David Beckham
- Profession: Footballer
- Place/Date of Birth: 02 May 2020
- Associated with: Victoria Beckham
Bye bye Beckham? - June 04
David Beckham’s popularity has gone into freefall. The nation watched with bated breath as their national hero went up to take a shot at goal in England’s most important game in months, confident that the footballer known for his penalty kicks would pull one out of the bag. But, as we all know by now Beckham missed by a mile and despite his attempts to blame his mistake on a shoddy pitch or bad training he has gone from the UK’s favourite son to being about as popular as Posh at a Weight Watchers meeting.
As Rooney-fever grips the nation, Beckham has been relegated to bottom of the football star pile, with the media asking if he should be in the national squad at all, let alone be captaining it and fans furious that the team have had to come home early. And it’s not just Britain that has had enough, even the Asian media, long time lovers of the Beckhams, have turned, with headlines such as "Blow it like Beckham" gracing their covers. Could this mistake spell the end of the world’s obsession with all things Becks?
Split rumours.again - June 04
Rumoured bust ups at Euro 2004 have us all speculating about the Beckham’s marriage. According to friends of David, the footballer is "at the end of his tether" with his missus. The Mirror has reported that while in Portugal the couple argued over, among other things, Victoria’s behaviour towards David’s former agents, her decision to rent a villa rather than stay at a hotel with the other players and their partners and her drunken display after the team lost their quarter final game. Onlookers say that they saw Victoria screaming at David that she was bored of football and bored of him and that she didn’t want to spend the rest of her life in his shadow. Blimey.
David to join Chelsea? - May 04
Victoria loves shopping down the Kings Road, so does that mean David is moving to Chelsea FC?
The rumour is that David’s time at Real Madrid is over. He hasn’t renewed his six month lease on his rented Spanish house, and whether or not anyone believes recent allegations surrounding the Beckhams are real or a PR scam, it is clear that David is desperate to please his wife and Victoria does like shopping down the Kings Road.
Victoria has made it clear she wishes to follow her career whereever it will lead her, even if it leads to a bargain bin in Woolworths. She hasn’t settled by David’s side in Spain, preferring to keep their home in Sawbridgeworth as the centre to their family life, which is close to her parents and her sister Louise. It is thought that Victoria would favour David joining Chelsea, as she likes the shopping and social life - Kylie, Liz Hurley, Michael Caine and Hugh Grant all live around the area.
The Sun newspaper reported that David has been looking around a ?9.5million mansion in Chelsea. It has four floors of luxury, with eight bedrooms, a glass-walled swimming pool, a sauna and a state-of-the-art cinema. More importantly - it is very close to Stamford Bridge, home of Chelsea FC. He has also recently put in an offer on a ?5.5million house overlooking Regents Park.
The two premiership clubs that have been linked with David returning to England are Arsenal and Chelsea. However Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger has already said that he would like Beckham but the club simply couldn’t afford him. However, multi billionaire Roman probably could.
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Victoria Beckham
David Robert Joseph Beckham was born on 2nd May 1975 and despite being a renowned national and international footballer, is probably more famous for his marriage to ‘Posh’, aka Victoria Beckham, their bizarrely named children and continued coverage in the gossip press.
Beckham’s football career began its steady climb when he first signed a trainee’s contract with Man U in 1991, making his league debut in 1995.
His contribution at Man U saw the team climb the ladder that is the English Premiere League and by 1998 he had also established himself on the international scene.
In 1998 Beckham was part of the England squad at the World Cup, but received a red card in the quarter final, for kicking out in anger at Argentian player Diego Simeone. England lost the game on penalties and David’s on-pitch behaviour became the object of much criticism on his return to England.
Despite his instrumental part in Man U claiming the Treble, Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League, in the 98/99 season, Beckham’s real rise to fame didn’t start until 2000 when he was promoted to captain the England team.
In 2001 his performance in a qualifying match against Greece saved the day for the England team and shortly afterwards he was voted Sports Personality of the Year. In 2002 his leadership saw an unprecedented 5-1 defeat of Germany in the 2002 World Cup qualifiers. The team went on to knock Argentina out of the cup on penalties, before losing in the quarterfinals to eventual winners Brazil.
Relations at home with Man U were strained during this time. A number of injuries left their star player incapacitated, whilst his growing celebrity status appeared to cause friction with teammates and manager alike.
In 2003 we all heard about the infamous ‘boot’ incident, when apparently, following a defeat against Arsenal, manager Alex Ferguson kicked a football boot at Beckham, it struck his eye causing a gash that required stitches.
In the summer of 2003 Beckham surprised fans by announcing a move to Spanish dream team Real Madrid, with whom he signed a four-year contract. During his time in Spain he split his time between the Spanish capital and his family who had remained at their home in England.
Despite winning over the fans in Spain and scoring well in the first season, the team itself didn’t perform well and were knocked out of both the Spanish and Champions League. It wasn’t until his fourth season in 2006/7 that the team won the Spanish Le Liga title, Beckham’s first since his arrival at the club.
During his time in Spain Beckham spent as much time in the papers as he did on the pitch, when accusations of an affair with personal assistant Rebecca Loos were printed in the tabloid press. His wife’s refusal to move to Spain fuelled yet further accusations that the marriage was on the rocks.
His career as England captain also seemed to be strained at this time, when during the 2006 World Cup he was substituted, a move that saw him weeping on the sideline. Shortly after this incident Beckham took the bold step of standing down from his position as captain and was subsequently dropped from the squad all together.
At the beginning of 2007 Beckham announced his swift departure from Real Madrid, in order to cross the Atlantic and join Los Angeles Galaxy.
2007 has seen the whole family move Stateside, with the Beckham’s continuing their domination of the world media in an attempt to ‘conquer’ the USA.
David and Victoria married on July 4th 1999 and have three sons, Brooklyn, Romeo and Cruz
Updated July 2007
November 2007