David Beckham: Encyclopedia II - David Beckham - Manchester United

David Beckham - Manchester United

David Beckham - Becoming a first team player 1995-98

United manager Alex Ferguson had large confidence in the club's young players and when three of his first-team players left the club at the end of the 1994-95 season, he made the decision to let the youth team players replace them instead of buying players from other clubs. The criticism of Ferguson increased when United started the season with a 3–1 defeat at Aston Villa F.C.^[2], with Beckham scoring United's only goal of the game, but many of the doubters were won over when the team won their next five matches. Beckham became a regular player in the team and helped them to win the Premiership and FA Cup double that season, scoring the winner in the semi-final against Chelsea and also supplying the corner kick cross that Eric Cantona scored with a volley from in the FA Cup Final.

In August 1996, Beckham became something of a household name when he scored a spectacular goal in a match against Wimbledon. With United 2–0 ahead, Beckham noticed that Wimbledon's goalkeeper Neil Sullivan was standing a long way out of his goal, and hit a shot from the halfway line that floated over the goalkeeper and into the net. Sky Sports' commentator Martin Tyler's words "You'll see that over and over again" proved prophetic as the goal was voted Premier League 'Goal of the Decade' in 2003. Beckham's name was frequently mentioned in the press, and he made his first appearance for the England national football team on 1 September 1996 in a world cup qualifying a match against Moldova. He became an automatic first-choice player at United that season, scoring a series of blistering goals and sublime free kicks, thus helping them to retain their league championship. He was voted PFA Young Player of the Year by his peers.

In 1998, Beckham started dating the Spice Girl Victoria Adams and was pictured wearing a sarong while they were on holiday together. Their relationship attracted a great deal of media interest. United started the season well, but their results deteriorated when several players became injured and they finished the season in second place.

David Beckham - World Cup 1998

Beckham had played in all of England's qualifying matches for the 1998 World Cup and travelled with the England squad to the finals in France, but the team's manager Glenn Hoddle publicly accused him of not concentrating on the tournament,^[3] and he didn't start in either of England's first two matches. He was picked for their third match against Colombia, which England needed to win to ensure their progress in the tournament, and played well, scoring one of his trademark free kicks in a 2–0 victory.

In the second round of that competition, he received a red card in England's match against Argentina, for kicking out at Diego Simeone following a foul challenge by the Argentine. As Beckham lay on the pitch he held out his right leg as Simeone backed into it and fell over. Simeone later admitted to trying to get Beckham sent off by over-reacting to the kick and then, along with other members of his team, waving imaginary red cards at the referee, urging him to send Beckham off.^[4] The match finished in a draw and England were eliminated in a penalty shootout. Many supporters and journalists blamed Beckham for England's elimination and he became the target of severe criticism and abuse, including the hanging of an effigy outside a London pub, and the Daily Mirror newspaper printing a dartboard with a picture of him in the middle.^[5]

David Beckham - The treble season 1998-99

In the 1998–99 season, he was part of the United team that won the "treble" — Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League, a unique feat in English football. There had been speculation that the criticism that he had received after being sent off in the World Cup would lead to him leaving England, but he decided to stay at Manchester United. Throughout the season, Beckham was jeered by opposition supporters whenever he touched the ball, but he consistently played well and his crossing provided a significant number of goals for United's forwards Dwight Yorke and Andy Cole. United's supporters had mostly forgiven him for the problems he'd had with England, and were frequently heard to chant "Argentina" in response to the other supporters' taunts. On a more positive note for Beckham, Victoria gave birth to their first child Brooklyn on 4 March 1999.

United needed to win their final league match of the season at home to Tottenham Hotspur to ensure they would win the league championship, but Tottenham took an early lead in the match. Beckham scored their equaliser and United went on to win the match and the league. Beckham played in United's FA Cup final win over Newcastle and played in centre-midfield for the UEFA Champions League final as United's first choice centre-midfielders were suspended for the match.

United were losing the Champions League final 1–0 at the end of normal time, but won the trophy by scoring two goals in stoppage time. Both of the goals came from corners taken by Beckham, and this, combined with his performances over the rest of the season, led to him finishing runner up for 1999's European Footballer of the Year award.

