In the aftermath of bar owner David Bentley’s late night impaired vision prang, the manager of his footballing sideline Harry Redknapp revealed the rather remarkable news that Bentley’s team mates call him “Becks”, in honour of Bentley’s apparent aspiration to “be” David Beckham.
This is not a new phenomenon in sport, in fact it is a regular occurence noted by sportsmen up and down the country, in the main seven year olds in the school playground. The conversation usually goes along the lines:
“I’ll be Beckham”
“No, fuck off you’re too shit. I’ll be Beckham, you’re Nigel Quashie”.
Or perhaps David Bentley these days.
While the obvious and understandable reaction is to ridicule Bentley for his curious hero-worship, there’s something achingly tragic in this manchild yearning to “be” someone who is in effect his rival and peer. Does he ask his girlfriend to let him call her posh?
Still, it does also beg the question of what the other Tottenham players’ nicknames are. Chances are Robbie Keane goes by the moniker “Quashie” these days.
