It may initially have been touted as Wayne’s World, as Rooney’s metatarsal injury dominated headlines in the build-up to the 2006 World Cup, but it has all ended prematurely, with David Beckham the man in the spotlight.
The England captain’s decision to step down after England’s defeat at the hands (or should that be feet) of Portugal has ended an era in footballing history.
With Becks out of the captain’s role, the question is, what now for the 31-year-old sportsman, style guru and undisputed football icon of his era?
He is one of the highest-earning players in the world, with a salary in the region of between £4 million and £5 million from Real Madrid. But it is off the pitch that Beckham really makes his money.
As a brand, Beckham is so much more than just a footballer. The man who has been demonised (who can forget that sending off in the 1998 World Cup last-16 match against Argentina?) and who then redeemed himself as the nation’s hero by guaranteeing England’s place in the 2002 World Cup finals with a crucial free kick against Greece, has topped the player rich list for the past few years.
With lucrative tie-ups with the likes of Adidas, Vodafone, Pepsi and Police sunglasses over the years, his iconic image is estimated to earn him at least £13 million a year in addition to his wage bill. His earnings, combined with the wealth of his wife Victoria, put the Beckhams firmly at the top of the football rich list, with an estimated joint worth of some £65 million.
Iconic earner
David Beckham has been a big earner from the off. One of the first high-rolling deals he netted off the pitch was for Brylcreem, which saw him being paid £1 million for styling his hair with their products. It helped raise their sales by 50% and make him (aided by his ever-changing hair styles) a household name.
Of course, having Victoria Adams as his own personal Spice Girl also helped. The coupling of one of the biggest pop stars of the time with the handsome football star, made them hugely appealing to celebrity magazines and sponsors alike. In 1999 the birth of their first child, Brooklyn, along with their high-profile wedding cemented their position as the most in-demand couple in Britain. While her star may since have waned somewhat, it is arguable that without Posh by his side, ‘Beckham’ would not have been able to build into such a bankable brand, as quickly as it did.
The 2002 World Cup in South Korea saw the full force of ‘Beckham mania’ hit the Far East. More crucially for Beckham (and his sponsors), it gave him an opportunity to expand his fame to the Asia-Pacific market; one that has always offered rich pickings for Western stars.
Alongside Posh, he advertised the Tokyo Beauty Centre, for a rumoured $3 million, as well as putting his own name to chocolate. Meiji, a chocolate manufacturer, made a three metre high statue of him as part of his endorsement of their confectionery.
When he left Manchester United, at the end of the 2002/3 season, his personal wealth was estimated at £35 million and his on-pitch prowess (and no doubt his cult status) meant that Real Madrid were willing to part with £24 million to buy into the Beckham brand.
And there is no doubt that Beckham is a ‘global currency’. The three-year deal with Gillette alone was said to have made him £23 million and his long-standing relationship with Adidas, one of the most lucrative in sporting history, is reputedly an £80 million lifetime deal.
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Scandal
Even claims of affairs, a lack of trophies with Real Madrid and the love/hate relationship between the Beckhams and the British press have done little to diminish his earning power, which continues to put him streets ahead of his sporting rivals both on the pitch and at the bank.
However, over the past year, Brand Beckham has run into trouble.
Last July, Vodafone failed to renew its multi-million-pound sponsorship deal with Beckham, who had been the public face of its mobile marketing campaign for the past three years.
The company, which used him as part of a £13 million campaign at the launch its high-speed 3G service in 2004, denied it had anything to do with Beckham's rather different associations with mobile phones at the time.
Perhaps it was just coincidence that it was around the same time that he was accused of sending explicit text messages to Rebecca Loos, a former personal assistant with whom he allegedly had an affair in April 2004. Then again perhaps it wasn’t.
But it has to be said that the end of the Vodafone deal aside, the allegations appear to have done little to damage Beckham’s image, or his marriage. And done plenty to increase the fortunes of the then-unknown Ms Loos.
As Graham Lovelace, a media analyst, said at the time, the end of the deal might have proved a convenient ‘break-point’ for Vodafone. "These kinds of deals involving personalities have a shelf life," he said. "When you associate your brand with a personality, you have to realise they have a private life as well as a professional life and all those factors get involved."
The Beckhams’ own PR machine will now no doubt be in overdrive in a bid to keep their clients’ family image as bright as it can be. Seven years and three children after they married, today they remain Britain’s most sought-after couple, by A-List party organisers, glossy magazine editors and the celebrity-obsessed British public alike.
A global icon
So will his resignation as England captain relegate Becks to the annals of history?
Only time will tell, but I would guess not just yet. We surely haven’t seen the last of the man whose good looks, iconic status and worldwide fame have arguably put him up there with the likes of Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley in terms of global cult celebrity status.
I suppose the true test will come when a challenger is found for the Beckham throne. City law firm Field Fisher Waterhouse says a young pretender is already in the wings. It predicts that Wayne Rooney will overtake Becks as the most attractive English player when it comes to potential sponsors. It claims the now-former England captain is ‘over-branded’ and the moneymen will be after fresh blood.
Rooney does have a raft of major sponsorship deals, thought to be worth £1.5 million a year, with the likes of Nike, Coca-Cola and computer game developer EA Sports.
The 20-year-old has also lent his name to a range of designer clothing under his "Street Striker" trademark. And Rooney and his fiancée Colleen McLoughlin have already been touted as the ‘new’ Posh and Becks by the press.
But whether they really have the pulling power to knock the undeniably more glamorous Beckham duo off the top spot just yet remains to be seen.
Kingman
