We’d played a lot of games that season and I remember being verytired, but losing that final wasn’t such a bad thing. For most of us, itwas the first big disappointment of our soccer-playing lives and perhapsit made us stronger, having to experience it together. You want to makesure you don’t feel that down again in the future. And you certainlydon’t ever want Eric Harrison getting mad at you again like he did inthe dressing room after we’d lost at Elland Road.By then, the 1992/93 season, the players in our age group werestarting to get involved, and to get games, with the first team. As earlyas September, I got called into training with the senior players and, acouple of days later, the manager told me that I would be traveling toBrighton for a League Cup tie. Gary, Nicky Butt and Paul Scholes werecoming as well. We flew down on this little seventeen-seater plane. Itwas a horrible flight: the noise, the bumping, the cramped seats, andit seemed to go on forever. Maybe that was why I got such a greatnight’s sleep once we’d finally arrived. I woke up to the news that I wasgoing to be one of the substitutes.About twenty minutes from the end, the manager told me I was goingon in place of Andrei Kanchelskis. I was so excited I jumped off thebench and cracked my head on the roof of the dugout: a great start toa first-team career. The boss wanted to have a look at me and I thinkI did all right. Mum and Dad were at the ground and they were assurprised as I was that I actually got a game. Seventeen minutes as aUnited player, but I still felt really young. What was I? Just seventeen?More like the boy who’d been on the bench at West Ham as a mascotthan a man ready to be in United’s first team. The manager had a littlego at me in the dressing room afterwards. I don’t remember havingdone anything wrong. He was probably just trying to make sure I didn’tget full of myself: a sign of one or two difficult times, maybe, that layahead for us further down the line.It was a long time before I got another chance. The Youth Cup sidehad all moved up to reserve team soccer: we’d won the ‘A’ Leagueand then the Central League, the first time the club had done that inover twenty years. I played in some League Cup games again early onin the 1994/95 season, when the manager rested his first-choice players.Back in the early nineties, United struggled a bit in Europe because ofthe Overseas Players Rule, which meant you could only play threeforeigners in the European Cup. It wasn’t that we didn’t have a strongsquad, but the changes the boss had to make would disrupt the rhythmof the side. That particular season, we were already as good as out ofthe competition but had a home game against Galatasaray still to play.It was early December.The first I knew about the possibility of me being involved was anarticle in the Manchester Evening News saying the manager was thinkingabout giving some youngsters a chance to try European soccer. Onthe day, he told a few of us we’d actually start the game that night. Idon’t know about the others, but I went into it not having a clue whatto expect. About half an hour in, I scored my first senior goal for United.The ball rolled out to me, in front of the Stretford End, and I rememberthinking: if I catch this right, something could happen. Even though Ididn’t really connect properly, the ball bobbled in somehow and I turnedand ran away to celebrate. Eric Cantona was the first player to get tome. I was buzzing that much, he was having to fight me off in the end.I just wouldn’t let go of him. I’ve scored a goal and I’m celebrating withEric Cantona.I really enjoyed myself. I think Galatasaray had left out some seniorplayers, too, and the game wasn’t as difficult as it might have been. Weplayed well, and the fact that there were so many of the younger boysin the team made it even better. Starting the game had made adifference,too. I felt a lot more at home at Old Trafford that night than I hadduring my seventeen minutes down at Brighton, two years before. Forus boys, it felt like the European Cup Final, never mind that Unitedwere eliminated whatever the result. As it was, we won 4–0, whichis a decent score in a European game whatever the circumstances. Themanager didn’t say anything afterwards. He was disappointed to be outof Europe, but seemed happy enough with how the young lads hadplayed.That first start in a big European fixture was an exception for me. Istill had work – and filling out – to do. The thing that has kept Unitedand the players at the club driving on is the knowledge that if yourstandards slip, there’s someone waiting to take your place. As ateenager, the doubts about whether you’d still be there in a week, amonth, or even a year’s time, were even more intense. It was back tothe reserves after my start in the Galatasaray game. Back to wonderingwhether I was good enough to take the next big step: establishing myselfin the first team by getting games in the Premier League. Sometimes ina career, even if you think you know what you need next, you have tobe ready to make the best of what comes along.It wasn’t every day I got called in after training to see the managerin his office:‘Preston North End have asked if they could take you on loan for amonth. I think it’s a good idea.’Straight away, I put two and two together and made five. I wasnineteen. Nicky Butt and Gary Neville were already getting games ona fairly regular basis. I’d been involved with the first team, but I wasn’tprogressing as quickly as them. Had United decided I wasn’t going tobe strong enough to make it? Was this a way of easing me out? Icouldn’t get the thought out of my head. They don’t rate me. They wantto get rid of me.It might have been an overreaction, but that’s how I felt. Of course,the first person I spoke to was Eric Harrison and, because of theconversationI had with him, the boss had me back in to explain.