David Beckham: My Side

by David Beckham (with Tom Watt)

  injury 119

  playing for Blackburn 69

  senior member of England squad 117, 226

  transfer to Newcastle United 267

  World Cup 1998 131

  World Cup 1998 qualifiers 118

  Sheringham, Teddy

  1998–1999 season 148

  European Cup Final 1999 172–173

  FA Cup 1999 169

  number 10shirt 245

  World Cup 2002 294–295, 310

  World Cup 2002 qualifiers 230, 255–256

  Silvestre, Mikael 475

  Simeone, Diego 289, 292–293

  Beckham sending-off incident 131–132, 148

  hand-shaking incident 155

  Sinclair, Trevor 291, 294, 296

  Slattery, Steve

  Beckham’s sending-off incident 132, 135

  support for Beckham 129

  World Cup 2002 286, 297

  Smith, Alan 7, 19, 233, 278, 466

  Smith, Jim 153

  Smith, Pat 19

  Smith, Richard 280, 304

  Solari, Santiago 422, 424

  Solskjaer, Ole Gunnar

  1998–1999 season 152, 154

  Champions League 2003 384

  European Cup Final 1999 172–173

  substituting for Beckham 354, 376–377, 379

  Sorin, Juan Pablo 291

  Southgate, Gareth 279

  Speed, Gary 169

  Stam, Jaap 147, 243

  Stephens, Tony

  Beckham left on subs bench 380

  Beckham signing for Real Madrid 409

  Beckham’s contract with

  Manchester United 268–269, 270

  Beckham’s honeymoon 188–189

  Beckham’s rift with Ferguson 351

  disliked by Ferguson 267–268

  Manchester United selling Beckham 391–392

  negotiations with Real Madrid 394–397

  support for Beckham 445

  World Cup 2002 297

  Stiles, Nobby

  Beckham’s idol 23

  coaching Beckham 38, 116

  determined spirit 206

  Milk Cup trip 45–46

  Strachan, Gordon 23, 31

  Sullivan, Neil 88

  Sutton, Chris 69

  Taylor, Peter

  appointing Beckham as England

  captain 223–226

  coaching England 228

  selection of young England squad 226–227, 230

  Terry, John 469, 485, 489

  Thomas, Michael 85

  Thornley, Ben

  1996–1997 season 103

  Bryan Adams concert 267

  David’s relationship with Victoria 110

  FA Youth Cup 1992 55

  friendship with Beckham 53–54

  holiday in Malta 52

  Milk Cup tournament 46

  Thornley, Rod 286

  Tofting, Stig 301

  Tottenham Hotspur

  FA Youth Cup 1992 54–55

  offer to Beckham 31–32

  training Beckham 22

  training Beckham 30–32

  Trapattoni, Giovanni 246

  Treglowen, Matt 10

  Treglowen, Simon 10

  Tristan, Diego 261

  Tugay 467

  Tupac 128

  Underwood, Robert 14–15

  Underwood, Stuart

  coaching Ridgeway Rovers 13–15, 20

  emphasis on smartness 50, 169

  scouting Beckham 13

  Usher 258–259, 290, 297

  Valdano, Jorge 406, 409–410

  van Nistelrooy, Ruud

  2002–2003 season 370, 376

  Champions League 2003 373–374, 384

  Ferguson flying boot incident 360

  injury 242

  Vassell, Darius 368, 486, 489

  Venables, Terry

  Beckham approached by Spurs 32

  Beckham training with Barcelona 28, 30

  leaving as England manager 116

  Veron, Juan Sebastian (Seba)

  Beckham left on subs bench 379

  Beckham sending-off incident 132, 135

  Champions League 2003 382

  World Cup 1998 288–289

  World Cup 2002 289, 295

  Versace, Donatella 168–169

  Vialli, Gianluca 445

  Vieira, Patrick 164, 236, 376

  Vieri, Christian 120

  Warren, Frank 178

  Watson, Russell 272–274

  West, Joe (grandfather)

