All right.
Here it comes. I see it dripping.
What's the name of your honey again?
There's a bit of an argument in the house at the moment.
I think it should be "Golden Bees."
Victoria likes "DB Sticky Stuff."
That could get you in trouble with HR.
- Oh God. Really? - Oh my God.
Come on, man.
What other hobbies do you have like this?
Lego.
Isn't that amazing?
Taste it.
- It's really good. - Good, right?
Yeah. "DB Sticky Stuff."
"DB Sticky--" See, it's growing on you, right?
- It actually is. - It's growing on you.
Fuck, it's very sticky, though.
Welcome to the start of the new season in England.
It was a beautiful day in London.
First game of the season.
Number ten, David Beckham.
In the glare of the sunshine,
in the glare of great publicity, we're about to get underway.
Jordi Cruyff tried to chip the goalkeeper.
Cruyff.
And I remember looking over at the manager.
Because if ever you tried anything like that and it didn't come off,
the manager would be on his feet and he'd be killing you.
So...
We won the ball just inside our half.
And I looked up, and I thought, "Why not?"
We were behind the goal that day. It just went deathly quiet.
Like, as the ball left his foot, the ground--
You wouldn't have known you was in a football stadium.
And I remember seeing it go right out left,
and then, all of a sudden, it started coming back in.
And I was thinking, "This has got a chance."
And Beckham saw Sullivan off his line!
- Oh! That is absolutely phenomenal!
From the halfway line!
What an astonishing goal!
Everybody in the ground just lost in admiration.
And 21-year-old David Beckham scores what may go down
as one of the great goals of our time,
and it'll be talked about for a long, long time.
I walked off the pitch, the manager said,
"David, you get on the bus and you don't say a word. No interviews."
Can I ask you a couple questions? First, David Beckham's goal.
Fantastic. Out of this world.
Best goal I've ever seen.
It's unprecedented. In his own half. Nobody's ever done it before.
Good evening.
There was a goal from the halfway line
scored by Manchester United's David Beckham.
We didn't have access to Internet and stuff like this,
so you hear about it through the radio.
And it was like, "Right, Match of the Day tonight."
"We'll watch that."
You'd heard about him before, and you'd seen him play games,
but that's the first moment where I went, "Okay."
"There's a difference with this guy."
And everybody kept saying, "Oh, what a goal!" "Was it? I didn't see it."
"What?" "Didn't see it." Some bloody bloke stood up in front of me.
But that was the start of it really,
because nobody had done it before.
Pele had tried it.
Pele.
He saw the goalkeeper off the line!
David! Here, David! Over here!
Did you know that his life was going to change after that goal?
Oh yeah. It had to. It had to.
They never left him alone after that.
Has he changed at all?
No, he's not changed at all. He's still a nice lad.
- He makes me laugh.
- Do you mind, please? - Do you pinch yourself?
- Think, "I can't believe it's happening"? - Yeah.
I just drift away and, you know, and think how it first happened.
Oh, it's brilliant.
- Morning. - What's up?
Did you kill these deer?
No, not me.
Nothing to do with me, actually.
My granddad was meticulous.
Everything that was written about me, every picture that was in the papers.
Oh my God. Some of these pictures I haven't seen for years.
There's Dad. Did my dad behave himself?
- He certainly had a lot to say. - Yeah.
I was a gas engineer. I used to work seven days a week.
I used to have a red Toyota van.
I would have no other color.
My dad was absolutely obsessed with Manchester United.
Every Christmas, I would get a Manchester United kit.
His obsession was bigger than mine.
I was a hairdresser, and then had the children,
so I worked at home to make money.
We didn't have much then.
My mum would have four or five old ladies sat under the big hairdryers,
and then I would be making cups of teas and pieces of toast,
and giving them cakes and things like that.
I never really did well at school.
I wasn't intelligent, believe it or not. Surprise, surprise.
I never had many friends.
I kept myself to myself.
From the moment I got in from school to the moment I slept,
I spent my time out in the garden.
He'd never do anything else.
If it was bad weather or something, he'd be drawing,
and it would all be something to do with football.
This one is playing for the county.
Look. Already you had--
I know, that style.
I could hit a ball in a certain way, different to anyone else.
To 30 yards away, on a sixpence.
I used to say to him, "Every time you hit the crossbar, I'll give you 50p."
And it used to cost me a fortune.
That's all he ever wanted.
He never went out with friends, never went out at night.
- Partying? Girls? - He didn't want to know.
I saw my mum and dad working hard every day,
till 11 o'clock at night, 12 o'clock at night.
I knew the only way to be a professional footballer
was to work hard.
Did he tell you I was there the first time
Manchester United found him?
And this man was stood by the side of me, and he said,
"I'm a Man United scout." I said, "Oh."
The phone rings, and it rung at a time
where we all look at each other like, "Who's calling this time of night?"
My mum picked it up, and... she, she literally went,
"It's Sir Alex Ferguson. This is Alex Ferguson."
Okay, camera's rolling.
Here he comes. Ready? And-- Hold on.
That's not him. Oh, it is him, moving.
At first, I thought it was a wind-up.
I was... I couldn't sleep that night.
So, thank you so much. We ordered you a coffee.
- So I get two cameras? - Two cameras, yeah.
- I was hoping for three. - Aye, yeah.
And I think you could go.
Okay. When did David Beckham first come to your attention?
It was not long after I came to the club.
