Back in the autumn of 1998, we’d made a pretty poor start to qualifying for the next European Championships. England supporters weren’t happy and some of the media seemed to be campaigning for a change of manager. Even so, when that change happened, and the way it happened, it came as a real shock. I don’t know how much of it all was Glenn’s fault and how much he was betrayed by the press. When I first heard that he’d been quoted talking about disabled people and their past lives, I knew straight away it was going to turn into something huge. Overnight, it seemed that everybody, including the Prime Minister, was having a say on it. Once they’re in the headlines, stories move so quickly that no one really has a chance to think. At the start of February, just a few days after the interview had been published, Glenn was gone. There was a crazy press conference to announce it at the FA, where one England fan had to be dragged out kicking and screaming. Despite the fact I’d had real differences with him as England manager, I knew that must have been a very hard afternoon for Glenn.
When the FA picked his successor, they couldn’t have selected anyone more different than the man who’d gone before. I’d always admired the way Kevin Keegan’s teams played and enjoyed listening to him talking about the game. I respected his passion and his honesty. I was really excited, joining up with England for the first time with him as manager, for a qualifier against Poland at Wembley. I’ve always thought that, in a perfect world, it would be good to be able to combine Hoddle’s strengths with Keegan’s. Glenn is a very good coach who, I think, struggles with relating to some players. Kevin is an absolutely fantastic man manager. Right from the start of our first sessions ahead of that Poland game, Kevin’s enthusiasm lifted everyone. He inspired you about what you could do as an England player. Come Saturday and a beautiful spring day at Wembley, everyone was up for it. Scholesy got a hat-trick and we just blew Poland away. I don’t think there was anyone in the country who didn’t think Kevin was the right man for the England job and all it took was that 3–1 win to convince him to take it on full-time.
There was a great atmosphere around the England camp under Kevin but it was hard work getting to Euro 2000: we ended up having to play off against Scotland. We won 2–0 at Hampden Park on Saturday but then, at Wembley the following Wednesday, Don Hutchison scored for them before half-time and, to be honest, by the end we were hanging on. The important thing, though, was to have qualified. We had six months to forget about how we’d done it and concentrate, instead, on putting things right in time for the Championships in Belgium and Holland. I thought we’d be okay and I had faith in Kevin as England manager. By the time we were squeezing past Scotland, I’d found good reason to put my absolute trust in him as a man, too.
In mid-October 1999, we had one week to play two Euro 2000 qualifiers. We played Luxembourg at Wembley and then four days later, on the Wednesday, we took on Poland in Warsaw. I was in my room at the England hotel on the Friday night before the first of what were going to be two really important games for England. My cell phone rang. It was Victoria, calling from her mum and dad’s. She’d have known, the night before a game, that the hotel wouldn’t have been allowed to put her through to my room. It didn’t help that the line wasn’t great but, in amongst the hisses and crackles, I heard what I needed to. The police had been in contact about a tip-off they’d received. They believed someone was going to try and kidnap Victoria and Brooklyn the following day, while I was at Wembley, playing for England. Suddenly, it was like feeling everything was slipping away from beneath me. What do I do? Who do I tell? It probably didn’t help Victoria that I was so shocked, hardly able to take in what she’d told me. I didn’t know what to say, other than:
‘I’ll call you straight back.’
The first person I spoke to was Gary Neville. Without even thinking about it, his reaction was:
‘You’ve got to tell the manager. Go and see Kevin.’
I made my way through the hotel to his room. I knocked on the door and went in. I’m sure Kevin could see for himself something was wrong. I was shaking; I felt sick. I could hardly find the breath for it but I told him what had happened. The first thing Kevin did was let me know he understood what I felt like which, when you’ve lost control like I had, is the first thing you need to hear.
‘David, I’ve been in a situation like this. When I was playing in Germany, me and my wife had death threats made against us. I know this is horrible. We need to go to where your wife and son are. We’ll go together. We’ll sort this out.’
It was ten o’clock at night by now. In minutes, we were outside the hotel in a car—me, Kevin and Ray Whitworth, England’s team security officer—and I was calling Victoria to tell her we were on our way. We drove to Tony and Jackie’s. As soon as we walked in, although he’d never met Victoria or her parents, Kevin took control of the situation. He knew me and could see for himself the state Victoria was in: we needed him to be calm and know the right thing to do.
‘The best place to be is our hotel. We’ve got the whole place booked to ourselves. We’ve our own security. Nobody’s getting in. Pack a bag. Get Brooklyn. David and I will go back now, sort the rooms out, and we’ll meet you there as soon as you’re ready.’
Kevin had been just brilliant when we needed him most. He’d done it all without even thinking twice about it, even though there was a game the following afternoon. Never mind his qualities as a manager. This was Kevin doing his best for us just because he could, not because he felt he had to. He would have done what he did, though, for any of the England players. In fact I really believe that, if Kevin had found himself in those same circumstances and able to help, he’d have done what he did for anybody at all. He’s a great man.
