A look back at David Beckham's highs and lows in Manchester as star turns 50

Yahoo

02-05-2025

He is one of the best-known names, and recognisable faces, on the planet. David Beckham transcended football and established himself as a true global celebrity.
It all began in London. David Robert Joseph Beckham was born at Whipps Cross University Hospital in Leytonstone, to kitchen fitter Ted and hairdresser Sandra Beckham on May 2, 1975.
But it is Manchester that can rightly claim to have most shaped the life and career of Beckham, one of the most famous players to ever play the game.
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David's parents were both big Manchester United fans, a love he soon inherited. He was given the middle name Robert due to his father's love of Sir Bobby Charlton.
They regularly travelled the 200 miles from their home to Old Trafford for matches. Beckham said that from an early age being a footballer was the 'only thing I ever wanted to do.'
As a child, he attended one of Bobby Charlton's Soccer Schools in Manchester. And, after trials with Leyton Orient, Norwich and a stint at Tottenham's Centre of Excellence, Beckham signed a Youth Training Scheme (YTS) contract with United in July 1991, after a personal plea from Sir Alex Ferguson.
"The moment I signed for United was the moment I knew my dream had come true, to play for the team my dad supported, and I supported" he said in 2013.
He was part of the now legendary group of youth players, including Ryan Giggs, Gary and Phil Neville, Nicky Butt and Paul Scholes, who were coached by Eric Harrison, and helped the club win the FA Youth Cup in May 1992. Then known as 'Fergie's Fledglings' when they first broke into the first team, before being later dubbed 'the Class of 92'
He said of Harrison, after his death in 2019: "He taught us how to play, how to never give up, how important it was to win your individual battles and what we needed to do to play for Manchester United Football Club.
"He was always watching and always with us every time we played, I can still hear him telling me NO MORE HOLLYWOOD PASSES.
"I can still see him as we played on The Cliff training ground looking down on us either with a proud smile or a loud bang of his fist on the window, knowing any minute he would be on his way down to probably advise me in the most polite way to stop playing those passes."
Beckham has said he did not lead a wild life at this point. 'I was allowed out, but the manager knew where we all were every minute of the day,' he told the BBC's Desert Island Discs.
He said there were 'so many things going on' and he loved the music of the time, but not neccessarily the partying.
"It was incredible in Manchester back then. It was the time of the Haçienda club - there were so many great things happening there at that time" he once said in an interview with Man About Town magazine.
"I wasn't a clubby person. I haven't been a big clubby person my whole life, you know, even at a very young age, which I think has helped me throughout my career. I've nothing against going out and having a good time, but I think, for me it was all about Manchester United... and, of course, The Stone Roses.
"Apart from the music, all I was interested in was playing for Manchester United. It was all I wanted in my life."
He said of the Hacienda: "I probably only went there once, but certain songs remind me of Manchester" as he picked the Stone Roses 'I Am the Resurrection' as one of his Desert Island Discs.
Beckham made his full debut for United in 1994 and made his league debut a year later, after a loan spell at Preston North End, during which Beckham has admitted he thought they 'didn't want me anymore.'
However, after returning, he established himself in the first team. And after the starting the 1995/96 with a 3-1 defeat to Aston Villa - in which BBC pundit Alan Hansen famously said 'you can't win anything with kids' - he helped them to a league and FA Cup double in May.
But it was on the opening day of the following season that Beckham truly announced himself to those outside of Old Trafford, with a stunning chip from the half-way line against Wimbledon.
The following season he inherited the number 7 shirt, which had previously been worn by the likes of George Best and Eric Cantona, and with which he would become so associated. In 1997, his life would also change forever, off the pitch.
He met Victoria Adams, 'Posh Spice' from hit pop group the Spice Girls in the Players' Lounge at a United match. In January 1998, they caused a major media storm, and it all centred around a hotel in Nantwich, Cheshire.
Beckham had only been with girlfriend Victoria for 10 months when they visited Rookery Hall Hotel. But the morning after their visit, a major press conference was called at the resort.
The nation's press assembled outside as Spice Girl Victoria flaunted her £65,000 diamond solitaire handcrafted ring. Then aged just 23, Victoria told the media: "I am the happiest girl on the world today. I'm with the man I know I'm going to grow old and wrinkly with."
According to book Arise Sir David Beckham: Footballer, Celebrity, Legend, Becks popped the question when the couple were in one of the Rookery's lavish rooms in their dressing gowns. Victoria had been given 30 roses, before arriving in her room to be greeted by £200-worth of lillies.
And as part of the band that pioneered the term 'girl power', she had also bought her beau a £50,000 diamond-encrusted gold ring during filming for Spice World from a Hollywood jeweller. She reportedly said: "I said yes, then produced my own ring and said 'don't forget girl power – will YOU marry me?"
When he first met Victoria, David was living in a modest pad on Hazelhurst Road in Worsley, Salford which, aged 20, he had bought directly from a developer for £150,000 It was thought that he moved to Worsley, Salford, to be close to his friend and fellow United star Ryan Giggs who lived nearby.
