Page 41 - Alex Ferguson: My Autobiography

mentality. Brazil would produce young players who could take the ball in any position, at any angle.
They are fluid in their movements. They are football-minded people, because they are accustomed to
it from five or six years of age.
David worked extremely hard on the technical side of his game. He was also a wonderful

networker. Even when he was left out of the GB Olympic squad in the summer of 2012, it was his
camp that released the news, rather than the FA. The quotes were all magnanimous. But I’m sure he
was as sick as a pig.
I remember Mel Machin saying to me: ‘Giggs and Beckham – they’re world-class players, and yet
you get them to go from box to box as well. How do you do that?’ I could only reply that they were
gifted not only with natural talent but the stamina to carry them up and down the pitch. We had
something special with those two.

It changed with David because he wanted it to change. His eye was off the ball. A shame, because
he could still have been at Manchester United when I left. He would have been one of the greatest
Man United legends. The only thing making him a legend at LA Galaxy and beyond was his iconic
status. At some point in his life, he may feel the urge to say: I made a mistake.
But let me also pay tribute to him. His powers of perseverance are amazing, as he showed when
joining Paris St-Germain in January 2013. At United he was always the fittest boy in the building.

That helped him carry on playing to the age of 37. The stamina he built into himself from childhood
survived.
The MLS is not a Mickey Mouse league. It’s actually quite an athletic league. I watched Beckham
in the final of the MLS Cup and noticed how well he did, tracking back, putting in a shift. Nor did he
disgrace himself at Milan during his loan period there. At PSG he played for an hour in the quarter-
finals of the European Cup. He wasn’t in the game much, but he carried out his duties well. He
worked hard and hit a few good passes early in the game.

I asked myself, ‘How does he do it?’
Stamina was the first answer. But David also discovered a desire to confound everybody. And he
could still hit a fine cross, a good cross-field ball, which are traits he never lost. They were ingrained
in what he was as an athlete. To play in the later rounds of the Champions League at nearly 38 was
quite an achievement after five years in America. He was back in the mix. You can only praise him
for that.

One or two people asked me whether I would take him back after he left LA. With him at 37, there
was no point going down that road. There was a publicity element for PSG in signing him on a six-
month deal. David, however, ignored that part of it. As far as he was concerned, he was still a great
player. Giggs, Scholes and I discussed this one day. As I said, he had this talent for blocking out bad
performances. I would give him stick and he would go off in a huff, probably thinking, ‘That
manager’s off his head, I was good today.’
In LA, he probably thought Hollywood was his next step in life. There was a purpose and a plan in

him going to Los Angeles, I think. That aside, you have to admire his tenacity. He amazed me and he
amazed everyone at Manchester United. Whatever he pursues in life, he just keeps on going.