A new documentary delves into the life of David Beckham – half of one of the world’s most photographed and iconic couples.
The new Netflix four-part series, titled Beckham, follows the former midfielder’s rise to football stardom through interviews with his wife Victoria, and other famous faces.
Here are more details on that revelation and other insights into their lives from the series.
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David Beckham speaks to Sky News
The infamous boot incident
Beckham, now 48, came through the ranks at Manchester United under Sir Alex Ferguson and went on to become a global superstar.
But the winger and his manager had a number of well-documented stormy moments – and Beckham was eventually sold to Real Madrid.
Sir Alex infamously kicked a boot into Beckham’s face during one row.
Beckham reveals in the documentary his former boss kicked a boot at him after he told him to “f*** off”.
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It also emerges the boot belonged to former teammate Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who went on to manage United himself.
The boot incident happened after United lost an FA Cup fifth-round tie 2-0 to rivals Arsenal – ending their hopes of a domestic double, or treble.
According to the Daily Mail, Beckham says of the incident: “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 effing 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.”
Image: Beckham required stitches after the infamous boot incident
Image: Beckham arriving at Man United’s Carrington training centre after the incident
The midfielder was later seen sporting the injury during training.
Sir Alex tells the documentary makers: “I kicked the boot at his head. I mean, honestly, it was an absolute freak.”
When he is asked about the photos, he replies: “Yeah I’m not going to talk about that. The only thing I will say is that I think that was stage-managed. It wasn’t even worth a stitch.”
Image: Victoria and David Beckham pictured in Monaco in August 1999. Pic: AP
Ferguson: David’s relationship with Victoria ‘changed’ him
The pair also clashed over his relationship with Victoria – and David’s rising celebrity status – with the couple being dubbed “Posh and Becks” because of Victoria’s nickname in the girl band the Spice Girls.
According to The Sun, David says: “I knew my career was going to come to an end at some point and I wanted a career after football – that ate away at the manager.
“He just wanted me to be the best footballer that I could be and be married to a local girl that wasn’t a superstar.”
Image: The couple appeared on a German TV show in 2001
According to the Daily Mirror, he concedes his “life had become something different”, and later adds: “It definitely didn’t change me.”
But when Sir Alex is asked about it, the straight-talking Scot tells the documentary: “Well, he changed. There’s no doubt about that.”
Beckham also reveals his heartbreak after having to leave Manchester United for Real Madrid the following season.
According to the Mail, he says in the documentary he asked to speak to Sir Alex, but was told: “He doesn’t want to talk to you.”
Beckham says: “I said, ‘I need to speak to the boss, I need to know this is really what he wants’, and I pleaded to not go. I couldn’t get in contact with the boss.
“Did I ever want to leave Man United? No, never.
‘It was my home. My relationship with the boss was always special. We had our moments, but I still loved him.”
Image: Beckham kisses Victoria as he holds his OBE in 2003. Pic: AP
Sir Alex says their relationship “was at a stalemate”.
“There was not going to be any point in me saying to David, ‘I’m selling you’,” he added.
“The decision was made, it was better he went.
“He didn’t need to go. He could have stayed if he wanted. I think he knew it was the right time.”
Impact of David’s alleged affair with Rebecca Loos
In another revelation, Victoria finally speaks out about the “hardest period” of her marriage – the time David was accused of having an affair with his former personal assistant Rebecca Loos.
She says she was “the most unhappy I have ever been” during the aftermath of the alleged infidelity which is said to have happened in 2003 while he was playing for Real Madrid.
The couple have always denied the claims.
According to The Sun, in extracts of the documentary shared with the paper, Victoria tells of how the allegations impacted their relationship.
“It was the hardest period because it felt like the world was against us,” she says.
“Here’s the thing – we were against each other if I’m being completely honest.
“You know, up until Madrid sometimes it felt like us against everybody else but we were together, we were connected, we had each other.
“But when we were in Spain, it didn’t really feel like we had each other either.