Victoria and Brooklyn slept in my room. The next morning, all Kevin was concerned about was what I felt I should do.
‘David, I understand what you went through last night. If you want to play, that’s great: I want you to. If you don’t feel sure about it, that’s fine too. I want you to make your own mind up. You know how you feel. Do whatever you think is right.’
I played and we beat Luxembourg 6–0. That meant the game in Poland would decide our fate in the qualifiers. It was a huge game and Kevin was under all sorts of pressure to get the right result. Even so, on the Sunday night before we left, we had the same conversation again.
‘If you need to be close by your family, don’t worry. You don’t have to come over there with us. You can stay here if you need to and look after Victoria and Brooklyn.’
I sat down with Victoria and asked what she thought would be best. My instinct was to stay but she saw the situation for what it was.
‘We’ll be all right. We’ve got people to lookout for us now. This is your job. It’s England. You should go.’
I did; and Victoria was right. It was what I needed to do, even though the game in Warsaw was horrible and ended up being a 0–0 draw. It meant we had to wait a couple of months for the result of a Sweden game, when they beat Poland at home, before we knew we’d made it through to that play-off against the Scots.
By Christmas 1999, things had been decided and, even though it hadn’t been spectacular, England would be going to the European Championships the following summer. New Year 2000, meanwhile, and United were heading off to the other side of the world. As European Cup holders, the club were asked to participate in the first-ever FIFA World Club Championships in Brazil.
It did us a lot of good as a team, being away together for that length of time and getting recharged for the rest of the season back home. We’d have won the Premiership anyway, I think, but we did come back from Brazil in pretty good form. And with half-decent tans as well. As things turned out, it really was like a vacation for me. I got sent off in our first game, against Necaxa of Mexico, which meant I missed the next one and then played just twenty minutes of the last one, against South Melbourne.
It was a horrible feeling, getting a red card for the first time as a United player. I went into a challenge for a high, b
ouncing ball just near the halfway line. I didn’t go into the tackle with any intention other than winning the ball, so when the ref said I was off I was shocked more than anything else. I’ve seen it on video since and I must admit that, on television, it looked a bad challenge. I didn’t think it was, though, and I was relieved that the manager didn’t either. He was really angry after the game: not with me but with the match officials. I think the way their player reacted had a lot to do with why I was sent off. I probably should have been more aware that we were in South America and that, perhaps, things weren’t quite the same over there. I was absolutely crushed by it that evening, although I have to admit that, within a few days, lounging by the pool while the rest of the lads were confined to their hotel rooms before the game against Vasco da Gama, I didn’t feel quite so disappointed about how things had worked out.
Being in Brazil was fantastic. I remember one evening wandering down to Copacabana Beach on my own. You hear about it but it’s beyond anything you’d ever imagine. The beach just stretched away for what seemed like miles. There were goalposts and little sets of floodlights planted along the whole length of it. And, as far as the eye could see, kids—thousands of them—out playing soccer on the sand. No wonder Brazil are world champions. All these youngsters were either playing games or doing tricks or showing off flicks and turns in twos and threes. The level of natural ability was unbelievable. A couple of them recognized me and asked me to take some free-kicks while their mates went in goal. If soccer’s got a soul, that’s where it lives: on that beach. I’ll never forget my evening out there with those kids.
Brazil in January was hot. Great weather for a vacation or a walk by the sea at night. But for playing competitive soccer? I think it was a lesson for all of us. People laugh about the English going abroad, what we’re like in the sun. When it came to United in Rio at the World Club Championship, the jokes weren’t far wrong. The first time we arrived at the Maracana stadium, we were already sweating from the walk from the coach to the front door. We walked into the dressing room and I remember some of the lads were actually in the middle of a conversation about how hot it was. Next thing, everybody’s gone quiet. Standing there in the middle of the room were seven beds with oxygen masks hanging down. I don’t think any of us knew what to say. What were we in for here?
When we went out to warm up—is that the right phrase, at one o’clock in the afternoon and in temperatures of over 100 degrees—the Mexicans were jogging around in light undershirts. We ran out wearing our regular black training tops, all trying to head for the tiny patches of shade by the touchlines under the stands. None of us will ever forget those thirteen days in Brazil.
We came back feeling great. As good a time as I’d had, I couldn’t wait to see Victoria and Brooklyn. I couldn’t wait to get back to some mud, wind and rain either, to get on with the rest of the season. While we’d been away, no other team had been able to catch up on our lead: the Premiership was there to be won. And we were still in the Champions League. The first game back was against Arsenal at Old Trafford and they almost caught us cold. We ended up drawing 1–1, though, and it was a game they maybe needed to win more than we did. From then on, it felt like we were just picking up where we’d left off. I was so relaxed and enjoying my soccer so much, why would I have stopped to think what might upset the roll we were on? There was a kind of ambush waiting for me, of course, but I’d not have been any better prepared for dealing with it even if I’d somehow seen it coming.