1986 has been United's worst start to the season since the war.
The club are fourth from bottom.
The club say they will now be approaching Alex Ferguson.
Is that your first autograph for United?
We haven't won the league for 20 years.
It's a great challenge for Manchester United players.
The one thing about Sir Alex, you had to have...
What we call in England, you have to have a big pair of... to play.
Um...
- You can say "balls." - Yeah. You need a pair of balls.
As Manchester United face a crucial afternoon
in their quest for the Premier League.
Manchester United hadn't won the league for 25 years. It was ridiculous.
The manager saving every vital second.
So that was the Holy Grail.
Out to Pallister.
Bruce! Yes!
Unbelievable!
Brian Kidd and Alex Ferguson are celebrating the championship!
The thing that hit you straight away
was the ferocious appetite he had to succeed.
That's the moment Old Trafford has been waiting for
since 1967.
I won't be taking my foot off the pedal. It's not my nature.
As long as they're hungry. Because without hunger, you can't achieve.
What I wanted was a structure of young people getting a chance.
That was my mantra, to get young players, develop a football club, not a team.
There's me and the boss.
That's one of the first times I met him.
There's a picture of you there, signing with Alex Ferguson.
- Mm. - What was it like signing?
Just brilliant.
Signing the paper and that... I just couldn't believe it was happening.
He came to us as a small, skinny little boy, you know?
But when you see potential, it sticks out at you.
It's your job then to bring that to fruition, to make them a man.
Okay, son?
Alex Ferguson was someone that I looked up to as, as a father figure.
One of the most important people in my life
from the age of 12, 13, when I first met him.
Camera's rolling.
- This was your first ever... - Mm.
Young David Beckham coming on.
Yeah, my first ever game.
A young midfield player. As Kanchelskis goes off.
Look how young, dude.
I know. 17.
We know that they're gonna run long. They're gonna run forever.
Cantona charging. Bülent's getting himself into trouble.
Beckham.
It's a goal!
Two-nil!
The young boys are doing Alex Ferguson proud.
My first goal was great, but I was more excited about celebrating with Eric.
Joy on the youngster's face there.
That's one of his favorite memories.
- Yeah? - Mm-hm.
What was that moment like, when the ball hit the net?
It was a dream. It was just a dream.
And I'd never had a feeling like it in my life. Never.
Let's move around. Steve, can you get the boots?
These here. See that? "Becks."
A really noisy atmosphere at Old Trafford.
Wow.
We talk about anticipation.
To anticipate. Anticipation.
That's why sometimes people speak about intelligence,
that footballers are not intelligent.
But you need to have this kind of intelligence.
We play wonderful football.
David Beckham. That's not a bad ball in!
Wonderful.
Eric Cantona.
Two, might be three.
This is Beckham!
That season, when you see David play, everybody said that he has a gift.
It's gonna be Beckham.
Oh! It's another classic from young David Beckham.
He's like an artist in front of his canvas.
He can put the ball anywhere.
...drop to Beckham!
Well, every goal he scores is an absolute beauty.
How about that?
Seriously, that feeling,
if you could bottle that feeling and sell it, you'd be a billionaire.
There were times that season we'd think, "Wow. Becks,
the way he's hitting this ball, I've never seen anything like it."
There isn't a guy who can do it the way he does it.
This was your entrance every day?
Yeah. Into the Theatre, as it's known. The Theatre of Dreams.
Flash lad, gel in his hair.
Looking real prim, proper. Pretty--
We called him "pretty boy," 'cause he was. He was pretty.
What a finish.
It was very much the music stars in Manchester who were the stars.
We were, you know, cock of the walk. We were kings of the roost.
The Manchester music scene, in that time, with The Haçienda,
it was all about musicians.
The Stone Roses, Happy Mondays, Oasis.
When Beckham's star rose, it turned around completely.
And you'd watch the footballers become the rock stars.
I loved Manchester. You know, there was so much happening.
You know, Haçienda, which-- I never went to Haçienda, but--
Well, I actually might have gone a couple of times, but, uh...
- Did you ever go to The Haçienda?
No.
I don't like nightclubs... um, really.
Not for me. Never have been.
The music, the noise... I think a night out, for me, is about a social experience
where, the people you're with, you talk, you have a good night, you have a drink.
The idea of nightclubs, where you've got music in your ear,
this banging noise, that isn't for me, that.
- Is that a scarf? - Not a scarf. It's a hoodie.
- Is it? - Give me a break.
Gary Neville.
Beckham.
We were absolutely destroying teams down that right-hand side.
He was with his crossing.
And I was supporting him in a way which, to be fair, was...
I'd say I was a side dish, really.
It's another for the collection for David Beckham.
Not the beef.
I was the mustard on the side.
- Gary was Mr. Sensible. - Did he talk a lot then?
Oh, Gaz? Gaz always talked.
He could always talk, and we very rarely listened to him.
But there was just that special connection between us.
Do you think he's a good player?
Yeah. I think he's gonna be the best midfielder in England.
I'm sure of that.
He's unique in that he can do things that other footballers can't do.
- Gary Neville. - I was subservient...
Beckham.
...because I need David to go and do something magical.
Glorious ball.
He was practicing free kicks. I was practicing throw-ins.
Beckham.
It's a difficult ball, but how about that for execution?
We were like that on the pitch.
It was telepathic.
Off the pitch as well, I knew where he was in his mind.
- It wasn't enough for him.
