The Sports Bookie Blog

He’s blonde, he’s back and who cares?

May 27th, 2007

After the media frenzy yesterday over the recall of David Beckham to England’s squad for their forthcoming matches against Brazil and Estonia, top Irish online bookmaker Paddy Power has been running a poll that indicates so far that many punters just don’t care.

They’re “all Beckham’ed out” but no doubt will still be cheering if Becks does make a difference in England’s crucial Euro 2008 qualifer on June 6.

(Yeah, yeah, I know the number of votes is too low to be statistically significant…so if you want to add your 20p – click through to PaddyPower.com and place your vote to change it!)

On his sudden U-turn England Coach Steve McClaren said

“It is my decision and it is the decision I think is best for England to produce a winning team that the fans can be proud of.”

It is 289 days since McClaren marked his arrival as England manager by dumping Beckham in an attempt to distance himself from his predecessor Sven Goran Eriksson’s reign.

Whether Beckham will stay in the squad once he leaves Real Madrid remains to be seen and McClaren said: “That’s in the future, we’ve got to win in the short term, and concentrate on the next 10 days. “David comes as David Beckham the player, that’s what we want. We want him on the field doing what we know David can do. “He was absolutely delighted as I knew he would be. He’s been a total professional and he’s coming into form at the right time.”

Beckham’s presence overshadowed Michael Owen’s return to the squad for the first time in almost a year. The Newcastle striker has finally recovered from a knee injury, suffered during the World Cup in Germany, that kept him out for nearly the whole season.

Entry Filed under: General Banter,Sports News & Results