David Beckham broke the hearts of many Mancs, male and female, when he left us back in 2003 for Real Madrid. As he paraded around the field with the Premiership trophy in tow there was a sadness about him which let us know he was on his way, even though it had been officially denied.
Becks, a lifelong red, caught the attention of United when he was just 11 years old after winning Bobby Charlton’s Soccer Skills finals. A year later, Sir Alex Ferguson was personally taking him to meet the first team players in the dressing room when we played in London. It was a dream come true for the young red, and was just start of his career with United. He signed as a trainee in 1991 then a professional in 1993, but rose to fame in the 95-96 season as one of the “kids”, winning the Double.
Whilst always a favourite with the fans due to his dedication to the club, he was really adopted by the red following after his red card in the 1998 World Cup. England fans were burning effigies of him that summer, as he made his name as one of the several United players this country decides to scapegoat when the team fails. We loved him all the more for it, proudly hanging banners declaring “They may hate you, but Beckham we love you.” He was one of ours now more than ever, a proper red, and he returned our support with brilliant performances on the field.
Just as we’ve seen more recently with Ronaldo, Beckham went on to play out of his skin for United, enduring boos and vicious chants wherever we played. He played a massive role in us securing the Treble that season, week in week out, but most notably his goals against Arsenal in the FA Cup semi final and the crucial equaliser against Spurs on the final day of the season.
Four years after the England fans burned effigies of him, Beckham scored a stunning injury time freekick against Greece at Old Trafford which put England in to the 2002 World Cup finals. “Did you cheer, did you cheer, did you cheer when Beckham scored?” the Stretford End roared when West Ham, Chelsea and the like came to play us.
On the last home game of the season in his final year with us he scored the opening goal in our 4-1 win, and appeared to give a tearful goodbye to the fans. We’d loved him and supported him for so long, but I don’t believe then he fully understood what he was giving up on. Seeing Giggs and Neville lifting the trophy last season would surely have left him with mixed emotions. Happy that we had won the league, gutted that he wasn’t winning it with us.
I am firmly of the belief that it was correct for United to sell Beckham when they did. His eye had been turned by the money and the fame and he just wasn’t the same player anymore. He’d had problems negotiating his contract, demanding more money for image rights than United were prepared to offer, which will have left Fergie seething. In the end, his move away came down to money, with the break down in talks likely to have been the final straw for Ferguson. If the David Beckham of the present was in that team in 2003, I have no doubt he would have behaved differently, all the more aware now of what he threw away when he left United. He was one of the luckiest bastards in the World, a lifelong United fan who got to play for the team and be adored by the fans, and he gave up on it.
I have had mixed feelings on Beckham ever since then. I can’t help but love him because he gave us so much, but I was so disappointed in him leaving, in him telling us he was going to stay but then upping sticks anyway. Since his departure he can’t speak of the fans highly enough, always thanking us for our support, always declaring how much he owes the manager, calling him the best in the World, and time has really allowed us, and him, to realise how much United meant/means to David Beckham.
When he returned to Old Trafford for the United XI vs European XI match last season he said that his years with United were the best of his career, citing our support for him following the 1998 World Cup as the reason for him pulling through. He was over the moon to be back, beaming at being on our pitch again.
However, now he plays for LA Galaxy, giving his wife the life she’s craved for years, as his career grinds down to a halt. He is likely to gain his 100th England cap on February 6th, when red attention and focus will be elsewhere, although it may be his last. It was announced last month that Beckham would be training with a Premiership side to keep his fitness up. If I’m honest, I was pretty gutted to hear this side would be Arsenal. Of course there was no chance Fergie would have him up at Carrington, but did he have to go to Arsenal? The rivalry with the London club has been subdued for some time, until this season, but the height of the hatred came when Beckham was still at the club, with Arsenal winning the title twice in his years at United. In 98 they pipped us to the title by just one point and won it again in 2002. I know it’s only training, but why did he have to go there? I’d have been happy enough to see him train with his England pals at Chelsea, but Arsenal??
