Beckham goes back to the ranks with a tear in his eye

THE tears continued to flow in the England camp yesterday as David Beckham brought a dignified but sorrowful conclusion to almost six years of captaincy. The end of the Sven-Göran Eriksson regime was always likely to bring about a change and, sensing that his time was up, Beckham made the right call to spare Steve McClaren an awkward handover of the armband, probably to John Terry. Typical of the Beckham story, it was a dramatic resignation as he fought back tears to read a prepared statement. His sorrow was genuine — he has loved the job — but there will be speculation that his career reached an even more defining moment on Saturday.
By the time that England crashed out of the World Cup quarter-finals, again suffering the agony of a penalty shoot-out defeat by Portugal, Beckham had been replaced by Aaron Lennon. After a tournament in which he struggled to impress except from dead-ball situations, Beckham’s longevity will be a recurring theme.
He insisted yesterday that he was determined to carry on playing for his country and “helping both the new captain and Steve McClaren in any way I can” and he desperately wants to reach a century of caps (he is on 95), but the change of management is bound to ensure a period of uncertainty. He is likely to miss McClaren’s first match in charge, a friendly against Greece at Old Trafford on August 16, because of a partly torn Achilles tendon. That injury, and a lesion on one of his knees, may rule him out for at least six weeks. The pain from his damaged heel helps to explain Beckham’s tears as he sat on the sidelines in the Veltins Arena, although even without the injury, England’s performance had demanded that Lennon’s pace be brought off the bench. At 31, Beckham has lost the stamina that allowed him to cover extraordinary distances.
He remains a potent player, finishing top of the assists chart in La Liga last season, which is no mean feat in a league that includes Ronaldinho and Juan Román Riquelme, but he has not been helped by managerial turbulence at Real Madrid. Saturday’s match was his 58th as England captain and he enjoyed many moments when the country was as proud of him as he was of the role.
It was a mighty achievement in itself to win back the nation’s affections after he was vilified in the wake of the 1998 World Cup and, when it comes to individual performances, few will forget the free kick that capped a memorable display against Greece to reach the 2002 World Cup finals and his penalty in that tournament against Argentina.
He became perhaps the most influential captain in the history of the national team, some thought too influential, and his closeness to Eriksson was doing him no favours by the end. Now that he is back among the ranks, he can at least be sure that his selection is on merit alone. That should inspire him. It was a moving resignation, even if it did amount to jumping before he could be pushed. Beckham claimed that he had been thinking about it before McClaren was appointed, although, publicly, he had talked of wanting to continue.
“I came to this decision some time ago, but I had hoped to announce it on the back of a successful World Cup,” he said. “Sadly, that wasn’t to be. This decision has been the most difficult of my career to date. But after discussing it with my family and those closest to me I feel the time is right.”
Peter Taylor made him captain against Italy in November 2000 and Beckham described it as “fulfilling my childhood dream”. His successor is likely to be Terry, the captain of Chelsea, although a strong case can also be made for Steven Gerrard, the Liverpool captain.