Vinnie's warning: LA's great but Becks could lag behind

In his previous incarnation as a footballer with Wimbledon, Sheffield United and Leeds, Kings Langley's most famous export scared the living daylights out of the opposition. Now the residents in Hollywood Hills make way for his Harley-Davidson.

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Although his Union Flag helmet is something of a giveaway, 43 movies (and counting) in the last seven years have made Jones a celebrity in the City of Angels.

Invitations to glitzy premieres slip through his letterbox daily ("I could go to three a night but I'm not into all that"), he occasionally pops into Chateau Marmont on Sunset Strip for a beer ("Penelope Cruz was in there the other day — you just say hello") and apparently nobody ever bothers him (cue a wannabe actor who recognises him from the film Snatch).

This lifestyle, of course, awaits David Beckham and his wife Victoria after their ton of Louis Vuitton luggage lands on the baggage carousel at Los Angeles International Airport.

"I don't think the Americans' interest is in the football," says Jones between sips of bottled beer in trendy Standard Hotel on Sunset Boulevard. "There will be people going to Galaxy who won't know what the heck they are watching. This is her stage, it's not his, but it's where she wants to be. She wants to compete with the Paris Hiltons and be the premier it-girl.

"She will love it. He will love it for a while. The football will be easy because what is he going to do, take a few free-kicks? He's not going to tackle anyone, or run up and down the line like he did against Greece."

LA Galaxy are gearing up for Beckham's arrival on Friday. His chiselled features were even on the tickets for last Sunday's game against Kansas City Wizards. Big things will be expected when he starts a new life on $25million a year for five years, but swapping the Bernabeu for the Home Depot Center will be a culture shock.

At 42, Jones still keeps his hand in by playing for Hollywood United alongside former Chelsea defender Frank Leboeuf but if they were not turning out for the world's most famous pub team the pair believe they could still do a job for the Galaxy.

"Me and Frank Leboeuf could still play for them. No problem — Frank definitely," says Jones.

"It's going to be difficult for him to play for England when he's playing for LA Galaxy. They are fit boys down there and he's going to be a big target for other teams. He will do this year, maybe a bit the following year, then go 'b******s to this'. He'll have a beautiful house, family round him, Tom Cruise, this, that and the other.

"As far as his football goes, the big problem will be jet lag. The problem isn't coming to LA, it's going back. I do it all the time and I'm not joking, it takes two or three weeks to get over it.

"At four o'clock in the afternoon you can't hold your head up. He won't be able to do it. Alexi Lalas (Galaxy's president) plays with us and although he will give Becks time, it is going to burn him out."

That is if he has not been burned out by the numerous celebrity appearances the Beckhams are expected to make when they set up home in the States.

Jones has settled in LA with his wife Tanya and their two children but they have shunned the celebrity lifestyle.

The Beckhams, though, are big business here and Los Angeles will want something back after paying big bucks to attract them.

"In Hollywood they go way over the top about everything," adds Jones. "Beckham is already a Hollywood megastar, a movie star or a rock star. Americans won't give a s*** what sort of strip LA Galaxy play in because Beckham is Mick Jagger, he's Bruce Willis.

"How long will it last? That's the key because after half a season people will think 'Oh, we've done that now. What's Lindsay Lohan up to?' That's what I think."

There is talk of Beckham being in a movie but Jones is sceptical.

"He hasn't got the persona for it. He's a bit shy. I played football with Danny Cannon, the director of Goal, and he said 'Well, he ain't going to be no actor'. He should just carry on with his academies. He will earn bundles out of that."

The Beckhams are using some of their fortune to buy a property worth $22m on Mulholland Drive, the premier street in LA, but Jones claims Beckham's privacy will be respected.

"No one bothers you here if you don't want it," he says. "I've been out with Jack Nicholson and Robert De Niro and it's very uncool to go up to people.

"In England, they run up to you, throw their baby at you and want a picture with their camera phone. It's more relaxed here. I've just put in an offer on a house just off Sunset Strip and Beckham could walk along there with his shorts on and no one would care.

"In a way I came here for a bit of obscurity but Victoria is here for all the red carpet stuff. David has to keep his head down and concentrate on the football because there's only one place they will point if it all goes wrong — at him."

Based on Galaxy's dismal form, the Beckhams really will be out of the limelight. As if.