We won 3–2 and it was during that game I scored my first-everfree-kick at first-team level. It was just outside the area and I fancied蚂蚁加油更衣室打造完美球迷衫m足球市场-更多更全的球星自传下载mit. Gary Peters had put me on the free-kicks, and this one couldn’t havegone better. I don’t remember the goal so much as the celebration. Iran away with my arm in the air and one of the Preston players grabbedmy head and started pulling my hair so hard I thought he was going topull a handful out. Absolutely killed me. It might seem obvious, but Ithink a lot of people don’t realize just how much goals and results matterto players. For the lads at a club like Preston, back then anyway, it wasabout playing and trying to pay your mortgage and keep up with thebills like anybody else. It gave the soccer the sort of edge I’d neverexperienced. The looks in the other players’ eyes just told me howstrong their desire was, how badly they wanted, and needed, to winthe game. It was the same with the supporters. The club was the heartof the town; it had this long, proud history and people absolutely livedfor Saturday afternoons and the match. I was lucky. They were greatand took to me right off.I’ve had some amazing experiences since but, truthfully, that monthat Preston was one of the most exciting times in my whole career. Iremember thinking then that if the boss had been looking to let me go,I could have been happy playing for Preston North End. When it cametime, at the end of the loan, to go back to United, I didn’t want to leave.How worried had I been beforehand? How nervous had I been whenI got to Preston? Just four weeks later and here I was, asking MrFergusonif I could go and stay on with them for another month.The answer was: ‘No’. No explanation or anything. By the end of thatsame week, I understood why the manager wanted me back. Therewas an injury crisis at Old Trafford and the teamsheet for Saturday’sLeeds game had my name on it: I was about to make my League debutfor Manchester United at Old Trafford. After five really competitive –and physical – first-team games for Preston, I felt ready for the nextstep forward. More to the point, the boss thought I was, too. I wasmore prepared than I had been for those games against Brighton andGalatasaray, for sure. For an afternoon, at least, I could put any doubtsto one side. It seemed like United and Mr Ferguson thought I did havea chance after all.I knew that, for all the excitement of winning an FA Youth Cup andthe thrill of playing those games for United in the Cups and Preston inDivision Three, I hadn’t achieved anything yet. But maybe this was mytime to show that, one day, I might. It wasn’t just me, of course. Norwas it just my generation. It’s still true now: just ask Wes Brown or JohnO’Shea or Kieran Richardson. The manager has always had faith in theplayers who have been produced at the club. One of the best thingsabout coming through the ranks at Old Trafford is that the boss involvesthe younger players in training – and gives them a game, too – as soonas he feels they’re up to it. He believes in the lads who have grown upat the club and, above everything else, that’s something for which mygeneration will always feel grateful to Alex Ferguson. The future isn’t aresponsibility he hands over to someone else. When I was a boy, heknew who David Beckham was. Once I’d signed for United, he wasfollowing my progress the whole time: coming to games, watchingtraining, talking to Eric and the other coaches about how I wasgetting on.When it comes to making a League debut, or even getting a start ina Cup game for United, you already feel like you’re part of the first-teamset-up. That makes it easier for any young player to relax and do hisbest when he’s given his chance. With me, it seemed like I’d beeninvolved at least since I was a kid, warming up alongside my heroes atUpton Park as club mascot for the afternoon. By the time I was readyfor United’s first team, I already got on well with the senior players. Itwasn’t a case of: who’s this young so and so, coming in and thinkinghe can take our place? I knew them all and, just as important, theyknew me.As it turned out, my first Premier League game was a bit of ananticlimax. There’s always a big atmosphere for Man United vs Leeds,whether we’re playing at Old Trafford or at Elland Road, and the groundwas buzzing beforehand. It was an incredibly hot afternoon, though,and the match was stifled because of that. It finished 0–0. I must havedone all right because I played a few more League games before theend of that season and, by the summer, it felt as if, slowly but surely,things were starting to happen. What I didn’t realize, and none of usdid, was that the manager had already seen enough and was ready totake one of the biggest gambles of all time. The season 1995/96 wasthe making of me. It was the making of all of us, thanks to a boss whobelieved in us even before we believed in ourselves.About David BeckhamAfter leading England's storied soccer club, Manchester United, tofour Premiership titles and two World Cup appearances over tenyears, David Beckham was traded to Spain’s Real Madrid for over$41 million. Widely recognized as the most gifted athlete of ageneration, Beckham is married to former Spice Girl VictoriaAdams. They live in England, in what is commonly referred to as“Beckingham Palace,” with their two sons Brooklyn and Romeo.About Tom WattTom Watt, who collaborated with David Beckham on this book, isan established author, actor, sportswriter and broadcaster. He haswritten three books on football – The End, A Passion For TheGame and The Greatest Stage – and currently presents sport forBBC Radio.CreditsCover ArtistCorbis CorporationCover Artist 2AP/Wide World PhotosCover PhotographerZuma PressFirst published in Great Britain in 2003 byCollinsWillow, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers.BECKHAM. Copyright . 2003 by FootworkProductions Ltd. All rights reserved underInternational and Pan-American CopyrightConventions. By payment of the required fees,you have been granted the non-exclusive, nontransferableright to access and read the text ofthis e-book on-screen. 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