David Beckham - Wedding

He married Victoria at Luttrellstown Castle, Ireland on 4 July 1999. The wedding attracted enormous media coverage. Beckham's teammate Gary Neville was the best man, and Brooklyn was the ring bearer. The media were kept away from the ceremony as the Beckhams had a deal with OK! Magazine giving them exclusive rights for photographs. They were later accused of bad taste after photographs showed that they had sat on thrones for the ceremony. 437 staff were employed for the wedding reception, which was estimated to have cost UK£500,000.^[6]

David Beckham - 1999-2000 season

Despite Beckham's achievements in the 1998-99 season, he was still unpopular among opposition fans and many journalists, and he was heavily criticised after being sent off for a deliberate foul in Manchester United's World Club Championship match against Necaxa. It was suggested in the press that his wife was a bad influence on him, and that it might be in United's interests to sell him,^[7] but his manager publicly backed him and he stayed at the club.

The relationship between Ferguson and Beckham began to deteriorate, possibly as a result of Beckham's fame and commitments away from football. In 2000, the club gave Beckham permission to miss training to look after his son Brooklyn, who had gastroenteritis, but Ferguson was furious when Victoria Beckham was photographed at a London Fashion Week event on the same night, and he realised that Beckham would have been able to train if Victoria had looked after Brooklyn that day. He responded by fining Beckham the maximum amount that was permitted (two weeks' wages – then £50,000) and dropping him for a crucial match against United's rivals Leeds United. He later criticised Beckham in an updated edition of his 1999 autobiography, claiming he hadn't been "fair to his team mates".^[8] Beckham had a good season for his club, though, and helped United to win the Premier League by a record margin.

David Beckham - Winning over the England fans

The abuse that Beckham was receiving from English supporters peaked during England's 3–2 defeat by Portugal in Euro 2000, when a group of England supporters taunted him throughout the match with chants including "we hope your kid dies of cancer".^[9] Beckham responded with a one-fingered gesture and, while the gesture attracted some criticism, many of the newspapers that had previously encouraged his vilification asked their readers to stop abusing him.^[10]

Following Kevin Keegan's resignation as England manager in October 2000, Beckham was promoted to team captain by the caretaker manager Peter Taylor, and then kept the role under new manager Sven-Göran Eriksson. He helped England to qualify for the 2002 World Cup Finals, with their performances including an impressive 5–1 victory over Germany in Munich. The final step in Beckham's conversion from villain to hero happened in England's 2–2 draw against Greece on 6 October 2001. England needed to win or draw the match in order to qualify for the World Cup, but were losing 2–1 with little time remaining. With Teddy Sheringham being fouled some eight yards outside the Greek penalty area, England was awarded a free-kick and Beckham ensured England's qualification by with a curling strike of the kind which had become his trademark. Shortly afterwards, he was voted the BBC Sports Personality of the Year for 2001.

David Beckham - Metatarsal injury

On April 10, 2002, Beckham was injured during a Champions League match against Deportivo La Coruña, breaking the metatarsal bones of his left foot. There was speculation that the injury might have been caused deliberately, as the player who had injured Beckham was Argentinian Aldo Duscher and England and Argentina were due to meet in that year's World Cup ^[11]. Those speculations were unfounded, though, and the accusations were never proved. The injury prevented Beckham from playing for United for the rest of the season, but he signed a three-year contract in May, following months of negotiations with the club, mostly concerning extra payments for his image rights. The income from his new contract and the many endorsement deals he had made him the highest-paid player in the world at the time. ^[12]

David Beckham - World Cup 2002 and final season at United

He was partially fit by the time of the 2002 World Cup and played in the first match against Sweden. Beckham scored the only goal of the match against Argentina, with a penalty. England were eventually knocked out of the tournament by Brazil in the Quarter-Finals.

Following an injury early in the 2002-03 season, Beckham was unable to regain his place in the team, with Ole Gunnar Solskjær having replaced him on the right side of midfield. His relationship with his manager deteriorated further on 15 February 2003 when, in the changing room following a defeat to Arsenal, Alex Ferguson kicked a football boot which struck Beckham over the eye, causing a cut which required stitches. The incident led to a great deal of transfer speculation involving Beckham, with bookmakers offering odds on whether he or Ferguson would be first to leave the club.^[13] Although the team had started the season badly, their results improved greatly from December onwards and they won the league. Beckham scored the winning goal in their final match of the season. He was still a first-choice player for England, however, and he was awarded an OBE for services to football on 13 June.^[14]

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Manchester United", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki