Ferguson vs Beckham – A Battle in Effective Public Relations

The media hype is starting to build around David Beckman’s first club return to Old Trafford since his acrimonious bust up with Sir Alex Ferguson in 2003.
The former England captain and Manchester United winger will be returning to Old Trafford for the first time as a club player, in the crunch Champions league tie with AC Milan.

On Beckham’s return, Ferguson was recently quoted in the press saying “The only difference with David’s return to Manchester United compared with other players is that there will be a big media circus surrounding him when Milan arrives. He’s such a high-profile celebrity – not just a high-profile footballer – and we haven’t really seen anybody else return to the club in that situation. Our job is to concentrate on the football match and let the David Beckham media circus carry on – we know we’re not going to stop it anyway.”

In February 2003, Ferguson famously admitted to kicking a boot at David Beckham in a dressing room fracas that ultimately would conclude in the player’s sale to Real Madrid for £23million that summer. Sir Alex Ferguson acknowledged kicking a football boot in an angry tirade, which struck Beckham and left a gash above his left eye; needing several stitches to close. The incident occurred after United lost 2-0 to Arsenal in the fifth round of the FA Cup. Ferguson stormed into the dressing room and kicked the cleated shoe, which struck the then England captain. Ferguson found himself in a crisis management situation, with the ever growing popularity of David Beckham became a threat to the empire he had built at Old Trafford.

The details of the outburst were never truly disclosed, although the nature of Beckham’s ever growing celebrity status was believed to be one of the major triggers of the incident. With Fergusson’s recent comments referring to the ‘media circus’ surrounding the player, it would seem Fergie still has a bee in his bonnet about players who create a public image for themselves outside the sporting arena (al la McGrath, Whiteside, Ince, Yorke and Ronaldo).
There is no doubt the celebrity PR machine that is David Beckham still acts as a huge annoyance to Sir Alex.  The Beckham Empire has developed into a global franchise and has arguably become bigger than both Ferguson and Manchester United. However, in many ways, Ferguson has been proven right to sell one of the most gifted English players in living memory.

Since departing the club seven years ago, Beckham has picked up only one major trophy; whereas Ferguson and Utd have gone on to win nine.
In reality, Ferguson will be please with the media circus Beckham will bring with him to Old Trafford. It will allow him to play his old mind games and manipulate the football PR machine to his own advantage. The more attention given to Beckham, the less focus there will be on his own players in the build up to the fixture.

Ferguson has been an expert executioner of effective public relations in the past and in another life would have made an exceptional publicity agent. With Beckham spending the majority of his playing time in the United States and a possible retirement from football after the World Cup – both titans of the game know that this may be the first, last and only time they will face each other as opponents.

With Beckham’s media circus about to arrive, it will surely be Ferguson who will prevail as the ringmaster.

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