Today, however, the disappointment reached a new low, when the official Arsenal site published pictures of our former hero at their training ground. Fully kitted out in the Arsenal gear and sharing a laugh or two with our rivals. Only one word for it, gutted. I just hope that when Beckham is gushing over United and the fans at his next opportunity, I’m able to get these blasted images out of my head!
How do you feel about Beckham training with Arsenal?
agreed…chelsea would have been okay…he must be crazy…probably bitter….by the strengh of man utd today
As i united fan i know he is only training with them but still as its really lame if u ask me, why arsenal why not tottenham at least or why not us man utd were he has so much old friends i just cant understand!!!!!!! o well
i dont feelnothing for an evrage player and for a man who has his wife being a man
his gotta be on some sort of undercover mission! Wait till we hear stories of Fabregas, Toure and Hleb out for 2 months due to some training ground injury!!!
Becham is an idiot. Obviously the cute wegner made the move because it benefits him on all fronts…
1)annoy fergie
2)placate the media.. i am english friendly
3)to figure out how he kicks the ball with his right foot
4)to show his stars what a tit u can become
I love him as much as any other united fan, but this makes me feel betrayed! How could he? He is from London, but he has said that his father was a Spurs fan, which makes it more wierd. Spurs dont hate us as much as they hate Arse. Not by a long way. He betrays his father and his real family(United fans)! It isnt any English players at Arsenal, so he doenst go there to catch up with old pals. He is not getting payed, so its not for the money….Why does he do that? If he wants to teach Fabregas to hit free kicks like him, he is helping someone beating United. Gutted, betrayed, sick and cunfused is the emotions I feel right now.
Eddie – his dad, Ted, is a United fan also. Still goes to watch United.
“Fully kitted out in the Arsenal gear and sharing a laugh or two with our rivals”
Since when have Arsenal been our rivals???
Our rivals are as follows:
City
Liverpool
Leeds
Arsenal, in the grand scheme of things, are just another London club, like Charlton or Millwall and Chelsea. If Beckham turned up at the scouser’s training ground then I might share your sense of disappointment. However, it’s only Arsenal.
Could be Stevenage or Carlisle for all I care.
Dom – where you been mate? Do you not remember the bitter title fights with the Arse as we passed the premiership title back and forth? The bitter feuds between Wenger and Fergie? How are you so confused??
I dont think this is a big deal he is just training to keep fit , its not like he is playing with arsenal vs man u , sure they will learn few stuff from him but come on , he helped united to be where it is now ,
should at least be thankful.
idiots (ha) the training isn’t really the issue as much as wearing the shirt eh. and i think you’ve got it backwards… united helped him to get to where he did.. he helped himself back down. i don’t think you’ll find too many reds thankful to see him running with the arse.
besides… i wonder how much training you need to sit on the bench ?
Yeah Dom. U are from the america or out of space?! This is our rivals: City, Pool, Arsenal, Blackburn and Leeds. I know not many people rate Rovers as rivals, but In case of premiership history, recent results and geography. Someone would like to add Chelsea too, but they just have been up there in four years. And they dont have anything in history against us.
P.S: Scott- I read in Becks geography that his family were Spurs fans. They used to go to WHL when he was a kid and once, he got a spurs kit for Christmas.
He wants to be near his family. The training ground is on his doorstep.
Great player forming what was the best balanced midfield the prem has seen so far giggs becks scholes and keane.
Who’s to say he is not giving his old mates at OT the inside track on the only team in the race with us this season !
Always look beyond the picture my friends… Becks is a red,… For god sakes a certain goal keeping hero played for city a few seasons ago !!!
Becks had offers from the p/ship but always swore he would only play for Man U and he has stuck to it. Give the red hero a break…
David – Thanks for the inside track on the Arse…
Eddie and jsos:
Sorry guys, but counting Arsenal and Blackburn as our rivals is wrong.