“And that’s sad. I can’t even begin to tell you how hard it was and how it affected me. It was a nightmare.
“It was an absolute circus – and everyone loves it when the circus comes to town, right? Unless you’re in it.”
Image: David Beckham’s former personal assistant Rebecca Loos
When the 49-year-old is asked if she “resented” her husband, she replies: “If I’m being totally honest, yes I did. It was the most unhappy I have ever been in my entire life.”
The woman the former England captain and Manchester United star was accused of having an affair with is not named in the documentary, according to the newspaper.
David also addresses the allegations, saying: “There was some horrible stories which were difficult to deal with.
“It was the first time that me and Victoria had been put under that kind of pressure in our marriage.”
How Posh told Becks she was pregnant before World Cup match
The couple had their first child Brooklyn in March 1999 – and they are also parents to Romeo, Cruz and Harper.
Image: (L-R) Mia Regan, Romeo Beckham, Cruz Beckham, Harper Beckham, David Beckham, Victoria Beckham, Brooklyn Beckham and Nicola Peltz Beckham
In the documentary, Victoria reveals she dropped the news of her first pregnancy to David the night before his England side played Argentina at the 1998 World Cup – during which her husband was famously shown a red card.
Beckham was sent off during the match with Argentina, after kicking Diego Simeone – a game that England went on to lose in a penalty shoot-out.
Victoria made the call to David while she was in Brooklyn, New York.
According to the Mirror, she says: “I told David the night before the game.
“He was so, so happy, we both were and there was never any doubt in my mind that I should tell him.
“I mean, it was what we wanted and he could not have been happier.”
Image: Beckham with son Brooklyn at Old Trafford in May 2000
She is asked: “So you tell him right before the biggest game of his life – did you think it would help him?”
Victoria replies: “I don’t really know.”
David then says: “Before the Argentina game, she phoned me and said I’ve just taken a test and I’m pregnant. So I found out then.
“The first thing I wanted to do (was get out of there and be with Victoria) but I couldn’t, we were in a major tournament.”
Image: Victoria Beckham and son Brooklyn in 2004
1998 World Cup red card left David ‘clinically depressed’
Victoria also reveals David was left “clinically depressed” after his red card at the 1998 World Cup.
The couple talk about the abuse they had levelled at them in the late 1990s as a result of the sending-off.
After the game, an effigy of Beckham hung in a pub, and during the following season, Manchester United’s team bus was pelted with rocks and pint glasses at an away game at West Ham.
Victoria says: “He was absolutely broken. He was in pieces.
“He was really depressed, absolutely clinically depressed.
“It pained me so much… I still want to kill these people.”
Image: Sir Alex Ferguson (R) congratulates Beckham (C) and Roy Keane after winning the Premiership title at Old Trafford in May 1999
Image: The pair at at the Nou Camp stadium in Barcelona on the eve of their Champions League victory in May 1999 which saw them win the treble
Image: Beckham came through the ranks at Manchester United under Sir Alex
David adds: “I don’t think I have ever talked about it, just because I can’t. I find it hard to talk through what I went through because it was so extreme.
“Wherever I went, I got abused every single day.
“To walk down the street and to see people look at you in a certain way, spit at you, abuse you, come up to your face and say some of the things they said, that is difficult.
“I wasn’t eating, I wasn’t sleeping. I was a mess. I didn’t know what to do.
“The boss (Alex Ferguson) called me. He said ‘David, how are you doing?’ I think I got quite emotional. He said ‘how are you doing, son?’. I said ‘not great boss’. He said ‘OK, don’t worry about it, son’.
“That was the only thing I could control, once I was on the pitch, then I felt safe.”
A 15-year-old boy has died after “getting into difficulty” in a lake in southeast London, police say.
Officers and paramedics were called shortly after 3pm on Friday to Beckenham Place Park in Lewisham.
The Metropolitan Police said a boy “was recovered from the lake” at around 10.42pm the same day.