He wanted to be more than a football player.
That season...
In a short while, I'll be issuing a statement.
...that was the start, for me, of working with the brands.
We've invested significant resources in developing a modern range of products
which is specially formulated for men.
That was the first time I stepped outside of football.
- David! Over here!
Not many footballers were doing that, at that point.
Sit up straight.
But you got paid.
Yeah, I got paid.
Yeah.
I'm trying to get wide on it. Hang on.
It's blooming nice, yeah. Yeah, it's...
This is the first time that I've ever been in a Porsche.
- You spent your money. - I spent my money.
- You liked your stuff. - I like nice stuff.
- Oh, what's he like! Yeah.
As soon as we got money, it was like, "I want to buy a nice watch."
I love shopping, I love cars, I love watches.
- Your watch. What is it? - This is a Rolex.
- This is interesting. - Yeah, that's Gucci.
You have to look good for the paparazzi, haven't you?
- David! Over here!
I'd signed a contract with Adidas...
for £50,000.
And I went and bought an M3 for £50,000.
What is the obsession with the cars, man?
Bentleys, Porsche, yeah. He was the first to kind of...
Upped everyone's game in the car park, I'll give him that.
David used to get his salary on a Friday and spend it on a Saturday, all,
spend the next five days waiting for his next salary
to get the jeans to match.
That was him.
Have money, spend it.
Me and Gary were like, "Let's save it for a rainy day. Have a pension."
We put money in a pension and David's like, "What are you doing?"
He was like, "I bought a fancy pen,"
and we're like, "Who the fuck buys a pen?" You know what I mean?
Who buys an expensive pen?
Shirts and clothes, I get all that, and cars. But who buys a pen?
How many letters do you get?
I don't know. I pick up a big Royal Mail sack sometimes once a week.
So, do you remember when David got his first fan mail?
Uh, I can't honestly remem--
He, uh... It just got built up and built up,
all these young ladies writing to him, you know?
What did they send?
Do people send you knickers through the post, all that kind of thing?
Yeah.
Mm. It's not nice, is it, sending underwear to a boy?
I'd put them to one side and...
...didn't reply.
- Did it get to his head? - No.
When you start young,
a lot of people want to invite you to this party,
and you become the most beautiful guy for a lot of girls.
You've got people around you ready to give you advice, to spend money on that.
And then you have to... you know, stay calm, keep the feet on the ground,
and know that this is a circus.
"And I don't need this kind of circus."
"I need to concentrate on football."
Can you believe it's happening to you? Are your feet still on the ground?
Oh, yeah, definitely.
Actually, it was nice, one of my friends turned round to me the other day and said,
"You've got all this, but it's not changed you."
It definitely didn't change me.
Well, he changed, there's no doubt about that.
And I think that media attention he was getting,
and becoming a celebrity, it was different from what I wanted.
Getting David to keep his feet on the ground became more difficult.
Okay, David. Straight down the center. Big smile.
He was a good-looking boy and he was always well-cut,
so it was a great attraction for the media.
Does pop image for young footballers concern you?
Well, I mean, I think... Yeah, I think it probably does.
I think that's a phase at the moment, that he's getting a lot of profile.
Over this way.
And you hope that dies out quickly.
Just from the head upwards. Keep your shoulders that way.
He's taken an agent on now, so...
I don't know how... they handle that part.
But he knows where I am, and that's important.
I know my team, and hopefully, we can do the business.
All right. Bye-bye.
He wanted me to go with a certain agent that he knew,
and I wanted to go to another agent.
And he went--
He went absolutely mental at me. Like, mental.
To the point where he wanted nothing to do with me.
He wouldn't even talk to me.
I didn't want anything to come in the way of the football.
But I knew my career was going to end at some point,
and I wanted to have a career after football.
And that ate away at the manager.
He just wanted me to be the best footballer that I could be...
...and be, you know, married to a local girl that wasn't a superstar.
We were watching TV.
It came on.
And I turned round to Gary, I went,
"See that one there? I'm gonna marry that one."
And we're laughing and joking. I'm like, "No, I'm gonna marry that one."
"The Posh one. The one in the black dress."
I suppose that most blokes have done that in their life.
Looked at a television, said, "I like her." You don't end up with them.
We went to a game, and we were invited onto the pitch at halftime.
Thank you very much.
But all of my family are Liverpool supporters.
David, playing for Manchester United,
I just knew that he was one of those players
for that team I didn't really like very much.
In the changing room, before the game, one of the players came in
and they said, "Two Spice Girls are here," and I was like, "What ones?"
And they was like, "The Sporty one and the Posh one,"
and I was like, "Great."
Victoria, can you announce this one?
Okay. This is three-zero-six-nine.
Three thousand and 69. If that's your ticket...
So, I then played the game.
Neville.
It's a useful cross.
Beckham! Absolute beauty!
He could not have struck it better.
Gary Neville can take plenty of credit.
I am not into football at all.
I wasn't into football then, I am not into football now.
Olive, want to come and be in it? It will make me look like a nice person.
I'll pat you every now and then--
You'll need more than one dog. I should bring the other two in as well.
But I'd seen pictures of him in magazines,
and he's obviously a really good-looking boy.
Was a boy. How old was he? Boy? Young man?
The fact I went to the games really was just to kind of...
Some would say "stalk" him. I would say "see" him.
When I saw him in the footballers' lounge,
other footballers were at the bar, but he was standing,
talking to his parents.
