A video clip of what transpired in the Milan match
If Becks wants to make friends with the Galaxy fans maybe he should make an appeal to the Home Depot authorities to revoke the lifetime ban on the fan who entered the pitch to confront him.
Yes, it was stupid behaviour on Josh Paige but really there should be no call for such severe punishment. I keep seeing matches in which pitches are regularly invaded by fans in the Argentinian league and they are back again for the next match.
As the You Tube clip shows Beckham also played a part in the confrontation by egging Paige yelling “Come on”, who responded by jumping down onto the pitch. What else would you expect from an inebriated fan? So far there has been just an apology by Bruce Arena. But it will be a far more substantial gesture if Becks acknowledges that he too lost control and make a case for the ban to be overturned. It will be a tip of the hat to the fans that are angry at him and may go some way in making amends.
And Beckham should not expect any less indecorous behaviour when he visits other clubs. The Kansas City Star headlines, “Wizards fans get chance to kick around Beckham.” Here is a sample of what Becks faces:
“He takes the money and the contract, then goes on to denigrate U.S. soccer,” Szajnuk said. “He’ll have a bunch of chants coming. We don’t drop f-bombs and we won’t direct anything at his family, but he’ll know we’re there.”
If you follow the You Tube comments it is bewildering how Beckham is viewed through the prism of the MLS being a dinky league and Americans ignorance of the game. The man has given the league a lot of publicity of the wrong kind. This was something that the powers to be failed to foresee if the deal did not work out but it is good to see MLS fans fight back.