DAVID Beckham is for sale at £65 in York, and after his errant, enervated performances in Euro 2004, who could quibble at the fallen galactico's valuation being slashed from £25 million?

On the other hand, Wayne Rooney is also available for £65, when all the Sun-reading world knows English football's squat little boy wonder is now priced at north of £30 million.

'Goldenballs' Beckham and Rooney, together with David James, John Terry, the two Coles, Ashley and Joe, Paul Scholes, Owen Hargreaves, Frank Lampard, Michael Owen, are on display with £65 price tags in a series of acrylic paintings on board by Darren Clifford Thompson at the Blake Head Bookshop in Micklegate.

You will find the heads of England's Euro 2004 failures stuck on the walls of the vegetarian caf, each set in the golden glow of quasi-religious iconography.

Darren, a 25-year-old screen-printer by profession and Southend United supporter by choice, lives in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, but through his friendship with Blake Head exhibition manager Debra Lansell he was invited to hold his Football Icons show in York. He and Debra had studied painting and printmaking together at London Guildhall University.

His passion for football stretches beyond attending Southend games and supporting England to playing football at the weekend.

Football and art come together in his latest exhibition. "The work is based on portrait miniatures mixed with the characteristics of football stickers," he says. "The concept behind the work is to present footballers as contemporary religious icons, using gold colour, crosses and halo to put this impression across. These are images that could be used as altar pieces in the church of football."

Paul Scholes, for example, is depicted carrying a cross. "I was putting the players in a religious context, and I wanted one of the players to be holding a religious relic. Scholes is the quiet, reflective man of the team, so it seemed right he should be the one with the cross," says Darren.

It must be the only Scholes cross of note in the asthmatic midfielder's disappointing tournament. Amusingly, Darren updated the pieces as England progressed through the tournament. "I added the gold-leaf halo to Rooney's head as the goals went in, but unfortunately Beckham's halo in glitter was already in place before those missed!"

Goldenballs, golden halos and all, Football Icons runs until August 3.

Updated: 08:24 Friday, July 09, 2004