And I'm very close to my family, and I loved that side to him.
That first time that I speak to her,
I just fancied her.
I just fancied him, and it was as simple as that.
Yeah, I mean, I think, also, we both come from families that work really hard.
Both of our parents work really hard.
We're very working, working class.
Be honest.
- I-- I am being honest. - Be honest.
I am being honest.
What car did your dad drive you to school in?
- So, my dad did-- - No. One answer.
- My dad-- - What car was it?
It's not a simple answer.
What car did you get your dad to drive you to school in?
- It depends. - No. No, no, no, no.
Okay. In the '80s, my dad had a Rolls-Royce.
Thank you.
I must have flown to the game,
because I wrote my number on the airplane ticket.
And I remember saying, "You better call me."
There was something there that just... straight away
I was just, like, "Okay, this is it."
"And it's gonna move fast."
But I wasn't one of these girls that would be interested in footballers
because they're famous.
I don't mean this in an arrogant way, but I had that myself.
- Hi.
The list of boy bands around these days is endless.
Hello.
Spice Girls are set to give the lads a run for their money.
And we were on a mission to prove that girls are better than boys.
Go on, say "Girl Power."
Come on, you can do that. Say "Girl Power." Just do one.
And I suppose what we created was a bit of a monster in the five of us.
We would jump on the tables. Well, I didn't jump on the tables.
I was always a bit more sensible.
We just present ourselves as we are.
I never found it as easy as the other girls to be that outgoing.
I was always quite shy.
I was never the popular kid at school, you know?
I was actually bullied, um, quite a lot.
And I probably would still be that way if I hadn't have met the girls.
She is the foxy lady of the group.
- I'm not. - She's a foxy lady.
And what the Spice Girls did is they brought me out of me.
There's only one.
I'm Scary, really.
And that just kind of became our thing, that we celebrated our individuality.
We called ourselves Spice Girls because--
If you look at us, we dress quite differently, don't we?
And we're all really different.
We're like all different-flavor spices.
We're just being ourselves. We don't need a uniform to be in a gang.
If a man wants to wear a dress, that's fine.
Just be who you want to be. Doesn't matter who you are, what you are.
You put a lot of emphasis on protecting young players
from the outside world.
David Beckham struck the only goal of the match.
- But what do you do with David?
Well... uh, D... David is...
The-- The availability of the protection's always there for him.
He knows where I am.
Sir Alex would buy players...
...not just because they were talented, he had a look at their background.
"Have you got a girlfriend?"
"Yes, gaffer."
"How long you been with her?"
"Two years, gaffer." "Are you engaged?"
"Getting married in 1990, gaffer."
He liked the fact that you were going home to someone,
because he wanted you to be stable.
Not having parties every night.
Sir Alex Ferguson had socialist principles.
"You might be an individual, but in here, we're all equal."
"You're putting the team first."
What Sir Alex built was a team of Mini-Mes.
The boss would not let us wear anything other than a black boot.
And I remember bringing a pair of white Adidas into--
And he was like, "Absolutely not."
We all knew the rules.
It's his way. You had to conform.
Go against him, you were finished.
My manager kept saying, "Try and keep it under wraps."
"Don't get photographed together." So we would--
We would meet in car parks, and that's not as seedy as it sounds.
The first kiss that I ever had with Victoria was in the BMW, in a car park.
Classy.
The truth is, he was on the phone to Victoria every second,
and he would stay on the phone until one o'clock in the morning.
He was in the bathroom with the light on all night,
speaking to her.
I'm like, "What the fuck are you speaking to her about?"
What would you say?
We just-- I don't know. I think...
Have you never done that, though, early on in a relationship?
No.
"Come on, mate. Seriously? We play Liverpool on Sunday."
Good morning from Anfield for the most important league game
of the Premier League season, the two juggernauts of English football.
For United, the win would put them well on their way
to their fourth title in five seasons.
Victoria would be away and we'd be staying at his house.
And three o'clock in the morning, the phone would ring.
He had a game, so I'd answer the phone and say, "He's in bed, asleep."
And they'd want to talk.
But me, being a protective mum, would have thought,
"You shouldn't ring this time in the morning."
But how can you tell? They're adults.
Morning kickoff.
Some criticism of that, that such an important game
has to have an 11:15 kickoff.
It's meant, of course, that the players have had to get up at the crack of dawn.
And just looking at the players' faces,
you can see the nerves and tension of the occasion.
We were worried that he'd lose all what he'd worked for.
'Cause football come first and, all of a sudden, it wasn't.
This is Gary Neville. He's played so solidly again this season.
I knew the lengths he was going to see Victoria, it was a lot.
It was like an addict.
It was like he had to-- He would drive four hours to spend 20 minutes with her.
Kvarme gets it away. Not very far. Here's Beckham!
Liverpool were grateful that he wasn't so deadly on that occasion.
He couldn't kid us.
I'd say, "Where were you last night, mate?"
"Oh, I just went for a drive." What do you mean, "Went for a drive"?
Beckham again. And this time
the ball is...
You knew David was pissing the manager off.
I think he was probably going down to London at times
when he possibly shouldn't have been.
- And the manager wouldn't have that.
Long ball in. And Barnes has scored!
If you lose discipline, you don't play at 100%.
You play at 80% or 90%, and then you go down very quickly.
You know? Very fast.
In a few months... you've disappeared completely.
