David Beckham: My Side by David Beckham (with Tom Watt)

Author:David Beckham (with Tom Watt)
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 2011-09-10T04:15:22+00:00

11

Beckham (pen)

‘What’s going on here? I can’t breathe.’

I wonder now: Did that week in Dubai help finish me off as a United player in the eyes of the boss?

I was out in the sunshine with England instead of being back at Carrington, clocking up the miles on the treadmill alone. I know the gaffer wasn’t best pleased about that. I had the feeling he wasn’t too happy, generally, about the extra responsibility – and the extra attention – that came with me captaining England. And he probably wasn’t keen, either, on the fact that Victoria and Brooklyn were in Dubai with me. It didn’t matter that I thought that marriage and fatherhood had settled me and had a positive effect on me as a player. The gaffer had always thought my family was a distraction from the serious business of football. He’d said as much to me often enough since I’d met Victoria. He thought my life at home got in the way: for me and for him.

I’d long since decided that it wasn’t an argument worth having. Was an argument ever worth having with the gaffer? I wasn’t going to convince him that being fulfilled as a person could only ever be good for me as a player. And, obviously, nothing he said was going to change how much I loved and cherished my family. It was great having Victoria and Brooklyn with me out in Dubai.

Sven thought it would be good if the players had their families around them. We were hoping to be away in Japan for the duration of the World Cup, after all. I remember talking to him about it before we left England, while he was planning our schedule. He believes in players having time with their partners and with their children. Most other countries see it that way. I remember at France 98, the Danish team were staying at a hotel just down the road from us and had their families with them in the same complex. At first, Sven wasn’t sure how the English players felt about having family with them, so he asked me, as captain, to sound them out. In Dubai we had activities organised for the kids in the mornings around the pool and barbecues for everyone in the evenings. The families enjoyed each other’s company and it helped draw the lads closer together at the same time.

Having Victoria and Brooklyn there left me with a clear head to concentrate on the one thing that mattered, the World Cup, and me being fit for it. I worked with one of the England physios, Alan Smith, every morning on my own. I was just starting to run, just starting to test the metatarsal injury. I had to try and build up to something near match fitness too. I wasn’t able to join in with the regular squad training which was going on every day at the same time. The balance was just right in Dubai: hard work and then the beach and some sunshine, with our families there to enjoy it with us.

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