Q&A With Grant Wahl

As promised, here is our question and answer session with author Grant Wahl as he talks about the widely-anticipated The Beckham Experiment: How the World's Most Famous Athlete Tried to Conquer America.

This book is getting scores of publicity (rightfully so) as he explores the origins of Becks coming to America and all of the hype and chaos surrounding the situation. It's truly a fascinating read as Wahl talks to tons of people directly involved in the story and features tons of insight and never-before-heard stories from those on the inside. The link for ordering the book is at the end of the article.

1. Will Alexi Lalas be relieved to have his (apparent) lack of full control revealed?

Perhaps to some degree. Lalas is the first person to say that he deserves some of the blame for the Galaxy’s problems from 2006 to 2008, and he’s certainly right about that in terms of his handling of the roster and the salary cap in ’06 and ’07. But Lalas got kneecapped by AEG CEO Tim Leiweke in the fall of 2007 when Leiweke hired Beckham’s best friend and personal manager (Terry Byrne) as a paid consultant and let him take over the search for coach Ruud Gullit. While Lalas got blamed publicly for many of the Galaxy’s problems in 2008, the blame lay more with Byrne, Leiweke and Gullit.

2. What was the single most memorable moment in the Beckham saga for you?

There were some really cool moments: Beckham’s first free kick to beat D.C. United in the 2007 Superliga semifinal and the classic 5-4 New York win over L.A. in front of 66,000 at Giants Stadium really stand out for me. From a personal perspective, I’ll always remember sitting across from Landon Donovan over lunch last October when he calmly savaged Beckham as a poor captain who lacked commitment to the team. At one point I stopped Donovan and said: “You realize that these comments will cause a s---storm, especially in the U.K.?” His response came with a shrug: “It’s okay.”

3. At what point, if any, did you feel Beckham would look to leave MLS to return to Europe as he did with AC Milan?

Throughout the second half of the 2008 season, as the Galaxy went three months without a win and it became clear that Beckham was unhappy, I would ask everyone I interviewed: “Do you think Beckham might wake up one morning and say, ‘Hey, AC Milan wanted me in 2007, maybe I should just go back to Europe’?” Just about everyone was concerned about it. Sure enough, the news came about during the final week of the MLS regular season that Beckham’s people had initiated loan talks with Milan without the Galaxy’s knowledge. Beckham told reporters and teammates that week that he would be coming back to the Galaxy for the start of the 2009 season, but that went out the window in early February when Beckham started well at Milan and tried to force his way out of LA.

4. As a followup, when did you get the feeling this story wasn't necessarily going to have a happy ending?

Probably when the Galaxy had one of the worst performances in MLS history in its 4-0 loss at Dallas in late July 2008. That game did more than anything to unravel the Beckham Experiment. If anyone gambled on MLS, you would have wondered if the Galaxy was on the take that day. Ruud Gullit (and Terry Byrne) got pushed out soon afterward, and Beckham clearly wasn’t happy the rest of the season.

5. Were you surprised at the candor of some of the players, in particular Landon Donovan, who has always had a guarded personality?

Not really. Donovan has always been open and honest with me, and I knew that he and Alexi Lalas, in particular, would be candid throughout the reporting process and wouldn’t hide if things didn’t go well on the field. I spent an enormous amount of time on this project, traveling to L.A. and around the U.S., and I spoke regularly with several people inside the Galaxy team. The candor in the SI excerpt might be surprising, but if you read the whole book everything kind of builds up to it.

6. Have you gotten any reactions or comments from anybody in Beckham's camp, MLS, or the Galaxy organization?

Not a lot. To their credit, most people are waiting to read the whole book before they comment.

7. Do you think MLS will be less inclined to try and bring in "megastars" to the league as a result of the Beckham Experiment?

It’s possible some owners might resist opening their wallets, but I hope that’s not the case. The Beckham Experiment was pretty unique, and the fact is that MLS needs more star power. The teams just need to make sure they pick the right stars and handle how they fit into the team.

Here are two links to order the book from: Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

Again, our thanks to Grant for taking a few minutes out of his busy schedule to talk with us...now go buy the book!