  David’s debut as Manchester

  United captain 244

  support for David 13, 27, 29

  Tottenham supporter 12–13, 22

  West, Peggy (grandmother) 12–13

  Whelan, Ray 28

  Whitworth, Ray 193

  Wilkinson, Howard 190, 223

  Wiltord, Sylvain 359

  Wiltshire, Don 20

  Winstone, Ray 272

  World Club Championships 2000 194–198

  World Cup 1998 114, 127–136

  qualifiers 118–120

  World Cup 2002 280–313

  qualifiers 220–221, 229–238, 248–259

  Wright, Ian 199083, 119–120

  Yorke, Dwight

  1998–1999 season 152, 155, 167–168

  Beckham’s foot injury 264

  sidelined by Ferguson 243

  signed by Manchester United 147

  Zanetti, Javier 131

  Zidane, Zinedine

  Beckham joining Real Madrid 421, 423

  bought by Real Madrid 410

  Champions League 2003 371, 373, 382, 384, 385

  Champions League 2004 429, 452, 454–455

  Euro 2004 476–477

  galacticos 432–433

  La Liga 2002–2003 400

  quiet personality 424

  Real Madrid home dressing room 407

  Acknowledgements

  To Mum and Dad: without your love and guidance there wouldn’t be a story here for the telling.

  Love to the family, especially Lynne and Joanne, Colin, Georgina and Freddie, Nan and Grandad, Tony and Jackie, Louise, Haydn, Liberty and Tululah, Christian and Lucy.

  To my school friends, my pals from boyhood and my Ridgeway team-mates: I’ve not forgotten any of you.

  To the friends I’ve been lucky enough to find during a career in professional football, including Gary, Phil, Ryan, Nicky and Scholesy. And special thanks to Dave, Terry and Steve for your company, advice and more in recent years.

  To Andrew and Charles; Caroline and Jo.

  To everyone at HarperCollins, including Michael, Tom, Jane and David, for their patience and support. Particular thanks to my co-writer Tom, for jogging my memory and helping me find the words I needed.

  To the team at Footwork and 19. Thanks for all the hard graft.

  Thanks to all the coaches and managers, particularly Stuart Underwood, Malcolm Fidgeon, Eric Harrison, Sir Alex Ferguson and Sven-Goran Eriksson, who’ve lit up my time in the game we love: you have my gratitude, respect and admiration.

  Thanks, as well, to all the great players I’ve been privileged to play alongside for Manchester United, Real Madrid and England. Whatever I’ve done has only been possible because of the talent, commitment and inspiration of the other ten.

  David Beckham August 2004

  Copyright

  Tom Watt, who collaborated with David Beckham

  on this book, is an established author, actor,

  sportswriter and broadcaster

  First published in hardback 2003 by

  CollinsWillow

  an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers

  London

  First published in paperback 2004

  © Footwork Productions Ltd 2004

  FIRST EDITION

  All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on
screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

  EPUB EDITION © APRIL 2010 ISBN: 978-0-007-37344-4

  The Author asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

  A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

  The HarperCollins website address is www.harpercollins.co.uk

  About the Publisher

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  Table of Contents

  Cover Page

  Title Page

  Dedication

  The Back Garden, August 2004

  1 Murdering the Flowerbeds

  2 The Man in the Brown Sierra

  3 Home from Home

  4 DB on the Tarmac

  5 The One with the Legs

  6 Don’t Cry for Me

  7 Thanks for Standing By Me

  8 I Do

  9 The Germans

  10 My Foot in It

  11 Beckham (pen)

  12 Bubble Beckham

  13 About Loyalty

  14 United Born and Bred

  15 For Real: Hala Madrid!

  16 Futbol, La Vida

  17 It’s Christmas

  18 Let’s Face It

  Career Record

  Index

  Acknowledgements

  Copyright

  About the Publisher