And then you wake up in the morning and you say, "Oh, shit."
Exactly what the Liverpool fans ordered.
I didn't care when I saw her, how much I saw her.
If it was me driving down to London to see her for seven minutes, I did it.
And he won't be very happy
with the way this story is unfolding so far.
But...
This is Gary Neville.
...I don't know how he did it.
Cantona. Beckham. Nicely done.
Cantona again. Lovely move by Manchester United.
That was on the far post...
David had the ability
to have madness in his life, potentially...
Swung in again by Beckham. And a tremendous save!
...and literally an hour before kickoff, he'd switch into football mode.
Beckham. Here comes the Manchester United corner.
And a goal!
And how priceless will that goal be in the title race?
He'd be on it, and he'd perform.
I don't know how he did it.
Here's Beckham again. Pallister again on the near post!
And he's done it again!
And Liverpool's defending from corners is an absolute nightmare.
I don't know how he did it.
I couldn't do it. Honestly, it would break me.
And Manchester United get the three points
in the biggest league game of the season.
This was the first time we were really seeing Victoria and David Beckham
together as a couple.
It's unbelievable.
It's manna from heaven for newspapers.
There's so many angles. It hits pop culture, sport.
And I always remember, in Manchester,
there were the two brothers that followed him around.
They were fucking everywhere.
He sees you.
VDB. Victoria and David Beckham.
For about three months, we kept it quiet.
You guys followed them everywhere.
And then I bought her a Cartier watch, and she wore it.
And then, all of a sudden, people were piecing it all together.
So... You know, "Posh and Becks."
- Over here, David!
Were you aware of the Spice Girls?
I certainly was. I put them on the cover.
I only put them on the cover 'cause my daughter was so obsessed with them
that I felt that the world must be.
- Were you a football fan as well? - Absolutely not.
But when you have two equally charismatic people, it doubles the volume.
It puts the heat factor way up.
It became fashion-led.
We had to learn fashion brands. Learn which handbag Victoria was carrying,
which trainers David was wearing,
which glasses he wore, which car he was driving.
We had to learn.
- It didn't rub off. - No, it didn't rub off, no.
David didn't have a lot of friends at school. Neither did I.
And you go from being that kid at school, who's desperate just for a friend,
to, all of a sudden,
being chased down the street.
You know, it was a novelty.
And here goes David Beckham.
Game, set and match for Manchester United.
Victoria Adams joins in the glee.
I can't put into words how big they were.
They were the new Charles and Diana, in some ways.
I don't know whether I feel comfortable saying that.
- But they were like royalty.
This is the day of Princess Diana's death.
I was not comfortable with the photographers
being as aggressive as they were.
But I loved being in her world.
It was exciting.
Do you get a kick when people go, "There's David..."
You do get a kick. Don't you?
Yeah, of course. You know, you... You walk down the streets,
and then this kid's like, "Ah..."
A little kid, and you're like-- Yeah, it's nice. It is really nice.
The 1997 Young Player of the Year,
and thoroughly deserved, David Beckham.
You're attracting attention not only from the back pages of newspapers,
but the front pages and the middle pages.
I very rarely get nervous.
But I remember getting the phone call
from the England manager.
David, is it extra special to play for England?
Uh, yeah, I think so. It'll be a great experience.
I loved United,
but the number-one thing that I'd always wanted to do, above anything else,
was play for England.
That was a dream.
Can you see him now?
To get picked to play for your country, how important is that?
Know when someone's telling you something and you're trying to be calm?
"Yeah, gaffer, that's unbelievable." But your stomach's going 100 mile an hour.
You just can't wait to get into your room and ring your wife and tell everybody.
Playing at the national team's stadium, playing at Wembley
is a very emotional moment for me
because my dad always used to take me to Wembley to watch England play.
That was really what my childhood was all about.
To see my son come out for the first time at Wembley,
I must admit, I had a little tear.
To get a phone call from the England manager
would have always been great.
But to get it from Glenn Hoddle?
That was a special moment.
As a young kid, I loved Hoddle.
He was kind of flash, he was good-looking, he had the hair.
You know, he always wore his shorts really short.
He had good legs, actually.
But he could play a ball no one else could play.
Everything that he did,
I wanted to be.
I remember Glenn Hoddle was opening a shop.
And we stood for two, three hours in his little England kit
with "Hoddle" on the back, and he never turned up.
Glenn Hoddle never turned up.
David was distraught.
The fact that I've brought him in on my first squad and given him his debut,
um, and he's stayed in the team, I think says it all.
But obviously, he still needs to find his feet at international level.
And he was building the team around Becks.
But... I think Glenn Hoddle had demands on Becks because he knew how good he was,
and I think he saw a bit of himself in David.
Rome has seen its fair share of gladiatorial confrontation
down the years.
Will it ever have witnessed anything like this, though?
England's biggest game of football for some four years,
for a place in the World Cup Finals.
To say I was nervous... is an understatement.
Well, all football fanatics know the scenario tonight,
but forgive me for just spelling it out.
Italy have to win, a draw enough for England.
On this extraordinary night.
A sellout crowd of 75,000...
- He loved playing for his country. - [commentator 2] Beckham.
He was so patriotic.
A problem for Ince, who seems to maybe have a facial cut.
I'd never played in the World Cup.
It's a player's dream to play in the World Cup. The pressure of it...
Beckham. This is great play.
Sheringham. David Beckham!
