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| Man United icon David Beckham will reveal his ownership of a football club in the coming weeks |
DAVID BECKHAM admits he is living the dream as his ambitions to own a football club are set to be realised in the coming weeks.
The England icon was back on familiar territory last week strutting around Old Trafford as he helped publicise next month’s UNICEF charity game involving Great Britain and Ireland against a Rest of the World X1.
It will bring his old Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson temporarily out of retirement as manager of the Brits.
But also occupying Beckham’s mind is the fact that he will soon be in a position even the great Ferguson has never aspired to – enjoying overall control of a club.
Written into his contract when he moved to the USA in 2007 to join LA Galaxy was the option to one day buy an MLS franchise.
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| David Beckham with the Manchester United youth team after wining the FA Youth Cup Final 2nd leg match against Crystal Palace, at Old Trafford, Manchester on 15th May 1992 |
His ambitions to build a club in Miami have been beset by problems but he revealed to Sunday News News Blog Sport that the exciting plans are close to being given the green light.
He said:“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.
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| Sir Alex Ferguson will manage the Great British side in an upcoming UNICEF charity match |
“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.”
Beckham’s head is a whirl with all the potential names for his proud product. But one suggestion, almost certainly made tongue in cheek, has been firmly rejected.
“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.”he explained.
“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.”
Beckham will need a manager for the club which will eventually occupy a 25,000 capacity stadium on the site of the old Orange Bowl next to the Miami Marlins baseball park. How about a 73-year-old Scot who has won everything in the game?
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| When Beckham signed for LA Galaxy in 2007 it was agreed in his contract he could buy an MLS stable |
“You never know! It’s one of the reasons I asked him to be involved in this charity game. But seriously no.”Beckham smiled.
“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 – even if goes against the American grain – that history can’t evolve overnight.
He added: “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.
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| Hair-raising: a history of David Beckham's hair styles |
“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.”
Tickets for the Great Britain and Ireland v Rest of the World X1 UNICEF match at Old Trafford on November 14th, kick off 3.0pm are available from www.manutd.com.
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