Becks in Sydney
(Source) David Beckham has arrived in Sydney and been whisked from his private jet to his Star City hotel. There are a few photos in the gallery. You can watch a video of him arriving online here and here.
He gave a press conference a short time ago, along with Ruud Gullit and Landon Donovan, You can watch an excerpt online here, there are also photos from the press conference and of Becks and the LA Galaxy team attending the Sydney FC v Queensland Roar game in the gallery.
On visiting Australia: "I'm very happy to be here. I've never been to this country before and it's somewhere I've wanted to visit for a long time... It took me 22 hours to get here but it's more than worth it."
On Tuesday's friendly: "We're here to perform - not just for ourselves, obviously for the new manager and obviously for the people that have paid the money to come and see the game... as much as it is a friendly, we've got to perform as a team and we've got to also perform as individuals to impress the manager, so we're really looking forward to that side of it."
On his fitness: Physically I'm good. I'm a lot better than I have been since I've joined the Galaxy. It's been very frustrating to not be on the field and playing. Now I'm back to almost fully fit. I played half the game the other night at Wembley (and), however disappointing it was, it was nice to be out there playing... I'm looking forward to the game on Tuesday. Physically I feel great and mentally I'm always good…I think."
On the next England Manager: "There's many managers out there who obviously will want the job. It might be a tough job - it might be a high pressure job to manage England - but any manager in football would love to manage our country and our players."
"Luckily enough I'm not in a position where I have to choose and pick the manager for our country because I think it's going to be a very tough decision. It's going to be a tough decision for whoever's going to make it at the FA but I'm not going to sit up here and name names because there are so many thrown in already."
"We'll just have to wait and see."
Update - At the press conference David Beckham was unfairly accused of snubbing some young fans, who he had not seen, on his way into his hotel. However because he is a kind-hearted man and he heard that the youngsters, who were cancer survivors, were disappointed, he arranged to meet with them to make amends at the Sydney FC v Queensland Roar match later that day. So all's well that ends well, full story here.
Other news
There is a video of Becks at yesterday's Motorola launch online here.There is a great interview with Becks in The Telegraph It's a great read as Becks talks candidly about Manchester United, England, his work at his Academies and more.
(source) The media are reporting that David Beckham will train with Arsenal for four weeks during January. David Beckham has reportedly said, "My fitness will never be a problem either for LA Galaxy or England. I am coming back and training the whole of January at an English club." He did not name the club, however it is expected he will use the training facilities at Arsenal. Thanks to Loredana for the heads up.
posted by rpm at 3:33 PM
19 Comments:
Interesting to read his response to what Bobby Charlton said about the contract. I have total respect for Charlton hes a legend and hes clearly sincere in what he says but he is also clearly making a false assumption too so that straightens that out in me head
5:18 PM
Anna thanks a lot for the Telegraph article, really great read.
6:10 PM
God!!! I didn't know Becks was in Beijing yesterday!!! I was just home the whole day!!!
*stomps out and seriously plans to kill self*
Btw, nice header Anna! :D
6:40 PM
Thannks for the video. He really suits that jacket with his aviators :)
8:46 PM
why are the stupid Australian media saying he snubbed some kids? There must not have been an arrangement for him to meet them or he would have.
10:43 PM
Me and my family went to the airport and we waited for hours for his flight but he never came through the airport. There were hundreds maybe even thousands all up and people just wanted to welcome him but he got into a car from the plane and no one got so much as a wave. It was really disappointing :-( Here in Australia we expect people to be friendlier than that. I thought he'd be tired and I didn't think hed stop or do autografs but the way it was done was kinda mean
11:13 PM
Good Sunday to everybody!. David is a very balanced person and kind. We wish him all his wishes sports can be heard (him deserves) Arsenal is a serious team and Wenger is OK as manager.Loredana, Samuel, Gabriel
11:32 PM
The Telegraph interview is great. He really opens up about some things. I love the care he takes over all the little details with his Academy shows how much he cares :-)
3:36 AM
I didn't go the airport but I heard there were a lot of people. I know you must be disappointed but the security arrangements would have been made by the Australian organisers or LA Galaxy or 19 - Becks wouldn't personally make those arrangements. If he took care of such things he would never have time to train or play.