Blackburn? Because they won the title once and were our main competition for the title for a few years before the money ran out? Nope, that’s not a rivalry. If it’s because of geography then you can name any number of clubs from the North West…..it’ll take you a while as you work your way down the levels of the football pyramid.
Arsenal? Sure, you can hate the players, past and present. You can hate the manager and you can hate the fans, but that’s not rivalry. That’s just hatred for a small crop of individuals.
Arsenal have no relationship to Manchester United – as I said before, they are another team from London. They have been our main competition for the league (Chelsea too, more recently) for a few years but that doesn’t make them rivals.
When we’re talking City, we’re talking our biggest and closest neighbours, but more importantly it’s about history and supporter’s politics. The right to brag in your own city against opposition supporters who live opposite or next-door to you…
Leeds, similar (without the closeness), but also Munich jibes etc etc.
Liverpool…..where do I start? The city, the fans, the players, the Munich chants, Heysel, the fact there’s two great clubs in the North West, both amazingly successful and illustrious histories…..I’ll stop there.
Arsenal? Where’s the history? If history for you is 1993 onwards, please re-think.
If we beat Arsenal, Chelsea or any of those teams, it’s a good win and a hard-earned 3 points. Beating the scousers, the sheep or the bitters means so so much more than 3 points.
i am a diehard man utd fan. i could not beleive my eyes when i saw the pictures of beckham in ARSENAL gear. i was mad even though it is only training i dont see y it had to be the gunners i think he done because mls is out right now and he needs publicity.
“Arsenal? Where’s the history? If history for you is 1993 onwards, please re-think.”
How long should someone be our rival if 15 years isn’t enough for you, dom? how much press on the rivalry between managers are you requiring to show that there is something there?
“Arsenal? Sure, you can hate the players, past and present. You can hate the manager and you can hate the fans, but that’s not rivalry. That’s just hatred for a small crop of individuals.”
Shall we count Fergie as part of “a small crop of individuals” in his battles with Wenger over the years?
Your arguments don’t hold water on this one, mate. sorry.
Yeah Dom. fuck off. If u dont understand rivalery like us vs arsanal, football isnt the sport for you. Try baseball or Space games!
Two points I’d like to make one on the actual situation of Beckham training with Arsenal and one on this argument over rivalry.
1) I just feel a bit confused over why he wants to come back to England and train during the close season, surely he has enough resources to get the job done privately or with his OWN club? Maybe I’m missing something, I don’t know. I do believe the are also a few Clubs where David Beckham has contacts, Arsenal not being one of them. I also think that Alex Ferguson wouldn’t want Beckham in his camp,we have a great team spirit and are aiming towards the future, not running back to the past. One thing is for certain, this will only be a POSITIVE thing for Arsenals players.
2) RIVALS. I think it depends on where you are actually from or how old you are. I’m sure some of our fans abroad aren’t sitting at home wondering where Leeds are, or Singing “Leeds Scum, Leeds Scum” , or a 14year old United fan, probably doesn’t hate Liverpool unless his dad has bred it into him.,but then an older fan who lives there or thereabouts who remembers where all the history has come from and remembers the reasons certain clubs hate eachother or certain fans hate eachother will call Leeds or Liverpool a rival. Fact is apart from the obvious Blue puddle of Manchester, or the Liverpool games we have now, Chelsea and Arsenal ARE OUR RIVALS, OUR TITLE RIVALS. I very rarely look to see how badly Leeds are doing or I don’t worry too much about Blackburn when they play because I’m not 50+ and the actual geography in such a huge world game does not matter to me much anymore, fans from different clubs live all over the place now and are still passionate about there respective teams. However, I always keep a close eye on Arsenal and Chelsea as they are threatening my teams hope of a 10th title!!!
I chose my words carefully. The phrase “title rivals” gets banded around far too much these days, thereby confusing people with teams we fight for the title, and clubs who are our rivals.
