Hot Press meets David Beckham, 1997

AS ALL football fans (not to mention Arsenal supporters) know, Manchester United's David Beckham is an extravagantly gifted midfielder with one of the best right feet in Europe. In addition to these covetable attributes, on the evidence of my 30 minutes with him he appears to be a friendly, approachable, polite, well-adjusted human being, with not even a hint of the vile arrogance which is a personality trait of so many of his Premiership contemporaries.

Perhaps at this point I should, as they say, declare a personal interest. It is this: I am a rabid Manchester United fan, have been since the age of seven, and can trace my interest in football right back to the day I watched United playing Brighton in the 1983 FA Cup final. I've spent a good percentage of my 21 years on the planet observing the Red Devils in action, and such is the depth of my obsession that up until about four years ago, I had a Manchester United quilt on my bed. It doesn't get much sadder than that - unless you have a Liverpool quilt on your bed, in which case it's . . . no, I won't bother. Slagging the 'Pool these days is a bit like going after an immobilised hippopotamus with a sniper's infra-red-sights rifle.

Consequently, as I spend the hour before this interview writing up my questions in the HP office, I can feel a tight knot of nerves being tied in my stomach. By the time I arrive at the interview location, my hands are shaking. I've rarely, if ever, been this nervous and anxious before in my entire life. I am about to have a long chat with not just any old Manchester United player, but one of my all-time heroes, and I am, in short, shitting bricks.

But David Beckham, as I have already said, is an unimpeachably nice guy, and his friendly demeanour goes a long way to settling my fraught nerves - to such an extent that before the interview proper even starts, I have relaxed completely.

Now, if only he were as candid as he is amiable. On five separate occasions during our conversation, he employs the words "I don't really want to talk about that", or "I'm not going to answer that question", or variants thereof. And as the phrase "That's the way football is" emerges from his lips for the third time in as many minutes, a popular analogy involving blood and stones springs nimbly to mind.

Blame it on fatigue after a hectic day, blame it on natural shyness, blame it on Alex Ferguson's unnecessarily obsessive shielding of his younger players from the nefarious media, but whatever the cause of it, interviewing David Beckham is a curious experience, involving constant and indiscriminate use of the words "y'know?" and "I dunno". It's not even a case of the guy being stupid, as such, or even surly. He isn't, which makes it all the more perplexing.

The man known as "Becks" to his team-mates was in Ireland for a publicity photo-call to promote his new advertising contract with Adidas. The piece of paper in question requires him to endorse the Predator Traxion boots, for which he is being paid a presumably ridiculous amount of money. This interview took place in the Burlington Hotel, where he stayed during his brief visit to Dublin.

I enter the lobby at 7pm on a cold Thursday evening to be greeted by a phalanx of PR people, all of whom are anxious to ensure that our chinwag goes as smoothly as possible. Hot Press had been informed earlier in the day that Beckham wanted to "talk about other things as well as football", so my list of questions is hastily revised to include queries about the future of the British monarchy, the current social turmoil in Albania, the chances of the Euro-sceptic Referendum Party in the approaching UK election, and Ireland's poor performances under Brian Ashton in the Five Nations.

Feeble wit aside, from the outset it's clear that he isn't relishing the prospect of another "What's - it - like - playing - for - Man - United - and - how - do - you - think -you'll - get - on - against - Porto - on - Wednesday" type of interview, his friendliness notwithstanding. Before we start talking, he collars a passing waiter to order a pot of tea and a tray of biscuits, remembering to say "please" and "thank you" in the process, which is something it's hard to visualise the likes of Teddy Sheringham doing. I get the feeling that this man won't be turning up in a Sun sexclusive involving Geri Spice Girl in the near future.

JONATHAN O'BRIEN: Let's start from the very beginning. You signed for United in 1988 on apprentice forms, and this involved moving up to Lancashire from Greater London, where you lived. Why United, instead of a team in the capital such as Chelsea or Arsenal?

DAVID BECKHAM: It was the way they treated me when I first went up to Manchester. It felt like I was in a family. The way it was, was like no other club I'd ever been at. I always supported Man United as a kid, always. It was all to do with the way the manager was with me, the way the coaching staff treated me, same with the players. It was just a great atmosphere. The first week I went there, that was when I knew that I wanted to play for Man United. Me and the Nevilles, Scholesy, Nicky (Butt), John (O'Kane), Chris (Casper), we've always been friends, there's always been a great atmosphere between all the young players and all the older ones. So, as I say, it's just like a big extended family really.