That could have been, and maybe should have been, all over.
And we're into time added on. David Beckham's corner.
And here comes Chiesa and Italy, with Del Piero.
- Oh!
England have qualified for the 1998 World Cup Finals.
And it's the dance of joy for the man who masterminded it all.
Glenn Hoddle got us to the World Cup...
They achieved the target.
...which, for David, is another dream.
And raise your glasses back home.
Another dream come true.
But...
I was on tour.
Not knowing when I was going to see him, that was the difficult thing.
But he used to do anything to just try and spend time with me.
He would sometimes charter a tiny, tiny plane, like a two-seater plane.
He would come over literally just for a few hours, and then go back.
This way. Around this way.
Soccer and Spice...
Victoria, can you describe the ring for us?
...posing for pictures after announcing their engagement.
Everything about Victoria, I loved.
I didn't know she was the strong woman that she was.
And I liked that.
I don't know whether it was because I wanted her to look after me.
You must've felt safe with her?
Yeah. I did.
They might have found love, but finding the time to be together
could be the problem.
While Beckham has his sights on the World Cup,
the Spice Girls are about to start their world tour.
She's a strong, strong woman.
Can be a pain in the ass, though. She was a pain this morning.
The England squad arrived today,
setting foot on French soil in beige suits.
They were "dull and lacking in style."
The suits, that is, say fashion editors.
We had some shit suits, man. Some really bad suits.
You could have three of me in one suit, it was that big and baggy.
But Becks still looked good.
I used to say, "Who's helping him with this shit?"
"Are they fitting his kit differently?"
"Is he going to a tailor to get his kit fitted?"
"Because the way it looks on him ain't the way it's looking on me right now."
The World Cup is the spectacle of all spectacles.
I mean, there is just no comparison.
The viewing figures for England at the World Cup
exceed anything in this country.
It's estimated up to a million extra TVs
will be sold to watch the first kickoff.
What else is attracting 25 million people watching it?
I mean... [scoffs] The royal wedding?
Asda will be stacking up an extra 300,000 gallons
of beer and lager.
Relate, the relationship-counseling organization,
says if your love life is already on shaky ground,
France '98 could put the final boot in.
Nothing generates the emotional collective narrative energies
of the World Cup.
It's the most important thing in life.
But I think there are lots of other things in life--
Julia, there is nothing more interesting than World Cup football.
Even you-know-what is not more interesting than the World Cup.
- I think there are some things. - Excuse me!
England!
This is the moment that this idea of Englishness
around the football team emerges.
And people start talking about a "golden generation" of English footballers,
which is like, there's an albatross to hang around one's neck, eh?
♪ England! England! England! ♪
If England have any kind of success at a tournament,
I don't think any country unites like our country.
Mm.
In the training camp,
all the other players had had their wives or their girlfriends there.
But Victoria was touring the world at that point with the girls, so...
I didn't get any time with them, with her.
I went to Glenn Hoddle and said,
"Before the tournament starts, is it okay if I go and see her?"
"I haven't seen her for, I think it was seven or eight weeks."
Uh, I think he said yes. I think either... No.
He phoned me up. He went, "Oh, Dad, I'm in the paper."
"What for now?"
He went, "Well, I wore a sarong." I went, "What the bloody hell's a sarong?"
So I rushed out and got the paper.
And I looked at it and I thought, "Bloody hell."
And then I phoned him back. I went, "Do you know what?"
I said, "I like that." I said, "You look smart in it."
And I'm like, "That ain't gonna work. That ain't gonna work, that."
David Beckham. "Got his Posh frock on," it says here. It's a skirt.
This was, like, front page of the absolute shit-fests of newspapers
that existed at the time.
He was feeding them like a frenzy.
Have you been keeping in touch with your fiancée?
Did Victoria give you confidence outside of football?
Yeah. Yeah.
And I needed that at that time.
So, uh, what is the final word on the sarong?
- Or are you fed up with that?
You haven't seen nothing yet.
There's more to come?
Maybe.
Just clear my throat.
I'll put the football a bit higher there as well.
Beckham has to deal with an awful lot.
- How do you think he's coping? - That's the main half of his problem.
I don't think he's been focused coming into this tournament.
He's not focused on football.
He came out and said that my head wasn't in the tournament
and he was worried about it.
He's got to understand that football's got to come first and remain first.
What's the mood like in the papers today? We don't get them. Is it good? Bad?
The comment he made about David was a public... annihilation.
Some of the tabloids have had a go.
Glenn just created an absolute shit storm, publicly,
for David and for the whole country.
Now, you're a teammate and you're a friend of David Beckham.
He's just in the spotlight all the time.
Do you feel for what he's going through at the moment?
Um...
Yeah, I suppose so. I don't think it affects David, to be honest.
It killed me. It killed me.
Especially someone that is questioning...
He was questioning... me as a player.
He was questioning my personality, my professionalism.
That's when questions were being asked.
"Is he right for the tournament? Should he be in the squad?"
And then... I get dropped to the bench.
Beckham, the only player to have taken part
in all of England's qualifying games,
said it had been a bitter blow.
We were all surprised. It was all a shock.
There was talking about, "Why's he not playing?"
"Why is Becks not playing? He's got to be. It's madness. He should be playing."
Do you feel there was any particular reason why you were left out?
Um, I don't think there's any particular reason.
You know, the manager just told us the squad for the game,
and then, uh... that was it, really.
