David Beckham has been confirmed for the squad playing France on the 26th March though without the captaincy. Beckham will be only the fifth member to join the illustrious and exclusive ‘100 Club’ behind Billy Wright, Bobby Charlton, Bobby Moore and Peter Shilton.

Talking yesterday Beckham stated; ‘I am honoured to be talked about in the same company as these men – they are players I have always looked up to. But I want to go beyond that. I want to carry on for a few years’

The journalist Tim Rich has accused Beckham as ‘representing the age of vacuous celebrity’, perhaps with justification, but this is an accolade I am happy to see him reach.

Of all the footballers of the modern age, Beckham is certainly up there. True, he is inconsistent and does not show the same flair as players such as Ronaldo (both of them), but he is the best England player to have been turned out in the past decade.

This may not be the highest of praises, but when one considers that Beckham has outlasted four different managers (and knowing England’s rather cavalier attitude with dispensing them, the fifth is by no means an unattainable challenge) his achievement is cast in a new light.

Who could say what kind of a player he could have become if there was only one manager he served under, one who forged a team where Beckham would not merely show infrequent flashes of brilliance but would be an integral part of a unit that brought out the best of his abilities.

Of course, this is pure speculation and one cannot judge a player on how good he could have been in favourable circumstances, but his longevity in a period of tremendous upheaval and uncertainty in English football is a mark of his skill.

The very fact that Cappello (and the four managers before him) has seen Beckham as worthy of fitting into the new England team is testament to just how highly he is viewed. He is not the best footballer, but he is certainly a fantastic player.

His inclusion in a team bolsters the morale of the other players, makes his opposition wary as they have no idea whether he is going to be useless or tear them apart and it makes the fans very very happy. I believe there can be no higher regard for a footballer than this.