David Beckham lost his cool in the Manchester United dressing room and had to be held back by his Red Devils team-mates in his final months at the club
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Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson gives instructions to David Beckham during the FA Barclaycard Premiership match between Fulham and Manchester United
David Beckham and Sir Alex Ferguson clashed towards the end of the Englishman's time at Manchester United
(Image: Getty Images)
David Beckham once lunged towards Sir Alex Ferguson in a fit of rage despite seeing the Manchester United manager as a father figure.
Ferguson handed Beckham his footballing breakthrough, along with other members of the club’s famous Class of 92’, before the Englishman went on to become a global icon. Despite Beckham being one of United’s best players in the late-1990s and early 2000s, the pair's relationship gradually became strained as Beckham's popularity as a celebrity and fashion icon grew in his latter years with United.
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And, in 2003, after suffering a 2-0 defeat to Arsenal in the FA Cup fifth round, tensions reached a boiling point between the pair, with one incident in the Red Devils dressing room doing irreversible damage to their relationship.
Ferguson took issue with Beckham’s apparent lack of commitment and kicked a boot at his head, which saw photos of the England captain emerge in the tabloids of him sporting a cut above his left eye. Beckham would leave for Spanish giants Real Madrid shortly after, but not before launching himself at Sir Alex in fury.
Shedding light on the heated incident in his autobiography, the Scotsman said: "In his final season with us, we were aware that David's work rate was dropping and we had heard rumours of a flirtation between Real Madrid and David's camp.
"The main issue was that his application level had dropped from its traditionally stratospheric level. He was around 12 feet from me. Between us on the floor lay a row of boots. David swore. I moved towards him, and as I approached I kicked a boot.
"It hit him right above the eye. Of course he rose to have a go at me and the players stopped him. 'Sit down,' I said. 'You've let your team down. You can argue as much as you like.'
"The next day the story was in the press. In public an Alice band highlighted the damage inflicted by the boot. It was in those days that I told the board David had to go.
"My message would have been familiar to board members who knew me. The minute a Manchester United player thought he was bigger than the manager, he had to go.
"I used to say, 'The moment the manager loses his authority, you don't have a club. The players will be running it, and then you're in trouble.'"
Giving his own perspective on the clash that ended his United career, Beckham said on his Netflix documentary: "We walked in the changing room and the boss is fuming. I can see it by his face. And when you see the boss’s face like this, you don’t want to be anywhere near him. It is a face that no one can do, trust me.
“[He was f'ing and blinding] and I went back at the boss and said 'no' and then I swore. I said the f-word. And then I saw him change, and I was like, 'S***, I really shouldn’t have said that'. I think I said the f-word too many times."
On the photos of a bandaged Beckham that appeared in the press, Ferguson said: "I think that was stage-managed. It wasn’t even worth a stitch."
Despite becoming one of Real Madrid’s famed Galacticos, Beckham still insists that he never wanted to leave United - the club he joined as an 11-year-old - and that he had hoped to patch things up with Ferguson. However, the legendary manager accepted a bid from Barcelona for Beckham without telling him and refused to speak to the winger when he demanded a final conversation.
Beckham said: "I turned on the TV, saw the news, stopped my holiday and then called Peter Kenyon and said, ‘is this true?’ and he said ‘yes’ and I said, ‘can I speak to the manager?’ He said ‘no’, I said ‘I’d like to speak to the manager if I’m leaving.’ He said, ‘he doesn’t want to talk to you, he’s on holiday and that’s it’.
Manchester United's David Beckham required two stitches after Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson kicked a football boot which accidentally struck him above the eye
David Beckham was said to have required two stitches after Sir Alex Ferguson kicked a football boot which accidentally struck him above the eye
"I said, ‘I need to know if this is real or not.' He said, ‘it’s real, we’ve accepted an offer’ which I then replied to him by saying, ‘If I am leaving United I want to decide where I go next, I don’t want to go to Barcelona, there’s only one club I want to go to and that’s Madrid.'"
He added: "My management made the call and a day and a half later I was a Madrid player. It obviously hurt. I couldn’t watch United for three years on the TV.”
After completing his £25million move to the Spanish capital, Beckham would go on to register 20 goals and 52 assists for Real Madrid in 159 appearances. He won La Liga in his final season before heading to the United States to play for LA Galaxy, later enjoying spells with AC Milan and PSG.
Ferguson, meanwhile, is notorious for having made several similarly brutal decisions with former Red Devils players, with the likes of Jaap Stam and Roy Keane also being forced out of the club in bitter circumstances.