4:26 AM
thankx 4 pix!!! =)
5:53 AM
Thanks for the links and vids Anna. Its sad that in the msn vid, they went out of their way to portray him as separate from the team who are "roughing" it.
2:00 PM
Thanks for all the lovely big pictures Anna! Hope you're enjoying your trip and doing some sight-seeing =)
2:24 PM
I just wanted to chime in. I'm in Sydney too and I'm so excited to see him play!! I went to the airport too. I know it's not his fault that he was whisked away under police escort but we have a lot of A listers coming to town all the time and they aren't usually treated like they're at high risk of being shot or something. They usually wave to fans and some even sign autographs and say hi! So it created this really bad first impression. I even think the story about the kids with cancer only became a big deal because the media were all at the airport and everybody was offended when he spent 3 seconds on the tarmac and then went to the hotel through the back way. Hundreds of children not just the ones they wrote the story about had made signs and just wanted to see him go by there welcome signs and everyone got a whole load of nothing. There had been build up in the media here who love him for weeks and weeks. It's not his fault but it was a really bad look the way it was done.
3:14 PM
G'day Mate! Welcome to Australia Becks!!!! I didn't get to say it outside your hotel yesterday so I thought I'd say it here! Hope you have a wonderful time :-)
3:29 PM
I also feel badly that the story about Becks "snubbing" children is his first introduction to Australian fans. I'm pretty sure that if he knew children had been waiting, he would have bent his schedule to stop to see them and sign autographs -- as he has done on so many other occasions. If the children were sick and it was arranged for them to meet him, there is no way he would have knowingly missed that.
While none of us can "know" what goes on in the minds of people we see only through the eyes of the media, anyone who has followed Beckham's career long enough can not have helped but notice a few constants in the rest of his life, and one of those is how much he cares about, enjoys, and gives to children.
By now I assume that he has made things right with the kids who were ill and meant to greet him. But I wouldn't be surprised if it would upset him more to hear that fans think him mean, or insensitive to kids, as it would be if they were critical of his performance on the pitch.
7:43 PM
Thanks for the awesum pics!!
9:54 PM
Thankyou to anon from Sydney for the details about the airport. It does make a little more sense as to why the situation with the children who are ill has become such a media storm...to the point that it made our local news on the east coast of the US this morning! The fact that the press were waiting (and jilted) as well as fans would certainly have fanned some flames.
Very unfortunate that uncommon circumstances left so many fans, who meant well, unhappy. AND created such a poor first impression. I wonder what all the security was about? Its not something that Becks decides on, as Anna says, and is something he so often circumvents when he sees people waiting to say hello or get autographs.
It won't mean much to the folks who waited so long, but I do see how might have been somewhat less sharp on this arrival. He'd spent the past 48 hours fulfilling commitments that began moments after playing in the match that saw England out of Euro 2008, which was a such a huge blow. The private jet was meant to allow some sleep so that he could be in good shape for this visit, but it looks to have worked against him.
Probably best that he had the rest before the upcoming matches anyway, and hopefully make up for the airport disappointment in other ways.
5:24 AM
hey does ne1 knw where beckham will appera in public again today??
12:37 AM
well Natasha you asked your question at 7pm on Nov 28 Australian time and I don't know what he had planned for Wednesday night - perhaps some well deserved down time :) On Nov 29 Becks will fly to Wellington NZ I don't know what he has planned for tomorrow. There is a public training session on Friday though so if you are in Wellington that should be a good opportunity to see him ahead of the game itself Saturday :)
4:25 AM
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