“He was taken to hospital where he was sadly pronounced dead. His death is being treated as unexpected but not believed to be suspicious,” according to the force.
The boy’s family has been told and are being supported by specialist officers.
The force originally said the child was 16 years old, but has since confirmed his age as 15.
In the earlier statement, officers said emergency services carried out a search and the park was evacuated.
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Image: Emergency teams were called to Beckenham Place Park on Friday afternoon
Beckenham Place Park, which borders the London borough of Bromley, covers around 240 acres, according to the park’s website.
The lake is described as 285 metres long, reaching depths of up to 3.5 metres.
It is designed as a swimming lake for open-water swimming and paddle boarding.
A London Ambulance Service spokesperson said on Friday: “We were called at 3.02pm this afternoon to reports of a person in the water.
“We sent resources to the scene, including an ambulance crew, an incident response officer and members of our hazardous area response team.”
Emergency teams have not explained how the boy entered the water, or whether he was accompanied by others.
A man has been charged with the murder of a 16-year-old boy in Huddersfield.
Alfie Franco, 20, will appear before Leeds Magistrates’ Court on Saturday, West Yorkshire Police said.
The suspect, from Kirkburton in West Yorkshire, is also charged with possessing a knife in a public place.
Police were called to a stabbing in Ramsden Street, Huddersfield, at about 2.45pm on Thursday.
The victim suffered a single knife wound to the neck and died later in hospital.
Police said “multiple” enquiries into the stabbing are still ongoing.
A male and a female were arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender, and have been released on bail.
Anyone with information about the incident or footage that could be helpful is urged to contact West Yorkshire Police’s Homicide and Major Enquiry Team.
The cost of having staff is going up this Sunday as the increase in employers’ national insurance kicks in.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced in the October budget employers will have to pay a 15% rate of national insurance contributions (NIC) on their employees from 6 April – up from 13.8%.
She also lowered the threshold at which employers pay NIC from £9,100 a year to £5,000 a year, meaning they start paying at an earlier point on staff salaries.
This is on top of the national minimum wage rising, the business relief rate for hospitality, retail and leisure reducing from 75% to 40% and the rising cost of ingredients and services.
Sky News spoke to people working in some of the industries that will be hardest hit by the rise in NIC: Nurseries, hospitality, retail, small businesses and care.
NURSERIES
Nearly all (96% of 728) nurseries surveyed by the National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA) said they will have no choice but to put up fees because of the NIC rise, leaving parents to pick up the shortfall.
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The NDNA has warned nurseries could close due to the rise, with 14% saying their business is at risk, 69% reducing spending on resources and 39% considering offering fewer places with government-funded hours as 92% said they do not cover their costs.
Sarah has two children, with her youngest starting later this month, but they were just informed fees will now be £92 a day – compared with £59 at the same nursery when her eldest started five years ago.
“I’m not sure how we will afford this. Our salaries haven’t increased by 50% during this time,” she said.
“We’re stuck as there aren’t enough nursery spaces in our area, so we will have to struggle.”
Karen Richards, director of the Wolds Childcare group in Nottinghamshire, has started a petition to get the government to exempt private nurseries – the majority of providers – from the NIC changes as she said it is unfair nurseries in schools do not have to pay the NIC.
She told Sky News she will have to find about £183,000 next year to cover the increase across her five nurseries and reducing staff numbers is “not off the table” but it is more likely they will reduce the number of children they have.
Image: Joeli Brearley, founder of Pregnant Then Screwed, said parents are yet again having to pay the price for the government’s actions. Pic: Pregnant Then Screwed
Joeli Brearley, founder of the Pregnant Then Screwed campaign group, told Sky News: “Parents are already drowning in childcare costs, and now, thanks to the national insurance hike, nurseries are passing even more fees on to families who simply can’t afford it.
“It’s the same story every time – parents pay the price while the government looks the other way. How exactly are we meant to ‘boost the economy’ when we can’t even afford to go to work?”