On Saturday 12 February we took a 3–0 hiding at Newcastle. That didn’t help the manager’s—or anybody else’s—mood over the following week, as we built up to another big game that weekend, away to Leeds. As with players at most clubs when there’s not a midweek game, we were given some time off: I was down at the house in London, planning to drive back on the Wednesday night for training on Thursday morning. During the day, Brooklyn was really sick. With a first child, maybe there’s an extra intensity to your feelings about things because you don’t recognize symptoms: everything to do with being a parent is new, after all. Maybe now, with Romeo, I’d not have worried like I did back then. By around seven that Wednesday evening, though, Brooklyn was running a fever and had gone all floppy. I was holding him in my lap and just getting no reaction from him. We didn’t know what was going on: any mum or dad will know how scary that is. By the time the doctor told us Brooklyn had gastro-enteritis, I’d already made the decision to stay at home for the night and get driven to Manchester early the following morning.
Brooklyn was so uncomfortable and I hated seeing him like that. When we eventually got him off to sleep—who knows what time of the night it was by then?—I stayed in his room and slept for a few hours on the bed next to his cot. I woke up and got away by six the next morning: the plan was I’d be able to sleep a bit more in the back of the car on the drive north. But I couldn’t get my boy out of my mind: how sick he’d been and how wrong it felt to be leaving him and Victoria behind. Victoria had said I should go, that Brooklyn would be fine, but all my instincts were telling me that my place was at home with them, at least until I knew for sure Brooklyn was going to be all right. I needed to see an improvement in him for myself. Twenty minutes up the highway, I asked the driver to turn round. And, to be honest, even if I’d known what the consequences were going to be, I’d still have made that same decision.
I rang United to try and speak to Steve McClaren. I’d only ever missed one day of training before in nine years as a pro and was sure that, if I explained, the club would understand. I couldn’t get through to Steve so I left a message:
‘Brooklyn’s really struggling. Is it all right if I don’t come in? I think I should stay with him.’
No one called back.
In hindsight, the one thing I should have said on that message was that I was calling from London, as opposed to Manchester. The tension between me and the manager over my family life, though, made me guess that just mentioning London would have been enough, on its own, to infuriate him. By ten, Brooklyn had woken up and was obviously much better. Within an hour I was back in the car, on my way to Manchester. I rang Steve and got through to him. It was about midday, when the lads finished training, and I asked him if I should come into Carrington that afternoon to do some work on my own. Steve told meI didn’t need to:
‘But, David, I should tell you: the manager’s not happy.’
I didn’t think I’d done anything wrong but, of course, now on the phone to Steve wasn’t the time to talk about that. I thought, anyway, that by the following morning everything would have smoothed itself out. I was wrong.
I got into training on the Friday morning and Steve McClaren told me the boss was angry and wanted me to go and see him. I got on with training, assuming I’d talk to the manager afterwards. Instead, while we were in the middle of a possession routine, he came storming over, said something to Steve and then shouted at me:
‘Beckham. Here. I want a word.’
Suddenly, I’m in the middle of a row with the Manchester United manager in front of the entire first-team squad. I tried to stand my ground but the boss wasn’t having any of it:
‘Go and train with the reserves.’
In front of the other lads, that was a huge insult: a huge blow to anyone’s self-esteem, especially someone who didn’t think he’d done anything to provoke it. I refused and said I’d go back inside the Carrington complex. I walked back across the training fields, got dressed and went out to my car. Something made me stop, though. It’s a big game on Saturday. Don’t make things worse. Be professional about this.
I went back inside, got changed again and went into the gym to work on my own. After about half an hour, Roy Keane came through on his way back to the dressing room. I wasn’t sure what was going on or how I should be reacting. I asked Roy what he thought I should do. He said it straight out:
‘You should go and talk to the manager.’
It was what Roy would have done himself. I should have ignored
his advice. I went to the manager’s office, knocked on the door and walked into the biggest dressing down I’ve ever had in my career. As he saw it, I had my priorities all wrong. I apologized for feeling how I did about the situation but I didn’t back down.
‘It’s not that I didn’t want to be here at work but, as I see it, my first priority has to be my family. My son was ill and that’s why I missed training.’
The boss thought differently:
‘Your responsibilities are here at the club, not at home with your son.’
Don’t get me wrong: I could see the manager’s point of view, with the whole club to think about at an important time in the season, even if I didn’t agree with him. What really tipped a big argument over into becoming a blazing dispute was a photo in that day’s papers of Victoria at a charity function on the Thursday night: the evening after the morning I’d missed training. By tea-time, Brooklyn had been back to his usual self and Victoria had decided, while he slept, to honor a long-standing commitment which meant her being away from the house for a couple of hours. That wasn’t how the boss saw it, though:
‘You were babysitting while your wife was out gallivanting.’
That word: gallivanting. It was the sneering tone I thought came with it that made me flip:
‘Don’t talk about my wife like that. How would you feel if I was disrespectful like that about your wife?’
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