Victoria was a regular visitor and spoke fondly of it to the Manchester Evening News back in 2008. She said: 'When we were last in Manchester for the Spice Girls gig David and I drove back to that house in Hazelhurst Road to have a look.
"There are such fond memories for us - of the Trafford Centre and all that kind of thing. I know David misses Manchester as well and still keeps in touch with everyone.'
The lowpoint of Beckham's career came as he was sent off for petulantly kicking out at Diego Simeone during England's defeat by Argentina in the last 16 of the 1998 World Cup. Many fans blamed him for the loss and he suffered a very public vilification.
David has previously said there were a lot of misconceptions about his life at this time. People thought he was living in London with Victoria and driving to Manchester to train, which wasn't true.
The first property they bought together was apartment at Oakwood House in Alderley Edge, in Cheshire's 'golden triangle.' The couple gave birth to son Brooklyn in March 1999, who took his first steps there.
Posh and Becks were said to among the visitors to the legendary Alderley Edge nightclub Brasingamens. Ncknamed The Braz, it was also frequented by Cristiano Ronaldo, Peter Crouch and John Terry when in its early-noughties heyday.
The club was famed for its lock-ins, often featuring famous faces. Beckham attended football super-agent Dave Gardner's stag do at the club in 2003.
Although they bought Rowneybury House in Hertfordshire, which became known as 'Beckingham Palace' - in 1999, in 2001 they moved onto the Heawood Hall Estate in the idyllic Cheshire village of Nether Alderley.
The estate which was once owned by the family behind the well-known, Manchester-based brewery Boddingtons.
Grade II listed Heawood Hall is believed to date from 1720 and was later divided into three separate properties, one being the Beckham's converted barn Their two oldest children, Brooklyn and brother Romeo, grew up here.
According to CheshireLive, there were fewer than 700 people lived in the sparse smattering of large houses when the Beckhams purchased their property, but United teammate Ole Gunnar Solskjær was among their neighbours.
Solskjær would ultimatel gift Beckham his greatest footballing moment, with his last-gasp goal against Bayern Munich in the Nou Camp in 1999 winning them the Champions League and completing the treble.
An estimated half a million people lined the streets for an open-top bus crawl from Sale into the city centre to a reception in front of thousands more at the Manchester Arena.
Beckham was named England captain by stand-in boss Peter Taylor in 2000, and he went on to skipper his country 59 times.
He achieved full redemption in the eyes of the English public when he secured a spot in the 2002 World Cup with a stunning free-kick in stoppage time of the last qualifier against Greece at Old Trafford.
England were trailing 2-1 and staring at the prospect of a play-off when Beckham curled home in spectacular, trademark style.
He also featured in one of the best-known moments of the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester. Kirsty Howard, from Wyhenshawe, who had been born with a back-to-front heart and who was given weeks to live at the age of four, joined Beckham in handing over the baton to the Queen at the opening ceremony.
Through the 'Kirsty Appeal' she went on to raise £7.5 million for Francis House which it said 'secured its future.' Following her death in 2015, at the age of 20, David paid tribute to an 'inspirational young lady.'
One of the most enduring images from Beckham's career came after he emerged from Old Trafford with a cut above his eye following a defeat to Arsenal in 2003.
It later transpired United manager Sir Alex Ferguson had kicked a boot in frustration and it struck Beckham, who went on to join Real Madrid later that year.
Despite playing a prominent role in Madrid's 'galactico' era alongside the likes of Zinedine Zidane, Luis Figo, Ronaldo and Roberto Carlos, it was not until Beckham's fourth and final season at the Bernabeu he finally won LaLiga.
Beckham became just the fifth player to earn 100 England caps when he featured against France in Paris in 2008. The last of his 115 international appearances came in 2009.
After playing 724 games in a professional career that also included spells at Preston, Los Angeles Galaxy, AC Milan and Paris St Germain, Beckham broke down in tears as he made his final outing for the French side against Brest in May 2013.
David has said he will 'always' be a United fan. He is also invested in the area in other ways.
Beckham has a 10 percent stake in the League Two club alongside former Manchester United teammates Nicky Butt, Ryan Giggs, Gary Neville, Phil Neville and Paul Scholes.
When the former teammates took over the club in 2014, Beckham was notably absent from the new ownership team. It would take another five years, until January 2019, for him to purchase his stake in the club from Lim and join his former teammates as directors.
David said the 'time was right.' He said: "'It's a really special club and a special group of people. My early years in Manchester were all spent in Salford. I grew up there in many ways, so to be able to finally join the lads and the club today is a great feeling.'
In January this year, Beckham attended the funeral of long-serving United receptionist Kath Phipps at Manchester. In a post on Instagram where he was holding her hand, he said: "The first and last face I would always see was Kath sat at reception at Old Trafford waiting to give me my tickets for the game.
"She was the heartbeat of Manchester United , everyone knew who Kath was and everyone adored her..
"I moved up to Manchester at 15 and Kath made a promise to my mum and dad 'I'll look after your boy for you don't you worry' and from that first day till the last day I spent with her that's exactly what she did.
"Old Trafford will never be the same without your smile as we walk through those doors... We love you."