Beckham Confirmed!

Beckham Confirmed!

David Beckham has signed a 1.3 million dollar contract ssaying he WILL play for at least 55 minutes against the Phoenix!!!!!!!!!!!

Terry is apparently paying the majority of the fee.

Check the link below for more details.

http://stuff.co.nz/centralnorthisland/4205247a6459.html

Excellent News - I'm looking forwrd to it so Ross and Felipe show up Becks for the plodder he is.  Actually, am keen to see Landon Donovan - I remember him from the U-17 World Cup in 1999 scoring that game winner against us.

Will the team still play the Friday 30th Nov game vs Adelaide. Looking at coming up and making a weekend of it.

Most probably. There is a press release today, so wait for that I guess...

I think its going to be huge weekend for football in wellington. We (that is the Backbencher) are going to get the footpath and carparks outside barricaded off and put an extra bar outside to handle the influx of football fans for both games. its going to be HUGE

I'm sorry, I just can't get motivated on this one. Perhaps it's because we got to see Becks on TV every other weekend pretty much. Players like Maradonna, Best or Cruyff never had that TV exposure here so would have been a BIG attraction. But there's nothing new about Becks. The Galaxy struggled this year regardless and other than Landon Donovan, who else is known there? Lonegunmen2007-09-18 11:15:57

I don't know what to celebrate more...the Italian in me is excited at the Galaxy coming, but the Irish in me is excited in the Backbencher expanding!

(Okay thats a lie, the Italian in me is winning hands down)

Agreed But to the casual fan -Beckham is the most known football player at the moment. His playing here will lift the profile of the game in NZ to a level it hasn't been at since 1982!

Cobi Jones, Carlos Pavon, Abel Xavier... Hard News2007-09-18 11:22:15

Also i think the Phoenix are a "little" angry   at the council stealing their thunder. They were going to announce it today, but the election obviously comes before good graces.

Just announced on NewstalkZB, confirmed December 2nd (Sunday) and guaranteed he'll play at least 55 mins.

Sweet as!! what an awesome weekend of football that will be! Think there will be a LOT of people going to that one, considering theres loads of kids in NZ that will want to see Beckham play, not to mention an international club team, I myself am not too interested in Beckham but it will be nice to see him play (might never get the chance again) and will very like to see Xavier play (ex-Liverpool player 'n all) :)

I wonder when the tickets will go on sale, hopefully before or after i go to aussie

Cool. Hope the tickets are reasonably priced though with two games on the weekend

Those are the words I wanted to see... still excellent value for the remaining 8 home games as well.

I did too cos we will all be going and I do expect some loyalty having purchased a family season ticketand that was also knowing we will be missing the last two games due to travelling overseas...still great value

If Beckham was playing in my front garden, I wouldn't open the curtains to watch him. Good chance for loads of people to get along, great for the kids and great publicity for us but doesn't really interest me. Auckland Jag2007-09-18 12:02:49

Sweet question answered.

Beckham will get a lot of casual fans to the game and it's up to us to show them how much fun being a fan at a football match is. If they get the buzz of being involved with a fan base that creates its own culture then our home crowds will get a boost.

If the match is a success there could be the chance of off season matches with the likes of Man U, Real Madrid, Barcelona (!) or other super-clubs - they sometimes do promotional matches in Asia and it's not too much further to come.

NZ football needs this high-profile stuff at the moment - let's get behind it.

Cheers,
BarcaBarca2007-09-18 12:07:38

http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominionpost/4206197a6000.html

I agree with your second paragraph re media  and don't  be surprised if many "casual" ratepayers also feel  more than slightly aggrieved at  Prenderghastly ,  Mystery  Morrisson  plus  the two unelected members(Poole and Coughlan) on the  sub -committee  for dishing out undisclosed amounts of public money!
As for raising the profile of the game the whole thing in my opinion is just a very expensive flash in the pan ,the profile of the game has already been raised significantly by the wonderful football we are playing not to mention the magnificent backing from the YF  on the terraces and in the media, i simply don't believe this circus will have any long term benefits for the game (was there any tangible long term benefits after England played here ala Linekar, Gascoign etc at Athletic park in the eighties? )
I think this has the potential to be a PR disaster for the Phoenix who up until now  have enjoyed mainly good will from the non football watching public and pretty reasonable coverage from the media (the main exception being the editorial in the Dom Post registering grave concerns about the councils involvement in this venture) , this could easily change given this blatant attempt at pre election populism by the mayor and her sycophants on this profligate get votes at any cost council !

Anyway im away back to the wilderness with my voice now
Kiwi Jambo2007-09-18 12:39:41

Maybe they don't want to disclose it because they are embarrassed with how much they actually fronted up with compared to Terry? Who knows.

<!-- Start Member Post -->" Maybe they don't want to disclose it because they are embarrassed with how much they actually fronted up with compared to Terry? Who knows"
Exactly who does know?

Unless Beckham doesn't get over the injury it's going to happen. So we can support it and get some good PR or grump about it and have it go down like a sack of moldy kumara.

If we talked about every bit of money the council wastes on various ventures our tongues would wear out...

Just hope that Ticketek are not charged with handling the tickets.

It would be nice to see them get their comeuppance over the season tickets fiasco to miss out on their $8 handling fee for what is likely to be a sell out.

Big, expensive mistake messing with the Nix supporters.

�This match will be a wonderful showcase for New Zealand football and great opportunity to show the world that Wellington has a top-class football side in the Phoenix.�
 

I second that. I hate my rates and taxes going into sports -- I'd much rather put my own money directly into the sports I support.

But, heck, it's happening and if this is going to be an opportunity to promote the Phoenix and soccer to a broader audience then we should get in behind it and milk it for all its worth!

Glad to see this going ahead. Extra glad to see we get priority tickets. 

overall, it would have to be good for the club (touch wood)

On the flipside, it could alert overseas clubs of OUR players - I'm thinkin Felipe. It would be wise to extend his contract before then I think.

Happened to the Victory with Fred. The league got more exposure because of Romario etc.

true, Valeo; like you say all the more reason to sort a contract extension out.

Am i right in presuming Sun arvo KO. Need to book flights for the double header weekend, presume it won't be a sun night game?

cheers - I should get that spell check plug in for firefox. I would hazzard a guess it will be played in the afternoon - to take advantage of the sun etc

"I'm not sure if anyone else has posted these comments yet, so here goes. The fact that the LA Galaxy are playing the Wellington Phoenix is huge publicity wise for Wellington and NZ. This game will be televised in the USA and god knows how many more countries around the world. The idea that a NZ football franchise can compete at that level is nothing but mind boggling. This opportunity should be taken with open arms. I don't personally care how much the council spend on promoting this event(and that so far is all they have committed funds to). The hotel and hospitality industry in wellington will make a fortune from people traveling to the city from outside the region. There is no way that this can be spun negatively. I don't hear people complaining about how much money the council spends on the Wearable art shows and that is significantly higher than what they would be expected to pay for the Galaxy coming to town. The timing may seem significant if you are a conspiracy theorist, but you would be naive to think that anyone from retailers and publicans to politicians wont try and milk this opportunity for all it is worth. Thats human nature. I'm sure the Phoenix management are not organizing this for purely altruistic reasons. They have something significant to gain.