After only a few seasons in the first team, David Beckham already has a portfolio of stunning goals and match-winning performances. Beckham first cam to United's attention when he won a Bobby Charlton soccer skills competition at the age 11. Three years later, Beckham signed as a schoolboy for United. "From day one, his talent had to be seen to be believed," said United's youth coach Eric Harrison. David made his first team debut in September 1992, coming on as a substitute against Brighton, but he had to wait until December 1994 for another chance. He made the most of it, scoring against Galatasary in the European Cup.?t;br>At the beginning of the 1995/96 season, with the departure of Ince and Kanchelskis, Beckham was given his chance in midfield. He played 32 times and scored 8 goals, including the FA Cup semi-final winner against Chelsea at Villa Park. Criticized by commentator Alan Hansen on the first day of the season as being too young, Beckham and his colleagues had picked up a championship medal and an FA Cup winners medal by the end of the season. The following season, in the dying minutes of United's opening fixture against Wimbledon, Beckham had possession of the ball on the half way line, looked up, saw the gap and scored a goal from 57 yards. It was a moment of inspiration. That goal started David Beckham phenomenon. He was seen as the fresh new face of English football.
In just one season Beckham made an effortless transition from promising youngster to England's main creative force. The autumn of 1996 saw him score a breathtaking string of goals from outside the area. Beckham had presence in midfield and the ability to hit long passes, and Glenn Hoddle must have seen something of himself in the young player. In September 1996 in Moldova, Hoddle gave Beckham his international debut, and he became the only ever-present player in England's World Cup qualifiers. A momentous season ended with Beckham collecting his second championship medal and being voted PFA's Young Player of the Year.?1997/98 Beckham's relationship with the Spice Girls' Victoria Adams brought added pressure off the field, but he continued to impress on it. He was United's top scorer from midfield with 11 goals, and the team's leading provider of goals, with 22 assists.?t;br>Beckham will not look back fondly on the '98 World Cup in France. Hoddle questioned his focus and left him out of England's opening game against Tunisia. In the second game, against Romania, he replaced Ince, who was injured, and scored his first international goal with a free kick against Colombia. But Beckham's tournament ended in shame when he was controversially sent off in the Second Round against Argentina for a retaliatory kick at an opponent (Even though that opponent clattered him and pulled his hair, and then when he gets a slight nudge on his calf he collapses as if he's been hit by a bulldozer!). England eventually lost the tie on penalties, but many stupid English fans believed that it was Beckham's sending off that lost them the game.
Opposition fans consequently barracked Beckham through 1998/99 (and continuing through 1999/00) but their jeers were often drowned out by United supporters' cheers. Beckham rewarded the faithful with some brilliant performances, creating plenty of goals for the Cole-Yorke partnership. He notably set up both of Yorke's headers in the Champions League quarter final against Inter Milan (at Old Trafford) and it was from his corner kicks that United scored twice in injury time of the Final, eventually winning the competition. All this, and he had become a father too, when Victoria Adams gave birth to their son Brooklyn, on 4th March, 1999. David and Victoria were married in Ireland on 4th July 1999.
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