The biggest interviews question of David Beckham’s career

David Beckham was born in Leytonstone, England on May 2, 1975

He grew up loving the game of football. His favorite team was Manchester United, just like his dad. All David ever wanted to be was a professional football player.

‘I’m proud of the fact that I’ve come so far, because I could easily have gone in the other direction’
David Beckham has ongoing projects in fashion, football and philanthropy, and as a legend of the game, we commend the player who changed football for everyone.

Back in 1999, no one believed Manchester United’s historic treble season was the peak of his career.
“To be honest, all I ever wanted was to be successful as a footballer. Obviously, I always did things outside of the game and outside of my footballing career that were slightly different at the time. I think it’s more acceptable now to do some of the things that I did, some of the covers, some of the photo shoots, some of the sponsorships, but I think my focus back then was to just win trophies, be successful with Manchester United and never leave United. Anything outside of the game was just a bonus.” When did that change?

“I don’t think it ever changed. My bread and butter was always what I did on the field and the reason I was successful off the field is because of what I did on the field. Back in the day it wasn’t normal to do a shoot with David LaChapelle. It wasn’t the thing for sportsmen. But I knew that as long as things off the field didn’t affect my performance, I could continue to do that.”

You never had ambitions to manage United?

No, not at all. If someone turned around to me and said, “If the England job came up, would you take it?”, I mean of course I would think about it, because I’m a passionate Englishman and I’m passionate about our national side, but would I be any good at it? Who knows? It’s a dream job, but Gareth is doing the most incredible job for us right now. He’s brought energy and excitement back into the game and the fans – myself included – are enjoying that.

Did Victoria’s success as a designer influence your decision to start your own business?

I’d obviously seen what Victoria’s done for her business and it’s been a lot of hard work and I knew that if I was going to start something I needed to be ready physically, mentally and be very much invested in what I believe is going to be a success. She’s been extraordinary in what she’s done. So, yes. It’s inspiring.

You’ve started representing footballers, as well, as an agency. Why?

I am not an agent and I’m not a manager, but I have an unbelievable team around me who are some of the best in the world. Combine that with my experience both on and off the field and I think we can offer something really unique and strategic to these young players and athletes. Our clients have got to be people who want to learn, who are good people, good human beings. I’ve always given players advice – mostly how to behave and how to act when they’ve gone through difficulties on the field and I guess this is the next step on from that. It’s about creating a long-term plan, but one that is true to who these players are and what is important to them.

Tell me about Studio 99 and how it will be different from the vast amount of competition out there.

There are real opportunities out there, including many of the projects we’ve been involved with here. One of the projects is obviously Miami and we’ve got such a lot of content. We’ve been building this club for the last six years and we have steadily collected content over that time. We’re exploring human-interest stories, sporting narratives, lifestyle projects. We have access and we have a point of view.

You’ve made your Miami dream a reality, a hugely ambitious project that is reaching fruition. Where did that ambition come from?

When I first moved to California to play for the LA Galaxy, part of the package was to be able to own a franchise at the end of my career, so if I wanted to go in that direction that was always in my contract. I knew it was there. I just didn’t really think about it until the last few years…
With hindsight, that seems like something of an understatement, as Beckham has continued to build one of the biggest brands in the world, a brand that revolves around sports and sports ownership, but which also entails endorsements, sponsorship, pro bono educational and charitable programmes, product launches, talent management and, of course, his Major League Soccer team, Inter Miami CF. He also recently bought a small stake in Salford City FC alongside former Manchester United teammates including Gary Neville, Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs. Since leaving Simon Fuller’s organisation earlier this year, Beckham has quickly built an entire team around himself, one with enough flex to cope with the myriad opportunities coming his way. David and Victoria bought out Fuller’s 33 per cent stake in their businesses for about £38 million. The deal gives them full control of Beckham Brand Holdings, which includes a stake in Inter Miami CF, the Seven Global and David Beckham Ventures businesses. This has allowed him to establish a fully independent commercial operation, which now handles his brand name and partnerships with global organisations including Adidas, Haig Club (Diageo), House 99 (L’Oréal), Kent & Curwen, Coty, Tudor, AIA insurance and Las Vegas-based hotel group Sands, who he is working with to create his first interior design project (hotel suites in Macao). And next up Beckham will channel inspiration from icons such as Paul Newman and Steve McQueen when he launches his first standalone eyewear brand with Italian manufacturer Safilo.