So, you know, I can't really say much.
So now you have come to terms with it?
Um, not really, no. You know, I still wanted to play.
I was desperate to play in it.
In the end, it's up to the manager.
David was down. He was down.
He was low.
- David wanted to go home.
He wanted to go home.
I don't think he wanted to be there.
And did you think he was focused?
He was.
David struggled, always, when he was away from Victoria for long periods.
He did. He did struggle. He has to admit that.
Even though I'd been treated, I think, the way... Hoddle had treated me,
I still wanted to... be there.
This is the biggest setback of David Beckham's career so far.
How he responds to this current setback could be crucial for him.
I took a boom box and a bag of balls out.
I put it on, and I took free kick after free kick after free kick
♪ Changing my outfit He said, "Blink" ♪
♪ "We gon' send the hounds in" I said "Wait" ♪
♪ 'Cause here I come Here I come ♪
♪ Here I come You boys get ready, 'cause here I come ♪
Gary Neville believes Beckham has the strength.
This is a test of character, and David's character is magnificent.
Hello.
There's a tremendous sense of expectation for this one.
No Beckham, still?
No. No.
♪ Here I come You boys get ready ♪
England really do have to lift this tempo.
Oh, Adams is struggling. And Moldovan!
And England are behind!
David Beckham is about to come on.
He should be really focused now, shouldn't he?
They said he wasn't focused.
Beckham's chasing after this one, and got there first.
Good play by David Beckham.
In a World Cup.
Everything David Beckham has so far done has been very positive.
Nah. But that's, that's Hoddle for you.
♪ You know we got 'em involved We too diligent ♪
♪ They say the music is strong And too militant ♪
Beckham's taken that beautifully. He wants a good delivery.
Glenn Hoddle said his head wasn't in the right place, didn't he?
And Beckham chasing on! That could be a problem.
I just put him on my hit list.
People that upset me.
It's with Beckham. A little chip by him.
Shearer's gonna turn it back and drive it across.
And England have equalized!
And just look at the delight of the England fans.
40,000 people can't be wrong.
They're shouting for him to come on.
Meanwhile, the non-selection of David Beckham continues to fester.
It just saddens me that I stand here, and three questions
about nothing about tomorrow's game.
It's a bit disappointing.
The Prime Minister wisely steered clear of the controversy.
There are some decisions I have to take, there are decisions for Glenn Hoddle.
He's the right man to take them.
♪ Darkness, heartless ...you regardless move with hardness ♪
♪ Y'all just pressin' charges It's often injury ♪
♪ Floss and force my entry This penitentiary, knockin' up... ♪
And here are the men on whom England's responsibility rests
to qualify for the next round of the World Cup.
Gary Neville!
It's going to be a tense couple of hours.
Number seven, David Beckham!
And you could see he wanted the responsibility.
He wanted to be the guy who the team relied upon.
Step forward, David Beckham.
Beckham strikes.
I say!
Oh! There's one for the picture book.
David Beckham. Brilliant! Brilliant! Brilliant free kick.
Unstoppable!
If they were to lose, okay,
I've already reserved him on flights for Sunday and Monday
to come and see me, and he can spend a fortnight with me.
And if they win, then he can't come out for another couple of weeks.
That's it!
- We're through! - Nice one, David!
Well done, babe! No, it was wicked. It was really good.
We was all sat here, watching.
No, you looked really nice. Your hair needs doing. Roots need doing.
No, you was really good. I was really proud of you.
Awww.
Now, back to England's World Cup showdown with Argentina.
The teams will be coming onto the pitch in Saint-Étienne in an hour and a half.
Argentina! Argentina!
♪ Send her victorious... ♪
England fans relishing the build-up
to the country's biggest World Cup game in years.
David, tell us what you think about Paul's exclusion from the team.
French riot police guarded the ground.
Police marksmen too.
Fans from across the world are here for a classic fixture.
A game steeped in history.
I was born in London
and lived seven of the first ten years of my life in Buenos Aires.
One thing I can state with absolute conviction
is that there is no international rivalry,
remotely, that matches that between England and Argentina,
where there's this sort of, you know, almost blood rivalry,
in particular, from the Argentine side.
The English stole the Falkland Islands from us.
The English are "pirates," call them "Piratas."
All this stuff builds up, all this history, all this bitterness,
and in some cases, hate, and then we come...
To Maradona.
I was at the Azteca Stadium in Mexico, four years after the Falklands War...
Different class.
...when England played Argentina in the quarter-final of the World Cup.
Different class!
I saw... I was one of 120,000 people there.
Maradona just walked away from Hoddle then.
That eternally famous "Hand of God" goal.
Maradona!
When Maradona handled the ball, all the players saw it.
The only person who didn't was the referee.
Was it a use of the hand that England are complaining about?
Back in Argentina, the victory was fervently celebrated
as vengeance for the Falklands War four years earlier.
So things couldn't have been hotter.
Will you encourage your players to follow Maradona's example and cheat,
if necessary, to beat England?
The streets of England laid completely deserted this evening,
with much of the country in front of a television, somewhere, somehow.
At the bookmakers, there's already a £200,000 bet
on England winning tonight.
Will you be watching the match tonight? Will you be cheering on England?
Well, I think I should.
I was in Brooklyn.
I told David the night before the game.
The game... The game.
Before the Argentina game...
she phoned me and said, uh,
"I've just taken a test, and I'm pregnant."