A young lad who only knows of Premiership football, Sky TV and Soccer AM is probably going to see Arsenal as our rivals, perhaps even hate them more than Liverpool. Don’t get me wrong – I’m not trying to alter their opinions. However, what I will say is for political and historical reasons, they’re barking up the wrong tree if they believe Arsenal are the rivals of MUFC.
Eddie, we’ll disagree and probably always will “mate”. I clearly don’t understand your own personal duel with everything Arsenal. I hope you’re in bed by the time I’m writing this, or you’ll probably miss Soccer AM due to your tiredness. We wouldn’t want that now, would we?
Screw it guys, let’s label every team we’ve ever either beaten to the title or lost out to as our rivals…….surely that’s the reason why you’re calling that lot in North London and the other lot in South London our rivals?
Arsenal and Chelsea have no relationship to Manchester United FC or the club’s history. Therefore they cannot be classed as our rivals, but at best our competitors. If Arsenal or Chelsea won the league this year, I wouldn’t bat an eyelid. I’d be gutted that we didn’t win it, but show me a gloating Chelsea/Arsenal fan and I’ll walk right by.
If it were the blue lot, or the sheep (impossible for a couple of years yes, but hypothetically) or, God forbid, them scousers, then we’d know all about it and we’d feel it. Hard.
And no, I’m not going off to follow baseball or “space games”, I quite like this football stuff and I’m here to stay :-p
arsenal have the best training facilities in london en of story, why would he train at chelsea or tottenham where he might catch some STD of their shit equipment.
heres a quote from arsene wenger about david beckham training there “He doesn’t live far away and has always loved Arsenal” wtf hes has never loved arsenal, Our biggest rivals are City and Liverpool there the only games i think we need to win this not arsenal not chelsea not even leeds when they played in the prem.
I am an Asian Red whos been following United for over 30 yeaars. I am in my 40’s and I am with Dom on this one. IMO, who you rate as your rival depends on where you live and from when you started following English Football. If you started supported United from the Premiership years, you’ll most likely see the Arse & Chelsea as your rival as L’fools have been MIA for the past 16 or so years. If you are over 40 and living around the North East, there is no doubt Shitty and the Scouse will top the hate bill, followed by Leeds. As for someone like me, supporting from thousands of kms away, where I’ve never met a Shitty fan and where are equal number of L’fool fans, its the Scouse who’s numero uno (there are quite a number of Arse fans). History and success also plays a big part as well. Here again, its us against the Scouse b*****ds, as until the Arse wins (God forbid) the ol’ Big Ears, I’ll never see them as our rivals.
“where’s your famous Munich song..”
Dom, you have a valid point about Local and historical rivalry, but see it through the eyes of another typr of Manchester United follower than yourself. Yes, technically the Clubs you have mentioned are Rivals, yes City and yes those Scousers. Though as I have already mentioned people do see the term Rivalry and not look at it in the same way as you do. The word Rivals is often looked at without the words “title” or “political” in front of it and I would use the term for City, Liverpool, Arsenal… Arsenal have been our main rivals over the last 10 years and I hate them as much as Liverpool, it doesnt change the way I feel about United. Maybe you are a TRUE Mancunian, maybe you are coming across as trying to be far more old school than you need to, it depends what the persons experiences are of other clubs. Nowdays the politcal sides are hardly what they used to be, Southern cities are full of northern football team fans and vice versa. Arsenal and Manchester Uniteds classic rivalry is in the making. Not in terms of politics or geography but in terms of FOOTBALL.
well, on the last photo , you can see he’s clearly advising Fabregas, and what with it? – one thing, help him become better player, improve the team that are our main rivals for 10 years, same as our (true)red Darren Campbell helping Shevchenko regain his fitness. nothing more to say but feeling let down buy them is not enough said.
