Who Do You Blame?

Many people however do not see 'luck' as being the cause of England's exit from the World Cup and many blame David Beckham for being sent off early in the second half. West Ham United fans have planned to hold up 10,000 red cards with "you let your country down" printed on them when Manchester United play their first away game of the Premiership season. So do you blame Beckham? Or do you think that something or someone else was to blame for England's exit? I hit the terraces at some of our pre-season matches to ask some United fans what they thought.

Dan Peters from Cambridge commented, "I blame Beckham's actions for England's exit." He continued, "He showed the lack of discipline and immaturity that Glen Hoddle feared he would, and playing a man down for so long cost us the game."

Dawn Sandwell from Ely disagreed and added, "English people have always got to place the blame, can't they just accept we were unlucky and get on with their lives?"

Graham Jeffrey from Histon noted, "I blame the ref, he was a total disgrace. He seemed intent on ruining the game by stopping it at every opportunity. He failed to control the Argentinians which enraged our players, and in particular David Beckham, into doing stupid things which cost us the game."

Paul Hail from Cambridge stormed, "It's all Alan Shearer's fault! If he hadn't fouled their keeper then we would have scored and been through."

Jane Austin from Newnham noted that, "England only had to play such a high tempo second round match as they were unable to progress from the group stages as winners, meaning that instead of playing Croatia we had to play Argentina." Therefore Jane concluded that, "It's the whole team's poor performance against Romania that cost us the World Cup."

Harold Webb from Cottenham commented, "I don't think that David Beckham deserves what he is getting. He is only a lad and deserved to be allowed to get over his mistake. He will be the first to admit that he was wrong, but if it wasn't for him playing in every qualifying match we might not even have been in the World Cup."

This surprising forgiving viewpoint was echoed by Donald Norman also from Cottenham, who added, "He had to sit in that changing room from the moment he was sent off to the moment the game ended and that must have been torture for the boy." He continued, "He did something stupid, and faced the consequences. The fans who cheered his fabulous goal against Colombia and called for Glen Hoddle to play him against Argentina should not be allowed to act as Judge and Jury over him, and this goes for the papers too."

A final viewpoint was collected from George Nash of Cambridge who concluded that, "What David Beckham did was stupid, but he is just a young man with his whole career in front of him. Sure, it's possible if he hadn't done what he did then England would have won the World Cup, but there are 'what ifs' in every game of football." George concluded, "You have got to remember the pressure put on Hoddle by the nation to play David Beckham against Argentina. Therefore those fans planning to abuse and hold up red cards to Beckham should first consider a few things - firstly, whether we would have even been in the World Cup if it wasn't for Beckham and secondly how people think these actions will aid David's future England career."

Thank you for your views. I went to every England qualifying game at Wembley and don't, like many fans, feel David Beckham's contribution to England's qualification was anything spectacular. I also find it extremely difficult to dismiss his actions as a crime of passion, or a forgivable moment of madness. His actions were stupid and unprofessional and he will have to learn to live with being remembered as the man whose temper kicked England out of the 1998 World Cup, and ended the dreams of the nation.

Lets get behind the lads tonight as we try once again to progress in a competition which seems to delight in giving us tough draws.

Will Jones