Strangely, this is where I used to get most abuse when I played in England. They are so close to you down there, it is possible to hear each individual cry of, “big nose”, “yiddo” and “gay boy”. No complaints, no reactions, indeed just the way a certain Bobby Charlton would have behaved in his day.The taunts he will have to deal with will be at a level rarely experienced by any other professional sportsman in this or any other country But I believe he will cope perfectly well. The petulant streak detracted from his game, it distracted him from fully focusing on the real job. With the eyes of the whole country fixed on his behaviour and attitude he now has no choice but to knuckle down and get on with his game.
He lost it for a second in amongst all this and he became Public Enemy Number One. At the time I wouldn’t have argued his case too strongly, in fact I wouldn’t have backed him at all.He has, it is hoped, learned a lesson in the most painful and public way, albeit one he should have been forced to learn long before He will be a better player for it. His wages, his Spice Girl fiancee Victoria Adams and his dress sense each hogged the front and back pages day after day. Incredible things were expected of the team and of him in particular.There was no escape from the pressure in his private life either. Hoddle had left the England midfielder out at the start of the World Cup and it took a sustained press and public movement to get him reinstated. There couldn’t even be the beginnings of a comparison to the pressure we were both under when we snapped. Apart from the bad example I had set, I was embarrassed how harshly I had judged Beckham just weeks before.
It was no more than a momentary lapse of reason and control, maybe only the second or third time I had done this in 17 years playing professional football.The referee didn’t do anything, after all it was only a friendly, but I was furious with myself. After an hour of being pushed, pulled, blocked, tripped and even nipped in front of an inadequate referee, I lashed out in an embarrassingly similar way to young Beckham. My little flick hadn’t even reached my tormentor before I regretted it, but I couldn’t pull back in time. His peer group as well as those he was supposed to look up to had been allowed to get away with it for too long and now the whole country would be made to pay for this laxness towards Man Utd players.
Less than one month later I was in France on a pre-season tour with Kilmarnock.
