Sport 13-10-2004 Beckham Shamed The Nation who: Sir Geoff Hurst what: Says David Beckham brought English football into disrepute with deliberate foul where: Baku, Azerbaijan when: Yesterday snippet: "David Beckham`s admission that he deliberately got himself booked against Wales to trigger a suspension provoked a predictably hysterical reaction yesterday," says The Scotsman. "Sir Geoff Hurst accused the England captain of `bringing the country into disrepute` and also insisted that Sir Alf Ramsey would have stripped Bobby Moore of the captaincy if he had been so scheming." "I cannot possibly imagine that happening in my time," says Sir Geoff, quoted in The Telegraph. "I come from a different planet when it comes to how I feel about it... I think it`s beyond comment. Really poor. Call me an old fuddy-duddy, but I`m disappointed by it. God knows what Alf would have said." The veteran England World Cup winner was in Baku, Azerbaijan, ahead of today`s England game (kick-off at 5:30pm, live on Sky) to unveil a statue of linesman Tofik Bakhramov, described by Sam Wallace of The Telegraph as the country`s most famous football alumnus "who most of the world thought was Russian". Meanwhile, it has been reported that FIFA chief Sepp Blatter - who is also in Azerbaijan for the game - wants to meet Football Association chairman Geoff Thompson to discuss Beckham`s admission. [... more]

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