As the retired David Beckham settles into his national icon years, as evident by his visit to the Chelsea Flower Show where he chinwagged with King Charles, it’s sometimes easy to forget just how dramatic his post-1998 World Cup redemption arc was.
Beckham’s red card during the last-16 defeat to Argentina in France that summer saw him become one of England’s most hated figures
“The general public jumped on the bandwagon, saying he was the reason why we got knocked out of the World Cup – it wasn’t the reason we got knocked out of the World Cup,” Teddy Sheringham, who started the first two games of that tournament, tells FourFourTwo.
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Sheringham on how Beckham dealt with the 1998 World Cup fallout
“He made a slight mistake, a little tap of his ankle while he was on the floor, and Simeone made the most of it to get him sent off. The referee was nearby, but didn’t see what happened. I saw it with my own eyes – I was 20 yards away and it was unreal how it unfolded, for Becks to get sent off, then be vilified like that.”
Back home, many fans were not as forgiving as Sheringham, with an effigy of the midfielder being hanged outside a Croydon pub. Sheringham was Beckham’s club team-mate at Manchester United by this point and got a first-hand view of just how vitriolic the mood around Beckham was at that time.
“He showed his true quality after that World Cup,” he continues. “For a few months, he got dog’s abuse every time he took free-kicks or corners, every time he touched the ball – every five or 10 seconds. People wanted to kill him, they wanted to hang him, they wanted to burn him.
“For a player to be strong enough to come through that, that’s what made the man for me. Fans booing him, and he just whips a free-kick into the top corner and starts running off as if to say, ‘Eff you’. It was a credit to him, because the abuse was disgusting. It was quite amazing how he came through that and became a better footballer. That period could have broken him, no doubt.”
Beckham responded by producing the best season of his career to date, helping Manchester United win the treble, with the Red Devils benefiting from the siege mentality that had been created around them.
“It definitely brought us closer together early in that season, and Fergie’s management skills were phenomenal,” says Sheringham.
“As much as he could be ruthless with David, he also knew when to put an arm around his shoulder and say, ‘You know what, son? You’ll do for me, don’t worry about all those idiots trying to bring you down, you’re a proper player – remember that when you put on your Manchester United shirt, we still love you, you’re going to be fine’.
“That’s why Becks still holds him in such high regard, even though they later had their problems.”
