When it comes to Piers Morgan and Manchester United number sevens, it’s very much a love/hate relationship.
At the drop of a hat the TV personality will vouch for Cristiano Ronaldo and his greatness, proclaiming him as the GOAT (Greatest of All Time) at the same time Lionel Messi was lifting the World Cup trophy. But his opinion of a previous incumbent of that famous red jersey, David Beckham, is very different indeed.
“A fame-hungry snail with dumb haircuts” was the non-too-flattering description he offered for a player who transcended the sport during his illustrious playing career. "Great to watch a Beckham who can actually play football…” Morgan sniped after Odell Beckham Jr scored a touchdown in last year’s Super Bowl.
It got the reaction he was after, with the great and good of Twitter quickly responding. "You might dislike him, for whatever reason, but David Beckham was a great footballer. One of our finest." England legend and Match of the Day host Gary Lineker said.
Morgan replied: "You might want to suck up to him, for whatever reason, but Beckham was the most overrated player in history. Wouldn't have got onto the Arsenal Invincibles bench."
Lineker in turn shot back with a list of honours that rightly put him amongst some modern day greats of the game. "Six Premier Leagues, two FA Cups, one Champions League, one La Liga, one Ligue 1. Ballón d’Or runner up. 115 caps for England, 59 as captain. One of the best crossers of the ball the game has ever seen. Yeah, overrated."
Did that convince Morgan? Judge for yourselves: "Take away the crossing & free-kicks, he was a fame-hungry snail with dumb haircuts who only won that much because of the truly great players around him,” he posted in response to Lineker.
There may have been some debate between Messrs Lineker and Morgan, but when it came to the man who knew best, Sir Alex Ferguson, there was no doubt. The legendary United boss took charge of Beckham 394 times, winning almost everything available during their time together at Old Trafford.
Ferguson would potentially have reason to think negatively as well. Who could ever forget the culmination of their fractious relationship which saw a stray football boot strike the midfielder on the eyebrow.
But even with that incident, Fergie had no issues with sticking ‘Golden Balls’ in his who’s who of Manchester United greats. Shortly after he hung up his hairdryer and stopped chewing his gum, the fiery Scot was asked to build his ultimate XI and while some positions were more difficult than others, Beckham’s place was secure.
"People ask you: 'Who is your best Man United team?' and it's absolutely impossible," he said at the time.
"It is absolutely impossible. You look at the strikers I had, going back to [Brian] McClair, [Mark] Hughes, [Andy] Cole, Cantona, [Ruud] van Nistelrooy, [Louis] Saha, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, [Dwight] Yorke, Teddy Sheringham.
"Then to the present players -- Wayne Rooney, [Robin] van Persie, Chicharito [Javier Hernandez]. How do you pick out of that? Cantona and somebody else maybe?
"The midfield was probably a bit easier because you have [Roy] Keane, [Bryan] Robson and Scholes -- they were fantastic players -- and [David] Beckham, Ronaldo and [Ryan] Giggs."
Ferguson didn’t go into detail on the back four of that side, but had he done so, one player certain to be included was Denis Irwin. Often underappreciated and under the radar, Irwin was a mainstay in Fergie’s all-conquering sides.
"Honestly, I would say Denis Irwin would be the one certainty to get in the team. I called him an eight out of 10," he wrote in his autobiography. "At Highbury in one game, he had a bad pass back in the last minute and [Dennis] Bergkamp came in and scored.
"After the game, the press said: 'You must be disappointed in that pass back.' I said: 'Well, one mistake in 10 years isn't bad.' He was an unbelievable player."
