Brand Beckham or Beckham Brand

Like him or not, you can’t ignore David Beckham.

His latest foray into the media concerning his move to Paris St Germain is the latest addition to a rather cosmopolitan footballing career.

From the depths of Manchester, our Beckham has moved to Madrid, Los Angeles (with a quick foray to Milan) and now Paris. I somehow suspect that his choice of club could well be influenced by his wife, which probably explains why they are still together J

I have a great deal of admiration for him. There are arguments galore as to how good a footballer he is. In my opinion he is a good player; I’ve seen better midfielders and, by God, I’ve seen a lot worse. However, whatever his footballing abilities, the man has gone a long, long way from the skinny lad in the Pepsi advert.

Even after he became Public Enemy Number 1 after his sending off in the 1998 World Cup, he managed to re-invent himself by dint of keeping his head down and working hard.

He is now worth about £170 Million and is an active participant in over 80 charities, including his own: the Victoria and David Beckham Charitable Trust. Not a particularly inspiring name I’ll grant you, but it does show the measure of the man that it is his wife’s name is first in the title, even though I would say that a the name of a former international footballer might have more drawing power than that of the talentless member of a talentless girl band…

Anyhow, Dave B decides to go to Paris St Germain. Immediately, masses are mumbling “..and how much is getting for that a week I wonder? Probably 100K per week. He doesn’t need it so why does he do it, blah, blah, blah…”

However, it turns out that Mr Beckham has decided that as he doesn’t need the money, he will donate his salary to a local children’s charity.

So now, we are getting “…well what about the money he gets from shirt sales? And other sponsorship, what about that, then eh? I reckon it’s a publicity stunt. I bet it’s a tax fiddle…” or: “So what? With all the money he has it’s nothing”

My favourite is “well if he meant it he wouldn’t have announced it”

My God, can’t they leave the man alone? He is trying to do some good here and all he gets criticised.

I say good on you David, you crack on and ignore the critics: you are a far better man than they are…