I don't know much about professional football, but...

didn't beckham and alex ferguson have some personal problems?

and hey, 25 million quid are 25 million good enough reasons for me! plus, real madrid are at the top of the game...perhaps beckham felt that playing alongside zidane, ronaldo, figo and co. would challenge him more.

Originally posted by Spotnick Can someone explain me how a team owning Ronaldo, Zidane & now Beckham doesn't win every year?And how come Man-U let Beckham go?

I think the main reason United let Beckham go is he was becoming more than just a footballer, and perhaps the powers that be decided there were too many off-field distractions. As AgentWood said 25 million is 25 million (when United eventually get it!), & take into account he could walk away for nothing in a couple of seasons. Also, I suspect they knew Beckham, and the talentless former spice-thing, were looking to move. His PR company have done a pretty good job in making United look the bad guys in this, but I think most United fans know better. And Beckham's statements about being willing to play for United for free only alienated a lot of fans. If that were true, how come it took nearly 18 months to negotiate his last contract?

The main reason Madrid don't win every year? They keep buying attacking players (admittedly damn good ones) but their defence is a bit dodgy. If only their defensive luck had run out a couple of games earlier last season.....

Having said all that, I'll miss Becks (the player), but better players have come & gone, and will again. That's the nature of the game.

£25M won't cover ronahldinho's fee & now real have stepped in with a bid for him too!

They've only bought him for the media rights and merchandising opportunities. Beckham shirts will sell in the Far East, so they will become bigger and richer even if he doesn't get a game. He won't be a regular first teamer, he hasn't got the pace or the temperament, and how's he gonna get up the pecking order on freekicks with Bobby Carlos in the team ? He'd take 'em in his own box if it means he can get a shot in !

So they've got Figo, Ronaldo, Zidane and Beckham.

Now all they've got to do is convince them to pass the ball to each other.

Originally posted by Old Blue So they've got Figo, Ronaldo, Zidane and Beckham.Now all they've got to do is convince them to pass the ball to each other.

Since when having Figo is a big deal? :D

Originally posted by Al Jarvis There's the corruption as well - Real were gonna be banned by UEFA because of their ridiculous debts about three years back, but then miracoulsly sold a prime piece of real estate (a training ground) back to the council for something like 200million Euros. But then, they are 'Franco's' team after all.

Indeed. My understanding of this affair was that this prime real estate in Madrid was NOT meant to be developed as it was a rare piece of green land in the city and therefore should be preserved. Strangely enough, with Madrid carrying nine-figure debts, this legislation was conveniently overlooked to allow the establishment's football club to sell this ground (which has, of course, been developed into a supermarket or apartments or suchlike), clear their debts and leave them with enough to build a state of the art training facility outside the city.

Of course, others, particularly Barcelona, cried foul, but what did that matter? I believe the counter-argument to accusations of bias was that Barça had benefited from the publicly funded development of their own facilities ahead of the 1992 Olympics, although this seems a little amiss since the Olympics were for the benefit of the city, and, going wider, the whole of Catalunya and Spain, whereas allowing Real Madrid to sell their training ground was quite clearly something which benefited only the club, and got them out of jail following decades of mismanagement.

Anyway, as already pointed out, the reason Madrid don't win despite having Zidane, Ronaldo, Figo et al is that their defence is poor. Roberto Carlos is more effective going forward than defending; the now-departed Fernando Hierro was once great but his legs aren't what they used to be; Ivan Helguera I like, but even he has looked distinctly fallible this past season; and Michel Salgado is international class, but not the same world class forward as his attacking team mates.

But...does winning La Liga and reaching the last four of the European Cup really count as failure?

One final point. They're scum as well so they don't deserve to win!

REAL MADRID

Cassilas isn't much kop between the sticks either.

Small beer now that Chelski FC have been bought for £140m by a guy who's worth £4bn. Now just think who he could buy with that ..........

One final point. They're scum as well so they don't deserve to win!