While you were making your way up the club ladder, did you experience any serious setbacks along the way - serious injury, failing a trial, things like that?

I've had two bad knockbacks that I can really think of. As regards one of them, looking back now it was really better for me in the long run. One was when I didn't get in the Lilleshall (FA school of excellence), when I didn't pass. Not that I would have gone, but it would've given me the option to go, and I was upset that I didn't get into that. And the second knockback - which was quite a big one - was when I played every game in the England under-18 side and when the European Championships came around, I wasn't picked, when I thought I'd done well enough to be in the team. That was the other one.

Did there ever come a point where you were convinced you weren't going to make it as a professional footballer?

No, thankfully. It's all gone really smoothly, touch wood (touches his head) so far. I've had help throughout my career, and that's the way it's been all the way through, so . . .

As a player, your first real achievement of note was when you scored the second goal in United's 4-0 victory over Galatasaray in the Champions League in November 1994. Two and a half years on, how do you look back on it?

I don't really remember much about it, to be honest. But it was definitely one of the highlights of my career, because it was my first goal for Man United, and to score it in a game like that, with a crowd like that at Old Trafford, and in Europe as well . . . it was brilliant, really.

That goal happened to be one of your trademark long-range rockets. Have you always had an obsession with scoring from outside the area, or is this a more recent development?

(Laughs) To be honest, I always used to score quite a few goals like this from outside the area and things like that, when I was playing for our Sunday team. But I'd never had the chance in the first team really to do it. At the time I don't think I had the confidence, but this season I've just been shooting from anywhere really. I've not set a task and thought "right, I'm going to practice that today", I've never thought that, y'know. I've practiced things in training, but never really practiced shooting from outside the area. We always work on shooting anyway.

Which players did you look up to as a kid?

I admired a lot of players. I hadn't got one favourite. I admired players like Bryan Robson, Glenn Hoddle, Ray Wilkins.

No foreigners? Platini, Maradona or Stoichkov, perhaps?

No, not really. Nobody that I can really think of.

When Andrei Kanchelskis and Paul Ince left the club in the summer of 1995, you were still very much a fringe player. Did you see their departures - particularly that of Kanchelskis - as an indication that you'd be getting an extended run in the team for the first time?

No, it never even entered my head that I'd be happy about players leaving. I was friendly with Andrei, and I was very good friends with Paul Ince and Mark Hughes as well. And they coached me and helped me a lot through my career up till then, and Paul Ince still does at England level. So does Mark Hughes whenever I see him. They're brilliant blokes, and I was sad to see them go because, one, they're great footballers, and two, they were so nice to me. I was well upset when they left.

After those players left, the first competitive game was the now famous 3-1 defeat at Villa Park on the opening day of 1995-96, which many people saw as signalling the end of United's successful era under Alex Ferguson. The opposite turned out to be true, but at the time did you think that United were facing a tough, barren season?

No, I think everyone else thought that, but deep down we knew that the manager knew what he was doing, and that what he did would be best for the club. That season proved it. We won the Double - again - and to do that a second time is just brilliant.

Speaking of Aston Villa, they have a very good record against United in recent seasons. Are there any teams - or players, for that matter - who you particularly don't look forward to playing against?

(Flatly) No, we're not scared of any teams in the Premiership. And there are no players I hate playing against, because all the players are good players, and there's no player who I think about like "oh, I don't wanna play against him, I'll never get past him." There's never once been a time when I thought that.

Manchester United went through a seriously awful run of form in October of last year, beginning with a 5-0 beating away to Newcastle United which was United's heaviest defeat since 1984 and Alex Ferguson's worst result ever as a manager. Was that match the lowest point of your professional career to date?

Not just that game. I think those two games that month, the 5-0 game at Newcastle and the 6-3 at Southampton, one after the other, I'd not experienced anything like that since I was in the United team. And neither had a lot of the other players.

What goes through a footballer's head in a situation like that, when a whole stadium is openly laughing at you and you're watching your goalkeeper pick the ball out of the net for the fifth time?

You can't really explain it. You can't explain the feeling that went through each player that day. It's something I've never experienced before, and I wouldn't like to experience it again. The weird thing is, we weren't that bad on the day. We didn't play that bad. And we did have chances. And also, we should have had a penalty just after they scored their first goal, their keeper flattened Karel (Poborsky) in the box, but that's the way football goes. Y'know, you get decisions against you sometimes that you don't want, you get 'em sometimes that you do want, but that's just the way football is.

