the team and help the MLS, and so far it's a trainwreck that won't be helped by this book.
It seems dumb to me that he wouldn't pick up the check. He's being paid a ridiculous amount of money relative to the rest of the team. He also gambled his reputation on this venture.
In any case, it's a shame it hasn't worked. The MLS could have used the help.
posted by rcade at 09:35 AM on July 01, 2009
It seems to me the work ethic of both on the field is pretty spot on.
It also seems to me that Beckham comes off as the villain not necessarily because of the comments made by Donovan, but by those made by Donovan, Greg Vanney, Chris Klein, the alcohol incident at the steakhouse (regardless of age, a restaurant could get in trouble for serving someone with no ID), the appointment of Byrne in whatever position he held and the appointment of Gullit as coach by Byrne.
I don't really know what kind of GM Alexi Lalas was, but he seemed to do a decent job before all this and I had never heard a complaint about him.
I can't blame Beckham for wanting to go to AC Milan because the World Cup is his ultimate goal (as it should be for any player I think). He came to MLS feeling his England days were over and when that proved not to be true, he wanted to do what he could to help his chances of making the England roster.
Where I think I have fault with Donovan is talking about these things in public when they clearly should be settled behind doors as they are still teammates at least in the technical sense.
I hold out hope that this all pans out somehow though.
posted by Ricardo at 10:39 AM on July 01, 2009
Where I think I have fault with Donovan is talking about these things in public when they clearly should be settled behind doors as they are still teammates at least in the technical sense.
I don't see how they play together after this, frankly. It might be a good idea not to put their lockers side by side any more.
posted by rcade at 11:35 AM on July 01, 2009
So now Donovan is wearing the armband again, and he's the one being the bad teammate?
If this is the way to attach your wagon to Becks' shining star, in a pathetic attempt to prolong your fifteen minutes, then well played, Donovan. You loser.
posted by MW12 at 12:27 PM on July 01, 2009
If you're the captain of the team, you should be there all the time except when international play requires you to be gone. You also have to be a team leader. When Beckham arrived he had no idea what the culture was on an MLS club or what the captain was expected to do. He was big-timing the team by making himself the captain, and I don't see what he gained by doing so.
I agree with all of that. But none of that would have mattered if the team had been successful. Beckham's time with the Galaxy has been a dismal failure. And his lack of professionalism is astounding.
The MLS is a third or fourth tier league. But Beckham should have known this going in. He chose to accept the millions of dollars and he chose to mail it in. He should be ashamed of himself. But I doubt he can even spell the word ashamed.
posted by cjets at 02:21 PM on July 01, 2009
I don't really know what kind of GM Alexi Lalas was, but he seemed to do a decent job before all this and I had never heard a complaint about him.
He was crap running the Earthquakes IMO.
posted by billsaysthis at 11:23 PM on July 01, 2009
Sour grapes. Beckham was just there to stay fit for England. Playing in a real football league would have worn him down. But then he started to miss playing world class football.
Do you Americans (including Donovan) not see this?
posted by The_Special_Juan at 04:19 PM on July 02, 2009
He was crap running the Earthquakes IMO.
He was crap in New York too.
posted by goddam at 05:01 PM on July 02, 2009
Sour grapes. Beckham was just there to stay fit for England. Playing in a real football league would have worn him down. But then he started to miss playing world class football.
The fact that Donovan may be an ass doesn't mean he's wrong. Beckham's a quitter. He quit on his team, the worst thing an athlete can do.
If he didn't like the sub par competition he shouldn't have taken the money.
posted by cjets at 07:47 PM on July 02, 2009
Beckham isn't without fault here, but when he was healthy he was the best precision passer in the MLS, according to Donovan's own account, and his only flaw on the field appears to be that he was trying too hard to do too much. And by all accounts, during his time in England and Milan, he was a a model teammate who earned his reputation every step of the way. So maybe he over-estimated the quality of the players in the MLS. And maybe he tried to cut a deal to avoid coming back. But two wrongs doesn't make a right, and if Donovan had any real interest in his team (not to mention his league) he would never have said any of the things that are coming to light. So clearly his only motivation was selfish, and that makes him no better - in fact it makes him worse, because he knows the deal w the MLS and went out of his way to destroy his team in the press.
posted by MW12 at 08:34 PM on July 02, 2009
The bit about being captain as the cherry on the contract sundae bugged the crap out of me. I don't much care if he doesn't pick up a check -- so he's a cheapskate, big deal -- but not leading your team, and still calling yourself the captain? That's despicable. Support your team, lead them through the rough spots, encourage them, advise them... hell, he certainly has a lot to teach. Why he wouldn't take this opportunity to do so with his own teammates, I don't know. Unless, as others have said, they're just batting practice until he can get back with his 'real' teammates in Europe. And god forbid he share any of his Beckham Brand Trade Secrets for Excellent Play with those who aren't European.
He should have acknowledged that he wasn't a good leader and just wanted to play the game. Let someone who can naturally lead others do the job. Don't take it by force just because you feel you're entitled to it thanks to your name recognition. Problem here is that nobody was willing to step up and say "This guy's total shit as a captain," because they knew with his $$$ clout he could likely have them knocked off the team for speaking their mind. A mini-dictatorship with a guy who doesn't know how to lead in charge of it all.
posted by evixir at 02:53 PM on July 05, 2009
You know, this doesn't surprise me. I think because the Beckham "brand" has become so much bigger than whoever he's playing for. (Who is he playing for now anyway? Or has he quit?) Being THAT famous, it'd take a very strong willed intelligent person to not have it change them, and Beckham isn't the brightest bulb in the box.