i must admit the site of it; Becks in a “sophisticated suave” arse training kit is quite repulsive. going to the bog to be sick now
Dom i consider Man U and Arsenal rivals coz if you were growing up watching footie in the late 90’s u would also say that Arsenal are our Rivals because the intensity of those matches were much more than most…..you can use the term rivals even for teams that rival you for the title its perfectly fine but if u choose to keep politics or geography between this than that is your opinion and i really cant do anything about it
Hey guys,it’s just a kit,what’s important is his heart don’t judge abook by it’s cover.Whatever it is i’m still his biggest fan whichever teams he play for.Go Beckham!
r u guys serious?..ppl, it doesn’t matter to me that Becks’ been training with Arsenal…he cld well sign for ‘em for all i care…u guys gotta understand that he ain’t a Utd player, plain and simple…plus, it’s Utd that sold him, and for a good reason…so i ma advise all Mancs to lose no sleep over Becks in Gunners’ kits…long live Utd.
Kina.
Do u understand the word Rivalery, Dom? I would count Chelsea if it was for the last four years, but were talking 10-15 years. Dont u care if Arsenal win a match,is that it?! If u get mad or angry or dissapointed when Arsenal win I understand u, but to not call them Title-Rivals is really strange for me to hear. If u have been following United for three years only I see your problem, but If u have been following them for 10 to 20 years like me, you need to think back to the old days to. They were not rivals 20 years ago, but they became that in early 90s.
Eddie, I think Dom is either been supporting United a bit longer than 20years, or he is a bit younger and is being way too traditional than he needs to. I just wouldn’t disagree with the fact that Arsenal and Liverpool are BOTH our rivals. Rivalry is built up out of a number of things, politics, geography and the one that matters football, challenging for our trophies and records. There is a definate rivalry between Arsenal and United fans, whether or not somebody decides to ignore it or doesn’t feel it is their choice, I love to hate Arsenal and their fans.
Same way Tom F!
hahaha…i just read somewhere that Wenger says he ain’t gonna allow Becks’ time with the Gooners become a circus…yeah, right Arsene, what r u drinking on?…hahaha…long live Utd.
Interesting to see your reaction to this….
1) First point, after singing songs about Paedophillia for 11 years you deserve every little bit of upset that comes your way from Leeds, City and Liverpool regarding Munich. If you can’t take it, don’t dish it out. You’ll note we don’t sing about that tragedy. I’ll pre-empt your replies by saying that it is not ‘harmless fun’.
2) Speaking of Wenger I think you’ll find he has Beckham training with the kids mostly.
3) Beckham does live very locally to London Colney and if you have seen Sp*rs’ and Chelsea’s training ground you’ll know why he is with us.
4) Like it or not he respects Wenger.
5) Yes, it is funny that it winds you up.
6) You are our title rivals, not our local rivas. It is important to beat you, not absolutey essential.
Training with the KIDS eh?
Despite what you seem to think is acceptable regarding Munich, that is a fact. It has happened, it is our hostory, real people died. A song about Wenger, which I’m sure a few other clubs sing are not fact, they are not tasteful but do not errupt true feelings of something that has actually passed. Wengers family probably do not feel as bad as some of the poor lads families lost in the Munich air disaster.
You have valid points to make, but take point 1out of it mate as that is just no on, I know YOU wouldnt sing it but to say we deserve it is awful, I wouldn’t wish that on anybody. Not even yourself.
Top Gooner – you didn’t just compare United fans singing about Wenger being a paedophile to Liverpool fans singing about MUNICH did you? Tit for tat. A fictitious wind up vs a song about people who actually died.
What a prick.
And Dom, at no point would I ever say Arsenal are up there with the bitters, dippers and Leedscum, but at the moment, they have to mean more to us than they did two seasons ago, because we want to retain our title, and they’re the ones with the best chance of stopping us. I’m not sure why you think that doesn’t make them a title rival, but whatever.
I had to replay the Sky report on my PVR twice to take it in. David, how could you? I almost felt ill. The only logic I could come up with is that Capello is in town this weekend and David wanted to be sure his picture was in all the papers – which it is!
