David Beckham tells Minnesota to ‘show a little respect’ after Pink Phony Club jibe

Inter Miami co-owner David Beckham told Minnesota United to “show a little respect” after the Loons celebrated victory by poking fun at the team they called the “Pink Phony Club” on social media.

Saturday saw Lionel Messi suffer his heaviest defeat since moving Stateside two years ago as Eric Ramsay’s Loons ran out 4-1 victors at a packed Allianz Field.

Minnesota celebrated the win on social media, taking aim at Miami with a post referencing their pink kit and Chappell Roan’s hit Pink Pony Club. “Pink Phony Club” read the caption on an image featuring a goal celebration and shot of the overall MLS standings with Minnesota in fifth, a point ahead of Miami. They also posted an image of a banner reading “History over Hype, Culture over Cash.” Minnesota’s first game in MLS was in 2017, Inter Miami’s came in 2020.

Beckham hit back in the comment section of the “Phony Club” post, saying: “Show a little respect mnufc be elegant in triumph.” He responded to the history post by writing “respect over everything” in a comment featuring a pink heart emoji.

Miami finished with the best record in MLS last season, before being eliminated in the first round of the playoffs. This season they sit fourth in the Eastern Conference, and were beaten in the semi-finals of the Concacaf Champions Cup by the Vancouver Whitecaps.

Minnesota, meanwhile, are enjoying a fruitful second season under Eric Ramsay. The 33-year-old left his coaching role at Manchester United to take the Twin Cities post in February 2024 and has recently been linked with the Southampton job having impressed in MLS.

Ramsay said after beating Miami: “I think for the club as a whole that was really important, but certainly for us as a team to show that we can compete with the very best was really important for us. We’re obviously in a good place at the moment but we’ve got to keep that going, we’ve got to keep working. We got to make sure that that this feeling doesn’t dwell really and we’re straight from tomorrow onto that game on Wednesday night.”

Minnesota travel to the Houston Dynamo in midweek, while Miami head to the San Jose Earthquakes. Javier Mascherano’s side are taking place in the Club World Cup this summer.