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David Beckham was born into a family who were avid football (soccer) supporters of the Manchester United team while his grandparents cheered for the competing Tottenham
Hotspurs. Not surprisingly, Beckham was a Manchester United fan from a very early age. He even insisted on wearing a Red Devils shirt when training with London club Tottenham Hotspur as a schoolboy.
Manchester United scout, Malcolm Fidgeon was watching David playing for Ridgeway where he started playing at age 11 and decided to talk to David's parents about David playing for United. But his
parents decided their son should finish school at Chingford before joining Manchester United.
The skinny teenager rose from a spell of cleaning the first team's boots to a spot in the reserves,
before making his league debut in 1995, just a month shy of his twentieth birthday. Then in 1997 he really catapulted into the spotlight when he met and fell for Spice Girl Victoria Adams, commonly known
as Posh. The attraction between the couple was instant, and ten months after embarking upon a relationship they announced their engagement. "I've met the man I know I'm going to grow old and wrinkly
with," gushed a love-struck Victoria.
Sportswise, it was in the 1996-97 season that David Beckham truly arrived. In United's opening game at Selhurst Park he scored a goal from just
inside his own half which guaranteed him headlines for the rest of his career.
He was very nearly driven to leave England after receiving constant abuse from opposition supporters after his
sending off early in the second half for a petulant kick against Argentinian player Diego Simeone in the 1998 World Cup. England was out on penalties and Beckham's name was mud. He had the best season of
his career following that sending off and has even established himself as England captain in recent times.
Following that match, David flew straight to New York where the Spice Girls were on tour,
and where his and Victoria's son Brooklyn Joseph was presumably conceived. Born on March 4, 1999, by caesarean section at London's Portland Hospital, Beckham junior truly became the most famous baby in
Britain. Four months after the birth of their son, the couple married in front of 229 guests in an opulent ceremony at Luttrelstown Castle in Dublin.
Marriage and fatherhood evidently agree with
him and David's football has never been better. After intense media speculation it was announced in 2003 that the life-long Manchester United fan would be moving to Real Madrid on a four-year contract.
And, apart from making himself a permanent fixture as England captain – leading the boys to the quarterfinals in the 2002 World Cup – David became a dad for the second time in 2002, welcoming baby son
Romeo on September 1.
Then in November 2003, Beckham was honoured with the "best" award he'd ever received - an OBE from the Queen. "It's not just for me but for Manchester United,
England, all of my teammates and my family," he said.
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