By moving to LA Galaxy David Beckham has effectively called time on his career as a top

He can deny it all he wants but the truth is he has sold his talents out in exchange for a quarter of a billion US dollars.

Since the move became public, Becks has given interviews claiming he is looking forward to his role as an ambassador for soccer in the US and that he plans to help raise the profile of the sport to new levels.

And I am sure he will. But what he seems to have forgotten is just how low those levels are to start with. Major League Soccer is a very poor cousin of football in Europe, South America and even Africa.

In the states, soccer – and the fact they don’t even call it football should have given Becks a hint about this – comes very low down the list of the sporting public’s priorities. In LA itself, soccer is less popular than basketball, American football, ice hockey, baseball and, quite possibly, tiddlywinks.

Admittedly, Beckham’s presence will raise the profile of the sport. And, over the five years of his contract he may even be able to give one or two of those more traditional American sports a run for their money.

And that is an admirable goal. But that David is playing this particular card like he is some sort of football martyr is a bit sad. He is getting 250 million dollars for five years’ ‘work’. That’s 80c a second for every single second of his contract, playing or resting, awake or asleep. Not a great deal of martyrdom in those figures.

The basic truth is no matter what Becks or his PR people try to tell us, the player went to the US for the money. Plain and simple.

He had offers from plenty of clubs in Europe who could have given him at least two more years of competitive, high-level football. But at a fraction of the earnings.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t begrudge Beckham his extra wealth. He has built himself into a brand over the years and this is the ultimate payback for all that hard work.

Just don’t pretend it’s about anything other than the money David. We ain’t that naïve mate.

Jose Mourinho

I’m not much of a betting man. True, I enjoy the odd flutter but I wouldn’t describe myself as anything like a compulsive gambler.

However, if I did have a couple of grand burning a hole in my pocket right now I can tell you which little wager I would put it on – Jose Mourinho not being the Chelsea manager this time next year.

Just about all the vibes coming out of Stamford Bridge point towards some major, major unrest. Jose is publicly unhappy with his superiors. His superiors are quietly unhappy with him. And that sort of relationship cannot be sustained at that level of football.

John Terry has promised to lead a player revolt if things deteriorate any further. He and five or six other senior stars will go to Abramovich and demand that Jose is kept in place.

That’s not the sort of action many players would take to support their manager and shows just how much the Chelsea lads hold Mourinho in high regard. I can’t imagine Gerrard doing the same at Anfield or Henry at Arsenal.

But, ultimately, it is Roman that makes sure Terry, Lampard and the rest of the lads get paid their over-inflated wages every week and if he says Jose must go, then Jose will go.

Knowing the way the Special One works he will jump rather than wait to be pushed. He will leave the club on his own, highly-principled terms, with his head held high and another couple of trophies under his belt.

When you are as good as he undoubtedly is, you don’t need to stick around where your boss doesn’t want you.

And Jose certainly knows that.

Hooliganism

I guess it was only a matter of time but hooliganism has finally made its way into one of the gentler sports.

Croatian and Serbian fans clashed at the Australian Open earlier this week bringing football-like scenes to a sport more known for polite clapping and afternoon tea.

Around 150 fans – each wearing the colours of their favourite countries – clashed and had to be separated by police before they were thrown out and had their tickets confiscated.

Apparently, despite the fact that the warring fans were going at each other with sticks, no arrests were made by the police who probably left their handcuffs back at the station on the basis that this was, after all, just a tennis match.

What I find interesting is that it was left to the Serbs and Croats to bring tennis down to the level of football. There have been plenty of potential flash points in the past with Argentinians, English, German, Dutch, American, French and Japanese players in the top echelons of the sport. Yet, as far as I know, rival fans have never clashed to this extent before.

Could we end up with police dogs, barbed wire and segregation as the norm at tennis matches? Fans divided according to the player they are supporting? Would be a sad way for such a family-oriented game to end up.

Sad, but not impossible.

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