Purnima Tanuku, executive chair of the NDNA, said staffing costs make up about 75% of nurseries’ costs and they will have to find £2,600 more per employee to pay for the NIC rise – £47,000 for an average nursery.
“The government says it wants to offer ‘cheaper childcare’ for parents on the one hand but then with the other expects nurseries to absorb the costs of National Insurance Contributions themselves,” she told Sky News.
“High-quality early education and care gives children the best start in life and enables parents to work. The government must invest in this vital infrastructure to make sure nurseries can continue to deliver this social and economic good.”
HOSPITALITY
The hospitality industry has warned of closures, price rises, lack of growth and shorter opening hours.
Dan Brod, co-owner of The Beckford Group, a small southwest England restaurant and country pub/hotel group, said the economic situation now is “much worse” than during COVID.
The group has put plans for two more projects on hold and Mr Brod said the only option is to put up prices, but with the rising supplier costs, wages, business rates and NIC hike they will “stay still” financially.
Image: Dan Brod, co-owner of The Beckford Group, said the government does not value hospitality as an industry. Pic: The Beckford Group
He told Sky News: “What we’re nervous about is we’re still in the cost of living crisis and even though our places are in very wealthy areas of the country, Wiltshire, Somerset and Bath, people are feeling the situation in their pockets, people are going out less.”
Mr Brod said they are not getting rid of any staff as their business strongly depends on the quality of their hospitality so they are having to make savings elsewhere.
“I’m still optimistic, I still feel that humans need hospitality but we’re not valued as an industry and the social benefit is never taken into account by government.”
Image: Chef/owner Aktar Islam, who runs Opheem in Birmingham, said the rise will cost him up to £120,000 more this year. Pic: Opheem
Aktar Islam, owner/chef at two Michelin-starred Opheem in Birmingham, said the NIC rise will cost him up to £120,000 more in staff costs a year and to maintain the financial position he is in now they would have to make “another million pounds”.
He got emails from eight suppliers on Thursday saying they were raising their costs, and said he will have to raise prices but is concerned about the impact on diners.
The restaurateur hires four commis chefs to train each year but will not be able to this year, or the next few.
“It’s very short-sighted of the government, you’re not going to grow the economy by taxing hospitality out of existence, these sort of businesses are the lifeblood of our economy,” he said.
“They think if a hospitality business closes another will open but people know it’s tough, why would they want to do that? It’s not going to happen.”
The chef sent hundreds of his “at home” kits to fellow chefs this week for their staff as an acknowledgement of how much of a “s*** show” the situation is – “a little hug from us”.
RETAIL
Some of the UK’s biggest retailers, including Tesco, Boots, Marks & Spencer and Next, wrote to Rachel Reeves after the budget to say the NIC hike would lead to higher consumer prices, smaller pay rises, job cuts and store closures.
The British Retail Consortium (BRC), representing more than 200 major retailers and brands, said the costs are so significant neither small or large retailers will be able to absorb them.
Andrew Bailey, the governor of the Bank of England, told the Treasury committee in November that job losses due to the NIC changes were likely to be higher than the 50,000 forecast by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR).
Image: Big retailers have warned the NIC rise will lead to higher prices, job cuts and store closures. File pic: PA
Nick Stowe, chief executive of Monsoon and Accessorize, said retailers had the choice of protecting staff numbers or cancelling investment plans.
He said they were trying to protect staff numbers and would be increasing prices but they would likely have to halt plans to increase store numbers.
Helen Dickinson, head of the BRC, told Sky News the national living wage rise and NIC increase will cost businesses £5bn, adding more than 10% to the cost of hiring someone in an entry-level role.
A further tax on packaging coming in October means retailers will face £7bn in extra costs this year, she said.
“This huge cost burden will undoubtedly reduce investment in stores and jobs and is likely to lead to higher prices,” she added.
