Possibly Manchester United’s most famous player of all time, David Beckham, has been trying to create his own for football club for years, and now he’s finally getting close to accomplishing his dream.
As part of the deal that saw Beckham leave Real Madrid for MLS side LA Galaxy in 2007, the American club was to help him establish a new football franchise in the states.
The ex-England captain now believes that he is just 3 years away from owning his own football club.
In Beckham’s interview with The Sunday Express Sport, he had this to say:
“We’re in a very good position, better than we were a year ago. It’s been a long process and I didn’t think it would be as difficult as it has been but dealing with the political side of things in Miami has been difficult.”
“I have never been an owner of a team before so you have to deal with these kind of things but we’ve now found a site where we want to put our stadium.”
“We have to build the stadium before we are able to come into the League. Our aim is 2018.”
“As a 12-year-old sat around with your mates you can only dream of owning a club and thinking of who you want to play for the team, what colours you are going to play in – what you are going to call it.”
“So to be a position now where I am actually an owner of a team is incredible. There have been a few speed bumps along the way but I believe we are closer now than we’ve ever been.”
“Hopefully in the next six weeks we will be able to announce the site of the stadium, the stadium plans and then we’ll move on. It’s really exciting.”
The man who played 374 games for Manchester United is yet to announce a name for his new club. The bookies favour Miami FC at 6/1, closely followed by Miami United, 8/1, then Miami: Fusion, Kings or Tropics at 10s.
Here’s what the free kick magician had to say on the matter:
“We haven’t decided on a name yet. We’ve got a couple of names that we like but we are probably going to get the public of Miami involved because we want it to be their team.”
“I actually heard Miami Vice the other day – it’s not going to be that! Miami Reds?”
“Also heard Miami United the other day, but we’ll see.”
“The Miami sports fans are very passionate, especially when they’ve got a successful team so I think we will involve the public in some way but we’ve got a couple of names that are being thrown around.”
The interview also included speculation of who could be Beckham’s first manager, at his new club, and of course Sir Alex Ferguson’s name popped up:
“You never know! It’s one of the reasons I asked him to be involved in this charity game. But seriously no.” David replied with a smile.
“I definitely though will be a demanding owner. I want the team to be successful and the club to be successful so I think I have to be demanding.”
“I definitely though won’t get involved in team decisions – the way players are playing, things like that.”
“Will I use the hairdryer like my old boss? I’ve seen it enough times – I know how it works on the positive side of things so we’ll see.”
Beckham knows that his club will not be instant world beaters, and that becoming great, takes a lot of time and commitment:
“You can’t create what Manchester United have got or Real Madrid have got. You can’t suddenly create history like we have here at Old Trafford.”
“But you want to get that kind of feeling imbedded into the team and club really quickly. However at first it’s going to be a really modern team – you can’t get away from that.”
“There’s no other sport or league in the world where you can actually bring a brand new team into a big league, one starting from scratch.”
“That is the exciting part but also what comes with that is I have always played for clubs more or less with so much history – Manchester United, Real Madrid, AC Milan, Paris Saint-Germain – they’ve all got great history.”
“Even in the USA, LA Galaxy have been around for many years. You want to kind of bring that into the club and we want it to be run professionally.”
“Everything needs to be run like a club like Manchester United. You have to look at it like that.”
“Luckily I’ve had a little bit of experience in that.”
David Beckham will bet returning to Old Trafford on 14th November to play in a UNICEF charity match. The 40 year old will be managed by Sir Alex Ferguson on the day.
One reply on “David Beckham is close to founding his own football club”
It’s a pity that Beckham’s club will not be playing until 2018. I was hoping he would sign Rooney as a marquee player and get him out of our hair. He might still do that but if it’s three years away then we’re stuck with Wazza for almost all of his remaining contract.