'Washed-up' Becks Still Means Big Bucks

David Beckham, like the Spice Girls, is popular in the wrong way. He's too glamorous. He's not deep. He is a bit fluffy. And LaLa Land was the perfect place for the Saronged One to end up.

Or maybe not. Latest reports from LA Galaxy say Beckham has had a real impact on the club and the profile of his sport in the United States.

For all that his critics here thought him a busted flush, Beckham has done the business - on and off the pitch. He has scored five goals and played a key part in seven others. The Galaxy are now the most feared attacking side in Major League Soccer, which is some way removed from the limp losers I watched a few times when Beckham moved there from Real Madrid last summer.

At the gate, the Galaxy are the best supported team in the United States. They average 25,513 fans at home games - 5,000 more than the next best, Toronto FC. Across the country, whenever Beckham is in the side, the Galaxy average attendance is 27,094. By Friday, the New York Red Bulls team had sold 42,000 tickets in anticipation of his arrival yesterday.

Alexi Lalas, Galaxy's president, is trying hard not to tell everyone: 'I told you so.' So he's not bothering. 'There is a method to any perceived madness when it comes to the business of Beckham at the Galaxy,' he says, disproving the madness of backers who put together a credit-trembling $250,000,000 deal for him to perform at $1m a week for five years.

The deal was described at the time as the 'biggest investment in sporting history'. It might yet turn out to be one of the best.

Meanwhile, at AC Milan, Ronaldinho's arrival last week saw 5,230 season tickets sold in a single day - a third of the total sold in the whole off-season.

Say what you like about washed-up superstars, but they still move the moolah.