Pre Manchester United

David was born on the 2nd of May 1975 in Leytonstone, East London the place he was brought up and learned his trade which has taken him from schoolboy hopeful to the captaincy of his country.

David started to shine as a footballer at a very early age with some incredible goals, and some delightful pieces of skill. This was no accident, David was helped and encouraged by his father Ted from as young as he can remember.

Beckham played his school football for Nevin Drive and Chingford, and of course represented Waltham Forest district and the Essex county team.

Whilst at club football he plied his notable talent with Ridgeway Rovers a side based a few miles down the road from his Chingford home in Enfield. As a schoolboy, David Beckham represented the county of Essex, had trials with Leyton Orient and attended Tottenham Hotspur's school of excellence.

David and Manchester United first met when he became the TSB Bobby Charlton Soccer skills champion for his age group in December 1986 aged 11.

The prize included a presentation at Old Trafford and a two-week trip to train with Terry Venables' Barcelona side at the Nou Camp.

Attending every United game played in London he was made team mascot the following year for the game against West Ham.

Wins FA Youth Cup

1992 - Wins FA Youth Cup

1992 - Makes senior team debut with Manchester Utd in Coca Cola Cup

His success started almost immediately along with team mates, Ryan Giggs, Gary Neville and Paul Scholes. David proved his worth in the FA Youth Cup, scoring in the second leg of the final against Crystal Palace. They went on to win the FA Youth Cup 1992.

This led to him making his first senior team debut, the following season, for a Rumbelows league cup match against Brighton and Hove Albion coming on late in the game for Andrei Kanchelskis.

Beckham became a professional player four months later but didn't get to play another senior team game for over another season.

1994 - Reserve team Championship Medal

Plays five games on loan to Preston North End

1995 - Plays five games on loan to Preston North End

In September 1994 he made his first full appearance against Port Vale in the League Cup. This was followed two months later with his first goal for United against Galatasaray in the Champions League. Despite winning the match 4-0, United were knocked out of the competition.

The 1994-1995 season saw Beckham play for two teams in two different divisions.
To give him more experience Alex Ferguson loaned him to Preston North End in league Division 3.

He played only five matches but scored two goals, the first in his first game for Preston against Doncaster Rovers having come on in the second half.
The second goal David scored for Preston was against Fulham.

His stay at Preston though was short lived and he was recalled to United to play in his Premiership debut against Leeds United on 2 April 1995.

1995 - Makes league debut for Manchester Utd against Leeds

David scored his first goals in the Champions League against Galatasary in 1994, in the Premiership against Aston Villa in 1995 .

Beckham plays with team shirt number 7 but originally had the number 10 shirt. When Sheringham joined he took 10 so Beckham moved to the number 7 shirt recently vacated by Eric Cantona.

1996 - Manchester Utd win FA Premiership

1996 - Manchester Utd win FA Premiership

1996 - Manchester Utd win FA Cup

1996 - Makes International debut for England against Moldova

His first Premiership goal came against Aston Villa in the first game of the 1995/1996 season. United were beaten that day and were chastised by Alan Hansen who stated "You can't win anything with kids". Beckham and the United team were to prove him very wrong.

The season saw David firmly established himself in the first team taking on the right midfield position with the departure of Andrei Kanchelskis.

David started to show the knack for great goals, Scoring in the FA Cup against Chelsea in 1996 . Scoring a total of eight goals himself that season, United went to on win the Premiership and then the FA Cup, completing United's second double.

During this Season David Won the following Awards

Player of the Month - August 1996

Sky Sports/Panasonic Young Player award

Sky Sports/Panasonic Fans' Footballer award

First full international appearance

1998 - First full international appearance

Although he had represented England at under-21 level in the previous two seasons he made his first full international appearance against Moldova, a World Cup 98 qualification match.

His first, international goal was scored against Colombia in World Cup 98.

He was the only player to have started every qualifying game for France 98 and ended the season winning the Premiership with United and being voted by his peers as the PFA Young Player of the Year and second in the Player of the Year voting.

The following season was controversial and not one Beckham would want to remember. The season was hard - United were knocked out of the Champions League by Monaco and they lost the Premiership title to Arsenal by one point.

World Cup 98 in France was to prove more demanding. He was left out of the starting line up in the first two games but scored a beautiful free kick against Colombia. However, four days later he made himself a national pariah through being sent off for aiming a kick at Argentina's Diego Simone.

It was the first sending-off of his professional career.

1999 - Manchester Utd win FA Premiership

1999 - Manchester Utd win FA Cup

1999 - Manchester Utd win UEFA Champions League

Undeterred Beckham knuckled down and proved all the critics wrong. In his first match of the 1998/1999 season he scored one of his trademark free kicks against Leicester. It would be the start of his best season yet. United got into temendous form and went on to win the Premiership title and the FA Cup.

The season's successes were not over. In perhaps one of the best Champions League finals of recent years two goals from Sheringham and Solskjaer in the final minutes of the game, against Bayern Munich, won United the European Cup and an amazing treble.

That same year David had become a father to Brooklyn in March 1999. Brooklyns name appeared on Beckham's boots when United completed the unprecedented Treble of Premiership, FA Cup and European Cup.

He then in July married Victoria Adams of the Spice Girls.

His rehabilitation was complete.

In March 1999 he became a father to Brooklyn, whose name appeared on his boots when United completed the unprecedented Treble of Premiership, FA Cup and European Cup. In July 1999, David married Victoria Adams, better known as 'Posh', a member of the Spice Girls pop group.

The 1999/2000 season was another successful one for David, despite all the press hype caused by a new haircut and a high-profile argument with Sir Alex Ferguson.

The midfielder picked up his fourth Premiership winner's medal, and was voted second best player in Europe and the World. Rivaldo of Barcelona and Brazil pipped him to both awards. David also finished runner-up in the BBC Sports Personality of the Year, losing out to boxing champion Lennox Lewis.

The major highlights of David's 2000/01 season were on the international stage, although he again won the Premiership title with United, having scored in three matches in a row early in the campaign.

David proudly captained England for the first time in a friendly in Italy and then kept the armband for the friendly with Spain and the World Cup qualifiers against Albania and Finland, against whom he scored an important goal at Anfield, home of Liverpool FC.

He saved the most important goal for Old Trafford, however, and his last-gasp goal against Greece in October 2001 secured England's place at the World Cup finals in Japan and South Korea. After breaking a metatarsal bone in his left foot against Deportivo la Coruna, the nation waited to see if the inspirational captain would be fit to lead Sven's men in the Far East.

In the end, he recovered but was not fully fit as England drew 1-1 with Sweden before Becks' penalty beat pre-tournament favourites Argentina. A 0-0 draw with Nigeria took David and the lads through to the second round where a comprehensive 3-0 win over Denmark set up a quarter-final against Brazil. The Samba Kings was a step too far for England, however, and they lost 2-1 before coming home to a heroes' welcome.