ASK DAVE
Is your phone pinging? There is a good chance it is David Beckham ready to offer some advice. From calling up footballers in a slump to parenting advice for future kings, the former England captain really is a go-to agony uncle. Football Daily is certainly not a cynical entity, we would not accuse old Goldenballs of being especially nice to folk when he has something to promote, say a documentary. No, far from it because he’s been offering out wisdom since the phrase “Keep Calm and Carry On” was invented. He is Mr Nice, the friendly face of noughties football, free-kick and crosser extraordinaire, who constantly draws on what he learned from kicking Diego Simeone.
His latest pained client is poor old Harry Maguire, who has had nowt to celebrate as Manchester United’s fifth-choice centre-back, so needed a little pick me up from the master of patter. “It shows how classy he is to reach out and message me. It was something I really appreciate. It was touching,” Maguire parped. “If you watch the documentary David explains a lot of how he dealt with it.” The back and forth with Beckham must have inspired Maguire’s assist for Scott McTominay’s winner against Brentford. The Scotland midfielder also worships at the Church of Becks. “I was watching the David Beckham documentary last night and you can see all the history and the people behind the club and that’s who the lads do it for and that’s what means the most,” McTominay chirped after his late double, leading Beckham to respond: “It’s what it’s always been about.” This documentary must be better than The World at War.
Maguire is not the first client of the humble lad from east London who received a reported £150m for his ambassadorial role at the 2022 World Cup to advise everyone on how great Qatar is. Crooner Taylor Swift received relationship guidance from DB7 about starting out with new beau Travis Kelce. “We have got amazing kids, we’ve built businesses but we make time for each other,” Beckham said. “Taylor is an amazing talent, and she’s an amazing person, and she deserves to be happy.”
Even the heir to the throne has been offered the wise words from the Dalai Lama of set-pieces. “Get some sleep because jumping from one child to two is a big step,” Becks cackled before the arrival of Prince William’s second born. Perhaps he guided William through the colic months. So whatever your problem, however big or small, put out the Becks signal and he will come running – depending on media and ambassadorial commitments.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“My job is to elevate the club to the next level and I can’t wait to get started. I know what the expectations are and our job is to deliver” – Wayne Rooney checks in at Birmingham City and backs himself to beat the big bad Championship boss at the end of this level and take the club to the next one – presumably the Premier League.
NEXT GENERATION 2023
We’ve already selected 20 of the best Premier League pups to keep an eye on in 2023 and we’ve taken you back to the future by catching up with our Class of 2018 and now it’s time for the big one: here are 60 of the world’s best players born in 2006. Yes, 2006! Mug up now so you can dazzle at social occasions in a few years’ time.
FOOTBALL DAILY LETTER
It’s brilliant that Birmingham have gone for Rooney. John Eustace was was threatening to do really well with them. And Rooney already has a ‘small heath’ on his head. And Colleen will definitely be able to solve the mystery of why they are so consistently [snip! – Football Daily Ed] . Love from your cross city rivals” – Antony Train.
Send your letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. Today’s winner of our prizeless letter o’ the day is … Antony Train.
NOT BREAKING THE VAR
Refereeing head honcho Howard Webb reckons VARs and their assistants should be given time and leeway to reverse their decisions if they get the initial calls wrong. Speaking on Sky’s hit showMic’d Up about the Spurs v Liverpool furore, Webb got busy trying to explain away why his lads messed up so badly. “After the penny had dropped [that VAR Darren England’s decision had denied Luis Díaz a legitimate goal] 20 seconds had passed but they recognised that the laws of the game doesn’t allow [that] change,” parped the former copper on the prospect of laws being broken. “We have [that] system in place to make sure VAR is used consistently.” The prospect of VAR reviews taking even longer as decisions are reassessed and possibly corrected may not please fans with a train to catch, mind.
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