Steve Nicol: Beck move makes it
easier for MLS clubs
Beckham's move will make it easier for MLS clubs to recruit
players, according to Liverpool great Steve Nicol.
The former Anfield and Scotland star, who has guided the New
England Revolution to runners-up in MLS for the past two years,
claimed he had always struggled to bring in quality players from
Europe because of the "stigma'' attached to the sport in
America.
But with Beckham heading to the US now, he said: "This is a great
move for the league, every which way you want to look at it. "I
think the one thing it's done has got rid of the stigma. Ever since
Pele and Beckenbauer and all those other guys came over here, it
put a stigma on our league. Not only among journalists but among
players.
"Quite frankly that stigma should have been gone a long time ago
but Beckham coming while he's still at the top of his game - it's
only a few months ago that he was captain of England at a World Cup
- will help.
"What it will do is encourage other players to come here, and not
at 34 or 36 when they're past it.''
Beckham's move though, has seen Nicol being transformed from a
struggling recruiter into a coach in demand from across the
Atlantic.
"In the past, players have said to me: 'I'll come and play for you
but in a couple of years when I'm done at my club'. But now, even
since Beckham's announcement, I've had players on the phone, I've
had agents on the phone wanting to come and play in MLS.
"Before Beckham signed his contract they'd never have dreamed of
coming."
