13 June 2003 0054SST - 0800GMT

THE DECISION MAKER: VICTORIA BECKHAM

UK (REUTERS) - In celebrity land, where soccer players
rub shoulders with supermodels and pop stars, David
Beckham is king. But it is his wife Victoria, who put
him on the throne. She, more than anyone else, was the
one who turned him from a footballer into a global
icon, and if he does indeed leave Manchester United
this summer for Barcelona, Madrid or Milan, it might
well be down to her.

"Posh Has Final Say" screamed the headline in London's
Evening Standard on Wednesday night amid frenzied
speculation that Beckham is set to join Barcelona.
"David has to talk to her about it and see what she
says before he decides," it quoted Beckham's father as
saying. Before he met and married Victoria, Beckham
was a good-looking, talented and likeable footballer
with a bright future at Manchester United. But that
was about it. Since he married her at a lavish
ceremony in 1999, he has become the biggest celebrity
British sport has ever produced, an icon for teenage
girls and gay men across much of the globe and,
according to many, the most influential man in the
country. "When they got together she was definitely
the more popular of the two," said Andrew Parker,
expert in the sociology of sport at Warwick
University. "She certainly introduced him to a new
circle of people and he became part of the soccerati
because of her. All of a sudden he was an A-list
celebrity. In the four years since then, however,
we've seen his displacement of her in terms of fame
and popular culture. We've seen the demise of her
career and the rise of his."

Tabloid newspapers have long speculated that, behind
the high walls and iron gates of their "Beckingham
Palace" mansion, Posh is the one who wears the
trousers in their relationship. When the couple's baby
boy Brooklyn fell ill in 2000, Beckham skipped a
United training session to look after him and was
dropped from the team as a result. Many were convinced
it was Posh who had insisted her husband stay at home.


Posh has never seen eye to eye with United manager Sir
Alex Ferguson, who is thought to blame her for luring
him away from the training ground to lead a showbiz
lifestyle. Earlier this year, Beckham needed stitches
above his eye after Ferguson kicked a football boot at
him in a fit of post-match rage. When Beckham turned
up for training the next day, he had his hair swept
back off his face and made no effort to hide his war
wound from the waiting photographers. Again, observers
concluded, it was Victoria's idea to publicise the
incident in a bid to push Ferguson into a corner and
shame him into an apology.

During a trip to the United States this month, Posh
has worked hard to promote her husband to a U.S.
public who, largely immune to the joys of soccer,
would not have recognised him if they bumped into him
in the Old Trafford car park. She may appear to have
taken a back seat, but Victoria is still at the
forefront of the "Posh and Becks" project. "It's a
collective venture," Parker said. "Irrespective of
who's on the A-list at any particular time, it must
necessarily rub off on the other partner."

So will Victoria give Barcelona the thumbs up? She has
never warmed to Manchester and few would be surprised
if she persuades her husband to leave Britain for a
spell on the continent. But in many ways, Milan, with
its internationally renowned fashion houses, would
provide a better backdrop than Barcelona for Posh to
pursue her career and promote her husband. If Victoria
gets her way, the Beckhams might yet end up in Italy
next season rather than Spain.

News compiled by Spice Girls Asia News Team

=====
Spice Girls Asia. The Asian Insights Into The Spice Girls.
http://www.spicegirlsasia.cjb.net

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