FA load the dice against Beckham
by David Anderson
DAVID BECKHAM is being unfairly singled out by the Football Association because of who he is, according to former Manchester United manager Wilf McGuinness.
The FA this week spoke to Beckham after a series of acts of petulance perpetrated by him. But McGuinness feels there are several other players who have committed worse misdemeanours than the United midfielder this season.
McGuinness picked out Dennis Wise’s tackle and follow up on Nicky Butt during Chelsea’s 5 0 win over United as an example of this inconsistency and he believes Beckham is being targeted because he is such a high profile figure.
‘‘I could name a whole team of players who should be up before the FA before David Beckham,’’ he said.
‘‘You look at Dennis Wise and Eric Cantona got banned for nine months for a similar kung fu attack.
‘‘I’m joking a little, but you get my point.
‘‘I think this is wrong, and it’s just because of who David Beckham is and who he plays for.
‘‘He also seems to be in with a shout for the European footballer of the year, and the FA don’t want him to be suspended if he wins that.
‘‘In general David Beckham cannot win. A year or so ago he was being criticised for diving or staying down injured.
‘‘Now he is gesturing or retaliating in a certain way, and although it’s not violent he’s being pulled up for this sort of thing. Whatever he does he is scrutinised and he still gets a tremendous amount of abuse, whereas certain other high profile people can get away with other things.’’
McGuinness claims Beckham is just the latest victim of a trend which goes back to George Best.
‘‘I think it’s always been this way that the FA have tried to look at high profile players and tried to run them,’’ he said.
‘‘George Best was just the same, and I remember when George got a four week suspension for knocking the ball out of the referee’s hands.
‘‘High profile or not, there’s got to be a quieter way of dealing with players like this.’’
© The Examiner, 1999