Olympic Captaincy: Who Can Handle It Better Than Beckham?

The plan afoot to award David Beckam the captaincy next summer, however, threatens to be disruptive. English football’s much beloved darling is expected to return to these shores when his contract at LA Galaxy expires this winter. Common consensus suggests that, provided his fitness can be vindicated, the captain’s armband awaits him.

To include Beckam in the squad seems tempting. He is, after all, heralded from the very territory in which the Olympic stadium now stands. We could happily indulge a fond farewell to the golden boy, a fitting tear-jerker to pay homage to an ambassador who brought the Games to London. The resulting back-page jingoism would certainly make for a fine Olympic souvenir.
The glorified encore, though, an exercise in sycophancy and a concession to sentimentality, would be of little benefit.

The shadow of Beckam would surely loom large over the squad. His aura of celebrity and the accompanying paparazzi would reintroduce the aforementioned press attention. An unwelcome distraction, the inevitable media carnival would only hinder the squad’s capacity to focus on the task at hand.
Needless to say, of course, that the weight of Brand Beckam will also be a valuable marketing asset to the Games of the XXX Olmpiad. Naïve are those who believe that Beckam’s likely inclusion will be decided by the manager alone. What kind of lesson does this send to Britain’s young footballers?

More important than any of this, though, is the fact that there are plenty of eligible players who would offer more in a competitive sense. Of the over-23 brigade likely to be excluded from the Euro’s, Jonathan Woodgate, Phil Neville, Paul Robinson, Joe Cole and Danny Murphy, to name but a handful, all represent better choices. England ought to be teaching young players that merit alone is the sole arbiter of selection for the national team.

Cchampme