What was Alex Ferguson's response - did he take the defeat on the chin, or did he blow his top afterwards in the dressing-room?

On the chin. He just said afterwards, "We've got to go and pick ourselves up now. It's not a disaster. It's just one of those things, y'know, today we just have to take our medicine. Every single Newcastle shot seemed to go into the net but that can happen." He wasn't throwing cups of tea at the wall or anything like that (laughs). He was calm - well, no, he wasn't calm, but he was a lot more quiet than what people expected, I think. Because there's nothing he could have done. After a game like that, no-one can say anything. The game against Southampton was similar. We had chances - I scored with a free-kick that day - but we gave silly goals away, and we got punished. But on the day, again, we didn't play that bad.

Within two weeks, United lost their 40-year unbeaten home record in Europe to Fenerbahge, as well as their two-year unbeaten Premiership home record to Chelsea. Can you explain why the club suffered such a series of disasters in such a short time?

(Laughs) Nah, I dunno, I think it was just a bad month! Simple as that. It was the worst four weeks in football I'd ever had. Y'know, it's just one of those things, we gotta go on from that.

Is Alex Ferguson an iron disciplinarian, or is he more easy-going than most people think?

He's very disciplined, which is good. The way he is with all of us is unbelievable, y'know, the way he treats us. He treats us like men, not boys. He never screams at us. Well, he does sometimes, when we need it, y'know, but not much. I've never seen him lose it. I've never ever seen our manager lose control of himself, no. He's got a lot of self-control and he knows what he wants, and how to get it. That's the way he is.

The verbal abuse which Peter Schmeichel heaps upon his defenders has become the stuff of footballing legend. Has he ever given you the treatment?

Oh, yeah!

What kind of stuff does he come out with in the heat of the moment?

(Sheepishly) Well, I can't really say it.

Of course you can.

Oh no, no, I couldn't. Pete's just one of those characters that you do need in your team. It's like Bryan Robson or Steve Bruce or Roy Keane, or even Cantona. You need a character, and he is that type of person who gets everyone going in his own little way. Everyone points it out in the papers every time, but if somebody's not doing their job right, Pete will have a go, he will tell 'em straight away. And he's got his way of telling 'em. That is his way and that's the way he's always been, to the best of my knowledge. So we just accept it, because he wants things done right, y'know?

What about when Schmeichel shouts at people even when it's patently obvious to everybody that the mistake was his?

That's just his way. He's one of the nicest blokes you could meet. Off the pitch, he's totally different. He's a really nice bloke.

He's made one or two mistakes recently. Has his ongoing feud with Ian Wright affected him at all?

I'm not really allowed to mention that incident.

Okay, to put it another way, is racism on the increase in football?

Racism has come into football more and more, but it gets blown out of proportion. That thing in the papers about Pete and Ian Wright has been blown up so much that it's unbelievable. Unbelievable. And Pete's very upset about it.

Have you yourself ever been on the receiving end of intimidation by opponents?

Yeah, sure. There are players that say things to you, try and get you going, tap your ankles and of course kick you. It's the way some players are, their way of getting themselves up for it. Sometimes it has got to me, and I do lash out (laughs). Sometimes.

Speaking of which, there was an incident during United's win over Rapid Vienna at Old Trafford where you backed into Rapid Vienna's Dietmar K|hbauer and then instantly fell down holding your testicles, in the process getting him booked.

Um . . . (laughs) . . . yeah, that's a fair enough way of putting it, but . . . I don't really wanna speak about that, to be honest.

If you'd been booked for diving on that occasion, do you think you could reasonably have complained about it?

Do I? I don't wanna talk about that.

Why not? It was months ago.

(Smiles, shakes head)

At the time of writing, you've won four caps for England. What was your favourite game in the white shirt?

I think it's gotta be the Poland game last October. It was the first time I'd played for England at Wembley. The whole atmosphere, y'know, going 1-0 down, coming back and winning the game, it was all just brilliant. Poland are a good team, a very good team, and we expected them to be at a certain standard, but we weren't prepared for what we got at the start of the game (Poland took an early lead through Marek Citko and subsequently played England off the park - JO'B).

Your other games for England included a couple of interesting away trips to the former Soviet Union.

