LA Galaxy: The New Galacticos?

While the rumours had been circulating for months, it was still a surprise to yours truly when it was announced that David Beckham will be moving to the LA Galaxy at the end of the season. For one thing, it would seem to be a self declaration that he considers his England career over, having failed to make an England squad since the 2006 World Cup. Such is the mindset of English football that when Beckham originally moved to Real Madrid, there were fears from (admittedly few) corners that this would compromise his ability to be selected for the England team despite of Real being one of the biggest clubs in the world in a league that is often considered of higher quality than the EPL. No such grand claims can be made about the LA Galaxy and the MLS therefore unless Becks is able to pull a shifty and "discover" that he has American grandparents, it's fair to say that one can declare Beckham "retired from international football".

So what has motivated Becks to move over to a footballing backwater? Of course one could start and finish the argument with his staggering pay packet. Even in the financial la la land of professional football, Beckham's reported wage leaves everything else for dead. It's very difficult to believe that he is receiving such high wages merely for his (usually overrated) footballing ability. Cynicism over whether Beckham's real value to a club was due to his on field abilities or his ability to shift replica shirts with his name on the back has gone on as far back as his Old Trafford days. This cynicism can only he heightened when Figo, a much better player in my opinion can only get a US $6 million move to Saudi Arabia. Certainly football authorities in the US would love to have Beckham rekindle interest in football not seen since the Pelé days of the NY Cosmos, albeit without the disastrous crash afterwards.

However there is more to the move than this. Beckham's move will signal the dying stages of the Galacticos era at Real Madrid. Stranded on the bench since the start of the season, Beckham had little reason to stick around a sinking ship, especially since Real have not won a trophy since he arrived and show little sign of turning things around any time soon. Tim Stannard explains things more thoroughly here and on his blog, however I might just steal some of his words:

There is neither the time nor the space here to plough through the causes of their recent decline, but the short version puts the blame on the combination of the ridiculous dismissal of Vicente del Bosque, the wrong players being sold (Makelele, Solari, Cambiasso, Owen), the wrong ones being kept (Guti, Ronaldo, Roberto Carlos),and the wrong ones being bought (Gravesen, Baptista).

Having six managers and three presidents in three seasons and the kind of political infighting to make the downfall of the Tory party in the 1990s look like a minor spat was not that helpful either. It's this ongoing weakness for woolly thinking and politicking that was the major factor in yesterday's announcement of Becks' departure in June.

The Galacticos plan seemed so good at the time. Real Madrid were at the top of world football. The plan to stay there was to invest in only one or two world class players per season. This was kicked off with the controversial purchase of Figo from bitter rivals Barcelona for what was then a world record fee. The next season Zinedine Zidane joined the club from Juventus, breaking not only the world record transfer of Figo a year ago but also the world record fee set just two weeks before for Hernán Crespo's move from Parma to Lazio. Other stars such as Ronaldo and Beckham soon joined them and an era of brutal dominance not seen since Franco ruled Spain seemed assured. Then the craziness began.

Manager Vincente del Bosque was sacked just days after winning the La Liga. Then Claude Makelélé's demand for an improved contract were ignored and the (severely underrated) player was soon shifted off to Chelsea, where he has been kicking arse ever since. Attempted replacements such as Thomas Gravensen have proved to be disappointing. The only thing worse has been the off field politics, with the club having gone through four presidents in the last twelve months. And there biggest and fiercest rivals Barcelona look likely to win back to back La Liga and European Champions League titles. Bad times indeed at Santiago Bernabéu.

The Galacticos era is a powerful reminder to many that money is not the only thing which can bring success in football (Although it sure helps). Clubs built on more modest foundations such as Arsenal, Lyon and Bayern Munich have all tasted success in recent years aginst the Galacticos without sending the football transfer system into chaos. Meanwhile Real Madrid languish in comparative mediocrity. I suppose sometimes life is fair.