Um...
So I-- I found out then.
Um...
He was so, so happy. We both were.
And there was never any doubt in my mind that I shouldn't tell him.
I mean, it was what we wanted.
And he could not have been happier.
So you tell him right before the biggest game of his life?
Mm-hm, yeah.
Were you, like, excited? Did you think it would help him for the game?
I probab...
I-- [sighs] I don't really know.
Come on!
When you find out you're a dad, don't you want to be with Victoria
and get out of there?
- It's the first thing I wanted to do. - But you couldn't?
I couldn't. We were in a major tournament.
I actually had this feeling, looking at the players that we had...
"Yeah, this team is gonna win the World Cup."
I sensed we had everything we needed in there.
Come on!
And then...
And then. And then.
You don't know how you'll react.
It's uncontrolled.
When someone asks how you'd react if someone tried to mug you,
and you say, "I'd run after the thief."
But when an actual thief mugs you,
you don't know how you'll react.
Emotions are different from person to person.
David was a complex player.
And back then, facing a player like him
was somehow motivating.
David Beckham, well, he's finally arrived on the World Cup stage.
And what an arrival.
He was so good-looking.
And we weren't that good-looking.
That created a rivalry which is good for motivation.
Well, the referee has got a big job tonight.
Oh, Beckham kept that in well. Well played, David Beckham.
And the game comes, man, and you're just like...
Delicate chip. Look at the space for Beckham.
One or two options open for him now, including Anderton on the far side.
No, he's hit a bad one there.
All these kind of scenarios are running through your mind.
"What if this happens? What if we go a goal down?"
Verón, such a powerful man.
And López almost getting away with it, but Ince spotted that danger in a flash,
and finds Beckham.
Beckham now to Owen.
And here's another Owen run. He's gonna worry them again.
It's a great run by Michael Owen! And he might finish it off!
Oh, it's a wonderful goal!
Yes!
But there's still a long way to go.
Football is all about deceiving.
The place is buzzing here.
England were controlling the match.
Argentina get a free kick on the edge of the penalty area.
Five in the wall from England, plus one Argentinian.
It's Verón who's played it for Zanetti! It's a great goal!
What a superb free kick.
But it's not only about controlling the ball.
Remember, don't panic.
Just keep calm.
In comes Beckham. Beckham again.
That might fire up England all the more.
It's also about focus and passion, and also controlling anger.
And here comes the play.
I went to bother him to see if he would react.
Anderton's pass to Owen wasn't quite what was required.
And neither was that challenge. Ooh!
And Beckham-- Now, whether Beckham accidentally
smacked into Simeone...
I think a yellow card is going to be brandished here,
and it might be to David Beckham.
He's taking another card out for Beckham. It's a red card for David Beckham!
Oh no.
So, Beckham... is out of the game.
It was one second.
He did retaliate.
I wanted to grab hold of Simeone and just, you know, give him a right-hander.
The way he went down, it's pathetic.
He's meant to be, you know, a tough, hard man.
He's in midfield against me.
Right in front of the referee, Brian.
It was awful.
People were shouting, and then,
then you can hear the aggression of the fans.
The impetuous moment has cost England dear.
And you can see from Hoddle's hand signals there...
Beckham dismissed,
the pendulum swings quite firmly against England, in Argentina's way.
England have now played 74 minutes with ten men.
In any case, it's over, except for the penalty shootout,
and that drama is still to come here in Saint-Étienne.
But penalties-- They had the chance to win it on penalties. So...
- People forget that. - People do forget that.
These are breathtaking moments.
No matter how long you've been in the game,
they are moments of the highest drama.
And he scores.
If he'd have stayed on, would they have won?
Nobody knows.
- And he's saved it.
Ayala's kick.
It's like most things, you know?
You don't know.
If he fails to score, England are out.
Oh, and he hasn't!
No!
Argentina go through, and England go out!
What a cruel way to go out.
Unbelievable, Gary, unbelievable. I just, uh...
We couldn't ask more from the players.
But a mad moment by David Beckham probably cost you the game.
It's cost us. It's cost us dearly.
And we are absolutely distraught.
When I watched Glenn Hoddle's interview, I thought,
"No. What have you done?"
He made it that it was David's fault.
And I... You know, I... We'd been used to a manager...
Alex Ferguson never spoke about his team.
It's a bitter, bitter pill to take again,
and we are absolutely distraught tonight, but very proud at the same time.
But it is a sending off that's cost England.
Of course it has. I'm not denying that.
They just blamed him after that.
David Beckham needlessly and recklessly earning a red card.
It's quite a tragedy, I mean, Beckham was a hero against Colombia,
and a silly offender in this particular match.
He'll regret that for a long time.
I don't understand it. I mean, I just-- I just don't understand what he was doing.
I went in front of the media.
It was like the death run really, because the questions were all about David.
And they were all aggressive and pushy.
They want blood.
And I remember, on the bus, thinking, "This is gonna be bad for you."
I remember thinking that.
"And there's nothing I can do here to stop what's gonna come."
It was a moment of complete madness.
He's a very silly boy.
We should've made him play in a sarong.
He wouldn't have been able to cock his leg that high.
Glenn Hoddle has been vindicated.
He should never wear an England shirt again.
I think we should call him "Stupid Spice" in the future, don't you?
The hopes and prayers of a nation were resting on that one incident.
He let the nation down. It was an absolute disgrace.