The Beckham Experiment: A Review from a Recovering Galaxy Fan

If you were an LA Galaxy fan in 2007 and 2008 like I was, reading Grant Wahl’s “The Beckham Experiment” is a bit like looking at old photos of a much-anticipated yet ultimately tragic vacation:

“Here’s the plane ride. Here’s the waterfall… And here’s Aunt Marge, right before she got eaten by the crocodile.”

Yeah. Pretty much exactly like that.

It was tough, reading this book. All through it, I was thinking, “I remember that goal! I remember that interview! I remember that feud!” I also remember how the story ends, and that would be: Not well. Extremely, painfully not well.

And yet I could not put this book down.

Most people know the story by now, at least the basics of it. Beckham comes to LA with the stated goal of making soccer as big here as everywhere else in the world. The Galaxy attempt to create a SuperClub despite the limited resources available in MLS. Worlds collide, chaos ensues, and the team implodes, missing the playoffs both years Beckham played. He then tries to abandon the sinking Galaxy ship for Milan, only to be forced back against his will for the second half of this season.

All common knowledge for everybody who was paying attention.

But Wahl adds the details, and fleshes out the characters, and answers a lot of questions that the organization worked hard to keep unanswered as they were happening. The details on the involvement of Terry Byrne, Beckham’s assistant and best friend, and of Simon Fuller, Beckham’s manager and the creator of American Idol, are particularly instructive and troubling. (Among other things, they were the ones responsible for bringing in Ruud Gullit as coach — an unmitigated disaster.)

The details of their involvement are also still somewhat unclear, since Beckham, Byrne, Fuller and the remainder of Beckham’s “people” would not talk to Wahl without a guarantee of control over the finished product, which he was unwilling to give them. Fuller also wanted $1 million for Beckham’s participation — again a no-go.

If you’ve read the excerpts, you could be forgiven for thinking this book was a Beckham hitpiece, or a book about a Donovan-Beckham feud. It’s not, at least not until the end, the part about the last of the 2008 season when things really fell apart.

Instead the majority of the book is more…a fish out of water story, I think. Or a Greek tragedy, with the Galaxy in the role of Icarus. It’s a story about a rich, handsome, incredibly famous player who comes from a place where soccer is king, where the money is always there, and where you never have to compromise. A place where the players fly first class and sleep in five-star hotel rooms and always have enough money.

A place not at all like MLS.

I think that the real story is of an organization, and a league, that were Just Not Ready. Not ready for Beckham’s fame, not ready for Beckham’s expectations, not ready for Beckham’s (or perhaps his people’s) demands, and not ready for the spotlight that came from being associated with Brand Beckham.

If you’re an MLS fan, or if you care at all about the future of professional soccer in the United States, you should read this book. The light it sheds on Galaxy owner AEG and the inner working of MLS are instructive. Perhaps informed fans can keep this kind of thing from happening again. Maybe even help create the changes that will make MLS a genuinely attractive league for the world’s bigger talents.

Or maybe I’m just dreaming.

In the end, Beckham himself remains enigmatic because he and his handlers chose not to allow him to make his own case. I finished the book wondering who the real Beckham is, and how much responsibility he should bear for this fiasco. Was he a naive pawn, caught between the demands of his handlers and the needs of the team? Or was he fully aware of and involved in what was going on and choosing not to take responsibility? Or was this something else entirely?

I’ll let you read the book and make up your own mind.

P.S. After being a Galaxy fan, I have to say that now that I’ve read this book, the decisions of my hometown team, the expansion side Seattle Sounders FC, seem incredibly, unbelievably sane and rational. Thank you, Adrian Hanauer, for not being Alexi Lalas. And thank you, Freddie Ljungberg, for not being David Beckham.

Some Related Stories:

Category: World Football