‘This isn’t about anything else but you getting first-team experience,in a different team, in a different league.’I’m glad I had that chance to talk to him because it meant I went toPreston in the right frame of mind. When I turned up at their trainingground for the first time, I was pretty nervous. I went into the dressingroom and all the Preston players were sitting there, as if they’d beenwaiting for me. I don’t know if they were thinking it, or I just imaginedthey were. Here’s this big-time Charlie from United, and he’s a cockneyas well. Either way, it was a really awkward morning. Preston were inDivision Three. It was a world away from the life I’d got used to at aclub where everything was taken care of for you, where only the bestfacilities were good enough. At the end of the first training session, Ithrew my uniform down in the dressing room before taking a shower.‘Not on the floor. You take it home and wash it yourself for tomorrow.’It didn’t bother me. I just wasn’t prepared for how things were doneat Preston. The manager, Gary Peters, didn’t waste any time by way ofintroductions. On that first day, he got all the players and me togetherin a circle:‘This is David Beckham. He’s joining us for a month from ManchesterUnited. He can play. And he’ll take all the free-kicks and all the corners,which means you’re off them and you’re off them.’He pointed to the lads who were usually on dead balls and didn’teven wait for an answer. What a start. It must have annoyed someof the other players. It would have annoyed me. Things were a bitembarrassing to start with, but once we were working together and gotto know each other, I had a great time with all the lads at Preston.Amongst the players, David Moyes, who’s now the Everton manager,was the top man. He was a center-half, the kind of player who’d throwhimself into any tackle possible. Even into some that weren’t possible.He’d be shouting, revving people up, and was passionate about winninggames. He was club captain and he talked to me, got me involved, rightfrom the start. It’s not just hindsight: you could tell then that David wasgoing to make a manager. He knew straight away what I was about,that I’d be quiet, keep to myself and just talk when I needed to. He puthimself out to bring me into the group, to look after me, and I reallyappreciated that.Gary Peters, the manager, was brilliant as well. It probably helpedthat he was a Londoner too. He made it clear what he needed me todo and gave me the confidence to do it. He seemed to really believein me. He must have watched me playing for the reserves at Unitedand I found out later that he’d asked about taking me on loan almostas a joke, not thinking the club would agree. He couldn’t believe itwhen the boss said yes. I understand Preston even put a bid in for meafter the loan spell, but Gary knew that really would have been pushingtheir luck.It all happened very quickly. I trained with them on the Monday thenGary put me into the reserves on the Wednesday, which felt quitestrange. Preston played in the Central League, like United’s reserves,and beforehand it almost seemed like I’d fallen on hard times. But onceyou’re out there playing you forget all that. I did all right, set up a goaland scored one myself. So, come the Saturday, I was on the bench forthe first team against Doncaster at home.It was a bit of a surprise when Ryan Kirby, who I’d played alongsidefor so many years with Ridgeway, lined up for Doncaster. My dad wasup for the game, of course. And so was Ryan’s dad, Steve, who’d alsodone some of the coaching when we were kids. For me and Ryan, itwas a quick hello and then we had to get on with it.One thing I wasn’t really looking forward to was the tackling. I’m surethat’s part of the reason the boss sent me to Preston in the first place,to harden me up a bit. I was a lot more fragile then than I am now.That first game, I sat on the bench for the first half and, every time atackle flew in, I was cringing. I wasn’t exactly looking forward to gettingon. When I did, though, almost straight away we got a corner. It was areally blowy afternoon, with the wind behind us, and I rememberthinkingI’d just whip the ball in to see what happened. A goal. Not a bad wayto start. We ended up coming from behind to draw 2–2.The next game was against Fulham, who had Terry Hurlock playingfor them. Now, I knew Terry by reputation and I’d watched him play:here was a bloke who liked a tackle and I was worried about gettingwhacked by him. As it turned out, I didn’t and got a few challenges inmyself. You soon realize that, if you’re playing for Preston in DivisionThree and they need the points, you can’t afford to be ducking out ofthe physical side.