David Beckham's father admitted he was worried about his son’s size before his Manchester United career began and put the future superstar on a diet of Guinness and raw egg to bulk him up.
Beckham's childhood might come as a surprise, the Hollywood man said he struggled in school and didn't have many friends as a child.
This led to the childhood-Beckham saying "from the moment I got in from school to the moment I slept, I spent my time out in the garden" playing football.
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Beckham came from humble beginnings before launching to the great heights of international fame he has become used to now.
His father was a gas engineer, working out of a red Toyota van – “I would have no other colour” Ted Beckham explained, due to his love for Manchester United.
Yet it was during his childhood that Ted Beckham became concerned that his son wouldn’t be big enough for the professional game.
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"He'd won 92 games without getting beat, he was that good," Ted Beckham said, but even this success didn’t stop Ted worrying about his son.
"I was a bit worried about the size of him so that's when we started giving him Guinness and a raw egg. To be fair to the boy, he did it every week."
The diet may have helped the future star bulk up, but it didn't cut the mustard with the Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson. “He came to us as a small, skinny little boy”, Sir Alex Ferguson said in the documentary but that didn’t stop the Scottish manager from taking the local lad into the team.
Becks kicked off his career with the United youth academy in 1992, catching the eye of legendary manager Sir Alex Ferguson as part of the ‘famous class of 92’ alongside stars including Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, and Neville brothers Phil and Gary.
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Beckham recalled the first time Sir Alex Ferguson got in touch with him, “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 and she literally went ‘It’s Sir Alex Ferguson, this is Sir Alex Ferguson.”
Beckham's rise was meteoric, and under Sir Alex’s wing, he quickly found himself in the star-studded first team. His style on the field, especially the trademark crosses and set-piece magic that he became known for, brought about a meteoric rise to international stardom.
Together, Sir Alex and the Class of ‘92 conquered English football, winning six Premier League titles and making history with the famous treble in 1999.
Beckham’s time at United had its share of drama, and in 2003, Beckham bid farewell to Old Trafford for Real Madrid. Explaining his decision in the Netflix documentary, he said he felt he was being pushed out of Manchester United and that he wanted to take control of his destiny; “I don’t want to leave, but if you want me to leave, I want to move to the club that I want to move to.”
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“If I’m being pushed out of Man United, this is where I wanna go.”
The story of David Beckham was a story of a local boy living out his dreams, and etching his name into football folklore at his childhood team and beyond. And it all began with a diet of Guinness and raw eggs.
Topics: Ireland, David Beckham, Football, Sport
Hugh Dooley