Bobby on the BBC website

[Dawn]

One man who knows exactly what Beckham could go through is Reading's USA winger Bobby Convey.

Convey regularly does the reverse journey to Beckham - flying across the Atlantic from London to the US for international matches before returning home to the Premiership.

And if Beckham were to have as much time with England around matches as Convey does with the US, the number of games he could play with the Galaxy would be sliced even further.

"It is definitely difficult," Convey told BBC Sport.

"I went back about seven or eight times last season, and it definitely took a toll towards the end.

"If I play for Reading on the Saturday, I'll leave on the Sunday to meet up with the USA national team.

"We won't play until the next weekend - we'll play on Saturday and then the following Wednesday. I'll fly back on Thursday and play for Reading on Saturday."

According to Convey, the key is resting after the long flights - but that will impinge on the time Beckham has to train.

"The gaffer (Steve Coppell) at Reading is great with me," says Convey. "He allows me to rest for a couple of days when I get back from international duty.

"After two or three days rest you feel a lot better, although he'll need to eat the right foods and drink a lot of water.

"It's a lot easier travelling for eight or nine hours when you're sleeping in a bed in first class rather than sitting upright in an uncomfortable seat in economy.

"The MLS season also isn't as hard as a Premiership season. Beckham will have a lot more rest in the States."

MLS rules state that teams must travel to away matches on scheduled flights. Privately-chartered flights are seen as an unfair advantage to the wealthier teams.

But Convey thinks it is unlikely that Beckham will be seen queuing in departure lounges with Joe Schmoe, Mrs Schmoe and all the little Schmoes.

"All the MLS teams travel on regular flights. But I think it will be different in Beckham's case. I don't think they can get him on a commercial flight - because of his popularity.

"Everyone in the States is banking on Beckham to do well, so they are pulling out all the stops for him. He's not going to be in economy with a little kid sitting in front of him.

"It is a growing league and they're trying to build the fan base so they will use Beckham to help do that. I'm sure they will charter flights for him. It's a soccer league but it's also a business.

"Eleven trips is a lot for Beckham to make. But with the MLS season lasting only for seven months, he should get time to recover."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/6730731.stm

[SpaceCruiser]

This is more about David Beckham than about Bobby Convey.

[North stander]

That was a bit of a rubbish read tbh

[Dirk Gently]

This is more about David Beckham than about Bobby Convey.

For sure....

[Hahnemann's Hairdresser]

It was always going to be more about Beckham than Convey, but it's nice to see that our American was chosen for the interview over another clubs. It could easily have been McBride, Bocanegra or Friedel but they chose our Bobby!

[crossie]

Who's Joe Schmoe? Does he play for LA Galaxy aswell?

[RoyalChicagoFC]

This is more about David Beckham than about Bobby Convey.

Let's see...our Bobster breaks down a footballer's needs when traveling back and forth between international and club duty, and he explains how things work over here with regard to flights between cities for league matches. He is quoted, at some length, in the BBC piece, whereas Beckham utters nary a peep.

Verdict, therefore: yep, bust out the cross and the nails!

[SpaceCruiser]

Check out this article, http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/6733993.stm

See this part?

"In these young males, sprint times were reduced by 10%, lift and carry tasks by 9% and logical reasoning skills by 15%."

Beckham won't have to worry too much about the possible reduction in his logical reasoning skills!

[kevan]

Wimps, I fly all the time and never suffer with jetlag

Amazes me that people, can sit on their arses for 10 hours and get off tired.

Sat next to someone on a flight to Australia once who was "exhausted" when we got there - after 23 hours sitting down!

Youth of today

[Baines]

Wimps, I fly all the time and never suffer with jetlag

Amazes me that people, can sit on their arses for 10 hours and get off tired.

Sat next to someone on a flight to Australia once who was "exhausted" when we got there - after 23 hours sitting down!

Youth of today

Maybe you bored him.