Bollocks to it, he was a great player for us, now he’s training with Arsenal, who gives a toss, fact is he would have come to us first and Fergie would have said no chance. Doesn’t bother me at all that he trains with Arsenal. Oh and Arsenal are not our rivals, I wept when Liverpool won Champions league a couple of years ago, I was devastated, wouldn’t really be arsed if Arsenal won it, prefer them not too but wouldn’t have to book days off work like I did with the dippers. Oh and ‘Top gooner’, ‘Top dickhead’ I think you’ll find, comparing a few peado chants to Munich songs is long comparing calling Mark Viduka a fat bastard with making Holocaust jibes to Spurs. Can you see the difference between a personal slur and laughing at a tragedy? You cock.
I wept when Arsenal beat us at Old Trafford. Haven’t wept over football since. Do you see.
Top Gooner has gone way over the mark, you are spot on with that.
Arsenal and Spurs would have been the only realistic options for him. I doubt spurs, with a new manager and the doldrums they’re in, would be too keen on having him.
Moreover, when Beckham trains with Arsenal he can be rest assured that he won’t be injured by a crunching tackle during training. Arsenal don’t really have a physical aspect to their game. In Chelsea an Essien tackle would see his chances of reaching the 100th cap diminished dramatically.
Forget united, training with united was never an option.
Very well written artical you have there Top Gooner, yes the Wenger family may be slightly upset at the “jibes” the man of the house receives when walking the sidelines. The point is, the Munich Air crash was on a whole different scale of emotion. It doesn’t take a person to know a victim or write a letter to their families, you must be a BIG man to think otherwise.
Their are different levels of emotion and whether you like it or not Manchester Uniteds followers soak this up by learning about what happened, learning about the players of that generation. I am also sure 50% of people who visit this site may not know all the players names, but if that was accounting for 50% of United fans that is a hell of a lot of people, I really don’t think you understand what the word emotional means, maybe you think you do as you shed a tear when the clock was removed from Highbury.
You are quite smart, very clever at mixing valid arguments and interesting examples with an awful lack of substance and a heart as cold as your attitude is ignorant.
I agree with you lot – Becks training with Arsenal is criminal.
Train with Spurs as they are nearby too, not Arsenal – too much rivalry there…
Granted this is just training, but wearing the full kit – that is not on.
Now Wenger can boast of having a European Cup winner at the UAE Airport.
For all of those years that Arsenal fans were singing “Does Posh take it…” all of the abuse he and HIS family suffered, It is funny to see all of the Arsenal fans talking this up and now none of them will say a bad thing about him. It’s all about how good he can be for them.. bla bla bla..
I support the club over any player at any fucking day
so what beckham does these days is fuck i care about
he was a gr8 player and he played his part in uniteds massive history! he moved on and so should we
i am bloody more interested in what tevez is doing to recover and how ronny is preparing to shine against biggers sides hows saha and hargreaves keeping themselves fit etc etc etc
So forget the past and look for the future and live in the present
United for the treble
Go United
What strength of United? We (Arsenal) lead de PL. Maybe he wanted to train with the best:). I agree that he could have chosen a more subtle solution than the most comfortable one but, get serious. This means nothing. They had a godd relationship with Wenger all the time, and be honest: not many managers would had the good will towards a stranger player. Besides: you said yourself that he could have not train with ManU so whats the problem? Keep the hostiliy on the pitch
Any connection with Manchester Unitied ceased years ago, Arsne Wenger wants David to show his side a thing or two. Besides The Emirates probably have the best training facilities in London and right on Davids doorstep. He’ll probably pop over to Madrid as well
I think all of you are crazy ya he is the one of the biggest stars from Man U so what big deal. He isn’t gonna play w/ them he is getting fit so get over it. Plus the Galaxy need him fit and Aresnal is doing it. Man U fans should worry about Ronaldo not coming back cause we all know he is moving on to a Spainsh Team worry about that Beckham has enought pressure he doesn’t need crazy effin fans down his back leave him alone at least he still plays for your Natianol Team.