He said some things that were printed in the book, but he didn't write it.
Landon Donovan
- Thread starter ooeat0meoo
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Beckhams payslip must have a great affect on team moral!
I read an excerpt from Donovan's book about how most of the team were on salaries of $30 or $40k and Beckham was bringing in millions. On the first night, Beckham took the team to an expensive restaurant and apparently it became really awkward because he didn't pay the tab for the entire team and only himself. Apparently some of the players weren't happy because they simply couldn't afford to be eating at five star restaurants. At the same time, I can understand Becks' dilemma - people would have called him arrogant and it would have looked as if he thought he was better than everyone else for picking up the cheque. Kind of a lose-lose situation.
Coming from the American perspective, I would assume most of those players expected Beckham to pick up the tab, especially as he had arranged and invited them.
he's stating on Twitter he would love to join Everton and no other english team..."Not even if man city offered him 150k a week"
If they were to buy him, I'm sure he'd jump at the chance. He does really need a rest though since he's played nearly continuously for 2+ years between the Galaxy, World Cup, Everton, and Confed Cup. I wish he had made the move permanent last year. He was very good for Everton, and it's always good to see Americans do well in Europe, especially our best player.
He's not good enough for United, I don't rate him at all to be honest and what he did in a short spell at Everton was a bit overhyped if anything. Reckon if he was here season after season he'd be a run of the mill player. Plus wasn't it at a time when Everton were desperate after an injury crisis, hence the loan deal in the first place, so of course he'd look good in that situation.
Put him at United with class players like Nani, Rooney, Valencia, Berba, Scholes and co and he'd not get a game. I'd take Park any day of the week. Donavans international record is of no significance to me and apart from said loan spell what has he done at club level? MLS football is a bit poo really truth be told, no test at all.
Put him at United with class players like Nani, Rooney, Valencia, Berba, Scholes and co and he'd not get a game. I'd take Park any day of the week. Donavans international record is of no significance to me and apart from said loan spell what has he done at club level? MLS football is a bit poo really truth be told, no test at all.
Actually, it's called courtesy when you take someone(s) out dinner, you pick up the cheque that's the way it works, and surely Beckham should know that.
It's his fault for choosing the restaurant in the first place. At $40k a year you take them to the Olive Garden if you aren't paying. I read the book and he truly made daft choices in regard to understanding his teammates financial situations... Quite sad he forgot what it's like to struggle like that..
On a funnier note he'd spend time signing a bunch of things for a teammate so he could put it on eBay and make a bit of extra money on the side
Hogwash. He'd jump at that wage. That's more than triple his MLS salary.
Anyone who goes to a restaurant and expects someone else to pay is a mug, unless you've absolutely confirmed it before hand. If Beckham agreed to foot the bill then pulled out I'd get it... for me if he suggests somewhere to eat which is too expensive, you say you can't afford it and suggest somewhere cheaper. If Beckham then says he'll foot the bill, game on
Basic courtesy that
Basic courtesy that
He invited everyone to dinner.
If you invite people to dinner and don't pay, while sitting on piles of money, you look like an asshole.
You're also not a professional athlete, B.
What a load of bollocks
I stand by what I said before. Don't eat somewhere you can't afford to pay for yourself, unless someone has expressly told you they're paying for it. Only a prick would just assume because he thinks someone else has money, they're going to pay. You make all that stuff clear beforehand
I think it sort of depends on the invitation. "Come on everyone, I'm taking the team out!" would seem to be an indication that the inviter is paying. "Does everyone fancy a dinner out?" does not suggest that.
Unless anyone here actually knows what was said, your opinions are more confirmation of personal biases than anything else.
Unless anyone here actually knows what was said, your opinions are more confirmation of personal biases than anything else.
Their personal bias, I've already alluded to the fact the nature of the invitation is important
The "your" was intentionally non-specific.
