David Beckham Has Regrets. His Game is Top Level Again and Real Madrid Was 'BECK' ON ING?

BECK'S MY REAL AGONY

DAVID BECKHAM last night revealed how it broke his heart to quit Real Madrid.

And the news he wanted to stay another three years in Spain is sure to stun his new bosses at LA Galaxy.The ex-England skipper insisted: “I felt capable of staying for longer at Real. I could have still played for three more seasons at the highest level. "But after the club told me in January that they did not want to renew my contract, I took this decision. “The day we won the title with a 3-1 win over Real Mallorca my heart ached — but the decision was already taken. “I am going to continue to support Real Madrid and follow them next season.” Becks, 32, flies into Los Angeles with his family tomorrow to begin his new American adventure as an LA Galaxy player, which will net him a staggering $250 million. But his grand unveiling on Friday could be embarrassing after Beckham admitted that he did not want to quit the Bernabeu.

Beckham admitted he has concerns about the huge expectations of him. He added: “People probably do think they’re going to see me turn out, and we’ll win our first game 10-0. That’s one thing I’m worried about. “I’m not a player who will run past 10 players and score three or four goals. My game is about working hard and being a team player.”

PATRICK COMMENT:

He should have stayed there and not have been so impulsive in mapping out his future. Soccer is played differently here and expectations are different. Great tackles and great saves are not swooned over as in the UK. Man on Man tussles mean nothing. Only scoring and a Goalie with a big kick is swooned over? What’s up with that? All the true soccer nations have adopted and understand the facets of 90 minute passionate end to end soccer. A nil nil draw can be stimulating and is much more appreciated than a 8-0 win. America does not get it. It is also too hot and grounds are too hard for scintillating split second timing sliding tackles to rob the player on target for goal with only the Goalie to beat. This won't be Beck’s kind of game at all and he will not always be able to bend one in. He should have had another five to eight years in Europe and hung his boots up. HOPE I'M WRONG DAVID.

LA IN SOS FOR BECK'S ON VACATION

DAVID BECKHAM is being urged to cut short his holiday and rescue LA Galaxy.

The England midfielder is due to begin his MLS career in Los Angeles at the end of next month. But Beckham — who helped Real Madrid to the La Liga title 10 days ago — will get an SOS call this week. Galaxy lost to Columbus Crew last weekend to leave them second-bottom of their division with just two victories all season. Former Middlesbrough defender Abel Xavier is already in LA.He said: “We really need Beckham’s help to get us up the table in the MLS. I am convinced his arrival will help us progress a great deal.” Xavier admits Beckham will face a big task pulling the team together and improving their spirit both on and off the pitch. He added: “The players need to communicate more and be more responsible during the game. “We are conceding goals from lack of concentration. “Things will get better when we get Beckham and all our injured players and those on international duty with America are back.”

PATRICK COMMENT: Beck’s needs to be in a Harlem Globetrotters environment not being brought in to save the team. Once more I state that Beck’s has been wrongly advised about it being the right time to come here. What he will miss most will be the atmosphere that cannot be reconstructed. Soccer will never be the big game that it is in the rest of the world because money is more important here and American Football has been fashioned to sell burgers and beers to couch potatoes every 20 minutes or so. Soccer fanatics will endure to see their team and will not miss a moment. Football here is a party. Many in the stadiums don’t even other to watch. Too busy socializing. David I wish you well but I have had to understand that the greatest game in the world is never going to get the treatment it deserves and Ghana had a national day off to beat USA in the World Cup. Not here. NOT IMPORTANT ENOUGH.

FANS WANT GOALS, GOALS, GOALS

FOX SPORTS broadcaster Nick Webster says David Beckham is in for a few nasty surprises in the MLS. The TV station’s English-born LA Galaxy commentator said: “Because Beck's is earning so much, everyone expects him to score a hat-trick every game.“It won't make any difference if he puts in 10 world-class crosses and no one is good enough to get on the end of them ... which they won't be. "Galaxy really aren't very good. The MLS is lower-end Championship — and Galaxy are one of the worst teams “Players are very, very fit. They will run their butts off all day. "Technically, they are not on the same planet. That’s why they expect Beckham to dictate every game — and he certainly should. “But he will have to play in 90-degree heat because his games will be on prime-time TV. “He faces a fixture pile-up because games have been delayed for his arrival, meaning a hell of a lot of traveling. "Plus, team-mates will be jealous because they earn in a year what he gets in 10 minutes.”

PATRICK COMMENT: You never see any soccer games on TV and you never see anything written in sports pages. David what have you done. Maybe you will end up in some second rate movies like Vinnie Jones but you are NOT Vinnie Jones. He has made his name as a thug and you have not. They will crucify you in Hollywood and make you play all the villainous parts as all Brits do. Mind you the Brit directors do it back in reverse as seen in several Brit movies lately.

