Hair today and hair tomorrow, it seems. David Beckham, the latest in a line of distinguished England football captains, will become the first of them to lead the team out looking like the Last of the Mohicans when the buzzer goes before the friendly international against Mexico at Pride Park tomorrow evening Hair today and hair tomorrow, it seems. David Beckham, the latest in a line of distinguished England football captains, will become the first of them to lead the team out looking like the Last of the Mohicans when the buzzer goes before the friendly international against Mexico at Pride Park tomorrow evening. For some, of course, Kevin Keegan's 1970s perm was no less outrageous, though he never, from memory, turned up with an earring stud; and even Billy Wright married a pop star, the Beverly Sisters being the Spice Girls of their day. But Becks is his own man or, at least, Posh Spice's and, to be fair, it takes some nerve to walk into any football dressing-room with a hairstyle like the one he has unveiled in Derby this week.There might have been a first public showing at Wembley last August for the FA Charity Shield match between Manchester United and Chelsea, but Beckham lost his nerve.
Possibly he was concerned about the effect of Sir Alex Ferguson's famed "hair-dryer" wrath, though the United manager's reaction this time was, Beckham insisted yesterday, much the same as the rest of the nation: "He laughed about it So did Mr Eriksson. I've had a lot of stick in the changing-room and we've all laughed about it Nothing's changed there I'm not doing it to create attention, it's just me. A few mums and dads have already come up to me and said my son wants it like that." They are unlikely to have been thanking him.Beckham has performed a greater public service if he has made Sir Alex laugh recently, for mirth has been in short supply at Old Trafford. He was keen to offer public support to his manager too, when asked about the players' reaction to the probability of Ferguson walking out of Old Trafford for good at the end of next season. "We'd be sad, because he's a massive man and he's so influential to us players, let alone anyone else. I've learnt so much from him over my 10 years at Old Trafford.
His presence at the club would always be used."A similar testimonial to Ferguson's assistant, Steve McClaren, would appear to be in vain: "Obviously he's a great coach and we want him to stay but if he thinks it's a good chance for him [at Middlesbrough], then he'll do that. When Brian Kidd left, we were all gutted and worrying where the next good coach would come from, then Steve came in."If losing Ferguson and McClaren is regarded as carelessness, for United to part with Beckham would strike supporters as disastrous. They will be reassured by his assertion that: "It would hurt. I love Manchester United, I've been a Manchester United supporter all my life and it would upset me."The temptation for United plc, as opposed to United FC, would be to cash in on their greatest asset in a year's time if his hard-nosed new representatives (the ominously named Outside Organisation) drive too hard a bargain and risk leaving the club at the mercy of a Bosman transfer in 2003.Talks about renewing his contract, which has another two years to run, have just begun and Beckham insists: "There's no rush."Before signing the most valuable autograph of his life, on a contract extension, Beckham would ideally like to know who Ferguson's successor will be, and would like evidence this summer that the signing of Ruud van Nistelrooy will not be the last incoming transfer activity.