The biggest issue with the situation was Beckham's ignorance of the other players and their salaries. I doubt he would have asked them all out to a 5-star restaurant had he known that most of them made a fraction of his weekly salary. Stuart Holden was making $34k(£22k) a year before he went to Bolton and he was one of the better players in the league. The situation wouldn't have happened if Beckham were well informed.
I learned it the hard way that when you are invited to dinner it does not mean free fecking food. The feck. Why the feck invite me then? I can fecking eat my fecking bread and peanut butter for dinner and go to fecking sleep.
Does earning $80k a year really make you poor in the US? It'd be a very good pay here in Poland. I could easily buy a nice, large apartment in Krakow (costs $150k), a comfortable car (around $30k) and live a good life (it's over $6.5k a month) while on that kind of money.
Depends on your situation, it's more than enough if you are a bachelor or married, but add a few kids it soon becomes inadequete.
Also, LA isn't the most expensive city in the US to live in, but it's not a far third behind NY and San Francisco.
I think it is actually 4th after El Paso hehe
$80k is pretty good in the US, for one person you will definetly be living comfortably. LA is expensive though and most of the players were probably on around $20k, which is right around the poverty line ($16k i think but it depends on marital status and kids)
players in the mls aren't usually paid to well unless there one of the top players, Beckham should have been more knowledgeable to this, hell the coaches probably should have told them before he took his teammates out to dinner.
80K is not great here in LA.
No one on the list is below $40k and only a few are below $70k. I don't know the tax situation though and how much they are left with in the end.
Well, you are probably right that LA is expensive, I didn't think of that at first. My brother used to live in Chicago, he finished his school there and got a job at some phone company. Even as a branch manager he was on something around $55k a year, maybe even less. He settled some 30 kilometers away from Chicago though and that area was quite cheap so he managed to make a decent living out of it. He amazingly earns more here in Poland, and that's the reason why he came back, but even $55k would make you a rather rich person here. Then again it would probably make you a millionaire in a poorer country, and a homeless person in Qatar so these comparisons are pointless.
I know athletes are usually considered to be wealthy but when you are average at your job, you won't be paid much. Chances are those players who are 20-something and are on $80k a year would not earn more in other profession. Beckham earns far more than them because he is far better than them, has been his entire career. I doubt they feel all that bad about it.
His goal against Algeria has been named the #1 sporting play of the year by ESPN.
A few kids when at least one of the parents is on $80k is inadequate? I thought everything was so much cheaper in the US than in Europe (and certainly Scandinavia)? $80k is a pretty big salary in Norway, and most parents make due with less.
Well, when I was in Chicago everything seemed cheaper than in Poland. I imported my car from the US because it was a lot cheaper than here, so did my father, and then my brother when he came back. Houses were about the same price back then but prices in Polish major cities have skyrocketed since that time and my brother's house that he paid $250k for back in 2005 now went for $170k - you wouldn't have a hope of finding a house at that price near Krakow, and his previous one bedroom plus a living room apartment some 20km from Chicago is now worth $50k - you wouldn't get anything, not even a small apartment in a shithole like Nowa Huta, here at that price. I don't know how much more expensive than Chicago the L.A. is but it would have to be twice as expensive to make you poor at $80k a year.
The country's most expensive zip codes are typically along the coast of southern and central California. $80K a year doesn't stretch very far.
Full List: America's Most Expensive ZIP Codes - Forbes.com
The majority of MLS players are on extremely low salaries compared to most professional athletes in the North America, perhaps the world. Each club has to squeeze so many player, think it's 23, under a paltry cap of like 2.5m. When veteran players eat up a large portion it leaves these Generation Adidas guys on salaries like 20-60k. If I were a young player I wouldn't sign a GA contract as it really fecks them over salary wise. It's good education and skill trade wise I think.
At this point, if you've got any decent level of potential, an American would have better luck trying to make it in England than the MLS. I think even League 1 has higher median salaries.