THE BECKS PISTOLS

DAVID BECKHAM can swap the flashbulbs of the Bernabeu for Sunday-morning kickabouts with the Sex Pistols. After winning the Spanish title and quitting the world’s most famous club, Beckham is being welcomed to a Galaxy far, far away from Real Madrid. Goldenballs will be pocketing $ 260million by moving to LA Galaxy. But the club’s Home Depot Center base is a 27,000-capacity stadium in a faceless suburb of southern LA — without a hint of Hollywood glamour about the place. So if he wants to hobnob with fellow celebs, Beck's will have to join the Galaxy’s club president Alexi Lalas — who plays for the world’s most famous pub team, Hollywood United. Lalas turns out alongside Vinnie Jones, members of the Sex Pistols and Def Leppard, so there is little wonder that he bristles at suggestions he has opened up a semi-retirement home for overpaid footballers. And he reckons critics of Major League Soccer, who claim Beckham cannot maintain his international place while playing for LA, are ignorant. Lalas said: “The talk of David going into semi-retirement comes from an ignorance that exists to US soccer and also an arrogance that’s understandable but also insulting to those of us who know the realities. David will see that this is a very competitive league. “I challenge anybody that says a player can't come to the MLS and continue to compete at the highest level. I don't buy this mentality that coming here is stepping down. “There are people in other countries who worship an inferior product to this league. We measure up to — and often surpass — what’s on offer in most leagues in the world. “You cannot argue that this league is not the most competitive in the world because we do have incredible parity. We don't have the haves and the have-not's like the top four in England.” Lalas first enjoyed international fame as the goatee-bearded guitar-playing grunge fan who scored in England’s humiliating 2-0 defeat by the USA in 1993. These days, the ‘President of the Galaxy’ is more clean-cut but he still keeps in touch with his wilder side by playing for Hollywood United — alongside legendary hardman Vinnie, former Sex Pistol Steve Jones, Def Leppard’s Viv Campbell and ex-Chelsea defender Frank Leboeuf. Lalas smiled: “As a team we scare the c**p out of people — with Vinnie Jones and a Sex Pistol, what do you think? We can drink any other team under the table, without a doubt. And I hope David will turn up and watch us. “As for Leboeuf, he’s like a Wild West crazy man on a motorcycle — Frank just kicks people!” Lalas insists Posh Spice will receive a somewhat friendlier welcome from the Galaxy WAGs. He said: “We want to accept David and his family into our family as soon as possible. It’s a down-to-Earth family — Victoria will be just one of the wives. “The Galaxy wives are intelligent, beautiful ladies. They get a kick out of what’s happening but they also have a perspective that, maybe, is lacking in players’ wives elsewhere in the world.”

Members of the Galaxy’s ‘hardcore’ Riot Squad supporters club cannot wait to get up close and personal with Beck's’ former Spice Girl missus.

Riot Squad member Eddie Garcia said: “We've clubbed together and bought a season ticket in Victoria’s name and we're going to make it in to a throne — because we have seen her wedding photos and know she likes that kind of thing! “She’s so skinny she'll only need half a seat. But we'd love to have her come join us, even if just for one game, because we're the section of the crowd that make most of the noise and she'll love the atmosphere more than in the posh seats.”

Attendances have been good this summer and most games that will feature Beckham are already sold out.Yet if you are looking for real passion at the Home Depot Center, you probably need to watch Galaxy’s Mexican-owned rivals Chivas USA — who share the ground. Their coach Preki insists Beckham will receive a hot reception when the rival clubs meet four times a season.

The former Everton midfielder said: “The rivalry between us is quite spicy and it’s going to get spicier and spicier now that David Beckham is going to be here.

It’s good he can speak Spanish because he'll know what our supporters are singing about him!”

PATRICK COMMENT:

These Hollywood players play for fun and Beck’s should also be doing that. Why does he still need the money? He has earned far more than most of these has beens and he should have just chilled a while. Victoria will find it not to her liking I predict as they are very short of real celebs at Galaxy and they will get no peace. At least in Madrid they were able to blend in as there were many other Soccer Celebs. In LA Here they will not have the same protection I suspect and the media can’t wait for David to mess up as the rise and eventual fall is what sells papers and magazines. Just look at Paris Hilton Victoria and ask yourself what have you done? Also it is a long way home to Blighty and sanity and family from here. As for David maintaining his national place, I think he will as he is good enough but his ‘rest’ from the limelight is what gave him the ‘boost’ and the new attitude. He will burn right out if given too much responsibility here in these torridly brutal temperatures. David is getting on you know. Good luck David but I know that Europe will still have you back if it does not work out. It is always better to play in nations like Germany, Spain, France, England, Holland, Italy where the game is ‘truly’ appreciated as the greatest game/sport on this mans earth. ROLL ON EUROPEAN CUP 2008.