Yeah, Georgia was (long pause) different. It's good to go and see countries like that, because, you know, you do miss England. When you're over there, you just think (looks astonished, sharp intake of breath). Georgia's a strange place. It was a lot better than Moldova, though. Moldova was the worst.

Are we talking cockroaches in the shower and that sort of thing?

Yeah. It just wasn't clean. In fact it was filthy. The people on the streets looked really ragged. And it was just . . . (shudders) . . . yeah, I'd have to say, Moldova was definitely the worst.

How does Glenn Hoddle differ as a coach from Alex Ferguson?

Obviously, each manager's got different ways and means of coaching, and he is different from Alex, but they're both top quality managers. And that's all I can say about 'em, cos that's the truth. Glenn gave me my debut against Moldova and he just said "Go on out there and enjoy yourself, do what you do for your club." Simple as that.

England's recent game against Italy was played at a very high tempo amid a frenzied atmosphere. Did you enjoy it?

It was certainly an experience, because, again, it was at Wembley. I've got a real thing about playing at Wembley. And of course, against a team like Italy . . . y'know, people say "oh, they're much better players," and so on, but we've got just as good players in the Premiership as they have in Serie A, whatever players are there. But in any case, it was a great game to play in.

After that match, many people likened it to United's home fixture against Juventus in Europe, in that each game could have gone on for another five days and the home side still wouldn't have scored.

Well, I don't think the two matches were that similar, because in both games, in the first half it was very tough for us. But in the second half at Wembley, England didn't create that many chances against Italy, and yet at Old Trafford, United attacked Juventus so much in the second half that I don't think they've experienced anything like that before or since. Y'know, I don't think Juventus had had to put up with that sort of thing for a long time.

With that in mind, does United's home performance against Juventus give you hope for the forthcoming games in Europe?

I'm not allowed to speak about the Porto game. I've been told. Sorry. (This interview took place six days before United won 4-0 against Porto - JO'B.)

Do the players approach European football in a different manner than they usually would a Premiership fixture?

We don't prepare in a different way at all. We might go out a day before we usually do. We always go to away games the night before, although sometimes we might go out two days before. Depends on what sort of game it is, like, y'know, whether it's Rapid Vienna or Rotor Volgograd we're playing. Sometimes you have to get used to the atmosphere of the place, things like that. Turkey was a scary experience. My first time there, when we played Galatasaray and drew 0-0, was worse than the second year, which was this season against Fenerbahge. The first year was frightening, actually frightening, but the second year was okay, it wasn't as bad as that.

The average footballer's working day ends at 1pm with the conclusion of training. What do you do for the rest of the day?

I like to shop, believe it or not. I love clothes shops.

What kind of clobber would you typically buy?

Suits, casual gear, stuff like that. Y'know, I wear suits for matches anyway, so I'm in my element. There's a shop called Flannels in Manchester. One of my mates works in there, so I just go in there and have a talk with him and look at the clothes.

Does he give you any discounts?

(Laughs) Not enough.

You'd hardly need any, though, with the wages you're on.

That's a fair point, I s'pose. But yeah, we do get 10% off.

Do you have any particular favourite designer labels?

I like Donna Karan, and I also like Gucci and Prada. They'd be top of my list.

Apart from investing in haute couture, what else occupies your spare time?

I like going out for meals and going to the pictures, things like that. I'm also a bit of a music fan. I'm into soul, R'n'B, that kind of thing. R Kelly's one of my favourites, I've seen him in concert a few times. He's the one I listen to most of the time, but there are others that I do like. LL Cool J as well - rappy, but not too much.

The English transfer market recently reached a new depth of utter madness with West Ham's purchase of John Hartson for #5.5 million. As a young professional earning thousands of pounds a week, do you feel that there is now simply far too much money in the game?

No way, I think there should be more (laughs). Nah, I'm joking. I think transfer fees have gone up a lot, and there are players who are getting so much money it's unbelievable, but that's up to the clubs. Players work for those fees, and if a club wants to pay that kind of wages, that's up to them, y'know what I mean?

Finally, what's your considered opinion of the ABU (Anyone But United) subculture, which has reached the stage where people practically throw impromptu street parties every time Manchester United lose a game?

Ah, it's just sad jealousy a lot of the time. People are jealous of what Man United do. It's always been the same since I've supported the club. They're totally envious of what Man United have got, and what we win. And that's the way it's always gonna be, I think. It's only started since we began winning trophies again. As I said, it's jealousy. It's up to those people if they want to be like that.