Lessons from the week (29 Oct 2023)

Hard work, fame and family - lessons from David Beckham

Documentaries allow us to get an insight into personalities, their families, how they live, eat, travel and work. The narrative may be controlled by them, but you do get to see a reality you haven't been exposed to. I always get to learn something I did not know. It is form of entertaining I enjoy watching.

In this four part docu-series, I got to see David Beckhams journey. He was a kid who lived and breathed football. He would practice on his own and with his dad for hours everyday with only one goal - to be a professional footballer. His dad had recorded 1300 games which he would then send to scouts. He won 92 games in a row which is quite an accomplishment at any level. David was hard working and professional. But he was also shy, super organized and loved the attention he got from the media. His sense of fashion as well as his performances on the pitch made him famous. The relationship with a pop star only heightened his brand.

But it was not all rosy. When he got red carded in a world cup game, the whole country blamed him for the loss. He got booed and sworn at day-in and day-out for years. Death threats and a lack of privacy were hard to deal with. At Real Madrid he got dropped. The scandal of an affair scarred his image and threatened his family. He was lonely and had to live without his family for long stretches of time because of his constant moves as a professional footballer.

What I liked about David Beckham is that he never lost his ability to put his head down and put in the work. Even when he got dropped from Real Madrid, he turned up for practice everyday which surprised the coach. This behavior compelled his teammates and his coach to let him back into the team, following which Real Madrid won the league. This showed character. He has definitely created a path of his own, from England to Spain to Italy to the United States. He is a global superstar who comes across very much like a family man. With his team LA Galaxy getting Lionel Messi to the US, he is in the news again for all the right reasons. It is a story worth watching.

Below you will find some notes I wrote when I was watching the series.

PRACTICE AND WORK HARD

• I know the only way to be a professional footballer is to work hard.

• I kept to myself. After school and till bed he would be out in the garden with the ball. When it was raining he would be drawing about football.

• Like every walk of life, football is practice. My dad would take me out for hours. Left foot. Right foot. Over and over and over again. And it was all about control.

• Even when I was six or seven, he would boot the ball up and say control it. Not good enough. Do it again.

• He won 92 games without losing. He was that good. I got 1300 or 1400 games of his own videos.

BEING KNOWN FOR MORE THAN FOOTBALL

• Alex Ferguson - without hunger you can't achieve anything. It wasn't enough for him. He wanted to be more than a football player. Getting David to keep his feet on the ground became more difficult. He was becoming a celebrity, getting media attention and money from brand endorsements which he would spend on clothes, cars and other luxury items.
  He was a good looking boy and he was always well cut. So he was a great attraction for the media.

• Beckham on Alex Ferguson - he wanted me to go with a certain agent that he knew and I wanted to go with another agent. He went mental to the point that he wouldn't even talk to me. I didn't want anything to come in the way of the football. But I knew my career was going to end at some point. And I wanted to have a career after football. And that ate away at the manager. He just wanted me to be the best footballer I could be. And be married to a local girl that wasn't a superstar.

• Bringing Beckham to Real Madrid tripled our revenues. This is the first time we went worldwide because of one player.

FAME CAN TURN AGAINST YOU

• He got blamed and crucified by England for getting a red card in the world cup. Everyone blamed him for England's loss. And he put up with it forever. That must have been hard.

• 75,000 people were abusing Victoria Beckham. They were getting death and kidnapping threats. They had no privacy. They did not know what to do..."it felt like we were drowning".

FORTUNE FAVORS THE BRAVE

• Two years ago I was the most hated man by English fans. And now I'm the English captain.

• The goal against Greece to make them qualify for the World Cup made him a national hero. This is two years after being one of the most hated man in England.

PERSEVERECE

• I wanted to prove to the Real Madrid fans that I was good enough.

• Even when he was told by Real Madrid that he won't play for them, he just kept going. Even if I wasn't wanted. I wanted to be there.

• David was always on time for training and kept working very hard. It was quite a surprise for me. - David Capello, the coach who dropped him

• I went and told the president that I will let David play from tomorrow. A month ago he said he would never play for Real Madrid again. A month later he named him in his starting eleven.

• "I don't give up easy. I don't give up." - David Beckham

• After Davids return to the team, they won the league. And everyone was saying "can't you stay for 2-3 years longer?"
  

FAMILY MAKES YOU FEEL SAFE

• Having my family there was a special moment for me. Then I felt safe.

• It was about what me and Victoria wanted. And we wanted America.

• The very next day after retiring he went and started the Miami club.

• We had to keep him busy.

*Beckham Documentary Series

Harsh Batra
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