SMALL BUSINESSES
A massive 85% of 1,400 small business owners surveyed by the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) in March reported rising costs compared with the same time last year, with 47% citing tax as the main barrier to growth – the highest level in more than a decade.
Just 8% of those businesses saw an increase in staff numbers over the last quarter, while 21% had to reduce their workforce.
Kate Rumsey, whose family has run Rumsey’s Chocolates in Wendover, Buckinghamshire and Thame, Oxfordshire, for 21 years, said the NIC rise, minimum wage increase and business relief rate reduction will push her staff costs up by 15 to 17% – £70,000 to £80,000 annually.
To offset those costs, she has had to reduce opening hours, including closing on Sundays and bank holidays in one shop for the first time ever, make one person redundant, not replace short-term staff and introduce a hiring freeze.
The soaring price of cocoa has added to her woes and she has had to increase prices by about 10% and will raise them further.
Image: Kate Rumsey, who runs Rumsey’s Chocolates in Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire, said they are being forced to take a short-term view to survive. Pic: Rumsey’s Chocolates
She told Sky News: “We’re very much taking more of a short-term view at the moment, it’s so seasonal in this business so I said to the team we’ll just get through Q1 then re-evaluate.
“I feel this is a bit about the survival of the fittest and many businesses won’t survive.”
Tina McKenzie, policy chair of the FSB, said the NIC rise “holds back growth” and has seen small business confidence drop to its lowest point since the first year of the pandemic.
With the “highest tax burden for 70 years”, she called on the chancellor to introduce a “raft of pro-small business measures” in the autumn budget so it can deliver on its pledge for growth.
She reminded employers they can claim the Employment Allowance, which has doubled after an FSB campaign to take the first £10,500 off an employer’s annual bill.
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National Insurance rise impacts carers
CARE
The care sector has been warning the government since the October that budget care homes will be forced to close due to the financial pressures the employers’ national insurance rise will place on them.
Care homes receive funding from councils as well as from private fees, but as local authorities feel the squeeze more and more their contributions are not keeping up with rising costs.
The industry has argued without it the NHS would be crippled.
Raj Sehgal, founding director of ArmsCare, a family-run group of six care homes in Norfolk, said the NIC increase means a £360,000 annual impact on the group’s £3.6m payroll.
In an attempt to offset those costs, the group is scrapping staff bonuses and freezing management salaries.
It is also considering reducing day hours, where there are more staff on, so the fewer numbers of night staff work longer hours and with no paid break.
Image: Raj Sehgal said his family-owned group of care homes will need £360,000 extra this year for the NIC hike
Mr Sehgal said: “But what that does do unfortunately, is impact the quality you’re going to be able to provide, at a time when we need to be improving quality, but something has to give.
“The government just doesn’t seem to understand that the funding needs to be there. You cannot keep enforcing higher costs on businesses and not be able to fund those without actually finding the money from somewhere.”
He said the issue is exacerbated by the fact local authority funding, despite increasing to 5%, will not cover the 10% rise.
“It’s going to be a really, really tough ride. And we are going to see a number of providers close their doors,” he warned.
Nadra Ahmed, executive co-chair of the National Care Association, said those who receive, or are waiting to access, care as well as staff will feel the impact the hardest.
“As providers see further shortfalls in the commissioning of care services, they will start to limit what they can do to ensure their viability or, as a last resort exit the market,” she said.
“This is very short-sighted, with serious consequences, which alludes to the understanding of this government.”
Government decided to ‘wipe the slate clean’
A Treasury spokesperson told Sky News the government is “pro-business” but has “taken the difficult but necessary decisions to wipe the slate clean and properly fund our public services after years of declines”.
“Our budget choices have already delivered an NHS with falling waiting lists, a £3.7bn rescue package for social care, and vital protection for Britain’s small businesses,” they said.
“We’re making tough choices today to secure a better tomorrow through our Plan for Change. By investing in economic growth and early years education while capping corporation tax, we’re putting more money in working people’s pockets and giving every child the best start in life.”