David Bentley would like to assure you he doesn't idolize Beckham

David Bentley has long been billed as the next David Beckham and for just as long, he's come up short of those crushing expectations. And now, as Spurs ship Bentley out to Birmingham City on loan and bring Davey Becks in to train with them, Bentley would like to assure you that he does not, in fact, idolize Goldenballs.

From the Guardian:

They have the same initials, both are renowned for their crossing ability from the right flank and, in the eyes of some people, they also look alike, but David Bentley recoils at the idea that he idolises David Beckham. "I give you my word that I don't wake up in the morning with his poster on the wall and start worshipping it or look to see how he's done his hair today, so I can do mine the same," Bentley says, smiling.

Given how those comparisons -- which began to haunt him when Steve McClaren called Bentley the next Beckham ahead of his debut for England in 2007 -- have been nothing but trouble for Bentley, I doubt anyone imagines him worshipping at a bedroom alter to Beckham. If anything, he probably performs voodoo rituals involving a lock of the guy's hair and an old Spice Girls greatest hits CD, but that's completely different. And aside from that Achilles injury when Becks was with AC Milan last year, it's been completely ineffectual. 

As Bentley says, the Beckham stuff is just the start of the misconceptions about him, though.

"There's probably a misconception of me. Sometimes people think I don't want to play but I love what I do. I love waking up in the morning, coming to work and sometimes it can get lost in translation that I toss things off. Sometimes you will see me bouncing behind cameras, throwing things over the manager [as he did when he chucked a bucket of ice water over Harry Redknapp at the end of last season]. I just love enjoying myself, being around the lads.

"People sometimes get this perception that I'm a big-time Charlie. But that is not the case. I come from a working-class background, I have all the same people around me – my mum and dad. I haven't lost touch with where I've come from."

Yeah, see? How can he be a big-time Charlie when he goes around throwing junk at the manager or bouncing behind cameras like a kangaroo on crystal meth with his shorts rolled up disturbingly high? You have no answer for that, do you? Maybe you're the big-time Charlie. I bet you don't throw things at your boss. Big-time Charlie. 

Jennifer Scholle Tatiana Zavialova Tila Tequila Tamie Sheffield Kelly Monaco