“I think the change happened when I started seeing things differently on the business side and largely because I was enjoying it a lot more,” he says, clearly proud of and excited by these new developments. “Consequently, I started to focus and then started looking towards the end of my career and what I was going to do, setting up a team and at some point owning my own team and owning my own office and being able to actually control everything that was going on in my world. I was probably in my late twenties, early thirties when I started to readjust. And it looked very different from when I was 21.”
Back then, the 21-year-old didn’t look much like a businessman, but then no one expected him to, not least himself, Sir Alex Ferguson or his millions of fans. And the year that followed, the only by-products of his success were a tabloid obsession with his “adventurous” fashion choices and his relationship with a pop star, the aforementioned Posh Spice. Back then, he was the victim of the media, whereas now he is more in control of it.

Who were your role models, as opposed to father figures?

My role models, in terms of playing, were people like Bryan Robson and Glenn Hoddle. They worked hard and they are good guys, kind guys. I always looked to people like Steve McQueen or David Bowie. Bowie was such an amazing human being, different but in an elegant way. And McQueen was always effortlessly cool. I look up to people who do things differently, but who do it with style.

David Beckham, what will your legacy look like?

I think it’s really important to leave a stamp in life, so people remember you for the right reasons. And that doesn’t always happen. Maybe Miami will be that for me. I want my kids to look back and say, “My dad built this club.” I loved going back to Old Trafford to play the Legends match earlier in the year [a repeat performance of the Manchester United vs Bayern Munich 1999 Champions League final]. I was so proud that my kids could actually see that, because Brooklyn was the only one who was alive in ’99 and he was obviously only two months old. It’s all about leaving the right mark. And we as players of the Class Of ’92, we left our mark, so we are part of the legacy of Manchester United forever because it was such an important time for us as a club and as individuals.

My real legacy, though, has to be my family, having four amazing children who are passionate, determined, polite, who are good human beings. Victoria and I always say that our family is our biggest accomplishment in life. We’ve been married for 20 years, and together for 23 years, so the love we have, the family we have, the careers that we’ve had, lives we have, that is our biggest accomplishment and I’m very proud of that.

And what advice would you pass on to your children for the next 20 years?

To work hard, simple as that. I tell the kids they have to make choices, sometimes give things up. If your friends are going out on a Friday night, maybe you can’t. Maybe you’ve got tennis practice the next day or you’re in the studio singing, like Cruz, or you’ve got a shoot, like Brooklyn. That’s where your focus needs to be. You know, my dad always used to say the same, to sit me down in front of the TV and tell me to watch Bryan Robson, only Robson, no one else. Even when we went to games, watching Manchester United play Tottenham or Arsenal, all he’d say to me is don’t worry about watching anyone else apart from Bryan Robson, because he worked hard, because he tackled hard, because he is a good example. And he always said to me, “Whatever you do, work hard.” And I think that’s why I’ve had the career I’ve had. Work hard, be passionate, take care of your family. End of.
Nowadays, Beckham talks like a statesman. Burnished by hours of media engagement and by two decades of having to defend himself while having microphones, cameras and telephones thrust in his face, he is a world away from the nervous ingenu who stumbled through interviews in a tremulous voice that was sometimes a little high pitched. His speaking voice was a gift to cruel comedians, who patronised him because he didn’t talk like Darth Vader and who displayed the very worst kind of old-fashioned English snobbery that the egalitarian Nineties were meant to eradicate.

These days he talks in perfect paragraphs, with consideration and in a voice even John Wayne would have taken seriously. He rises above it all by being quiet and stoic and, increasingly, by doing a lot of other things too. Last year the British Fashion Council announced Beckham’s appointment as ambassadorial president, a newly imagined global role created in order to support the organisation in its goal to build networks and partnerships in the United States and Asia. His job was to partner closely with the BFC team to help them boost support for the industry on a global scale – raising the profile of emerging British fashion talent with global investment and media communities alike. One of the salient reasons Beckham was interested was because the BFC also wanted his involvement in mentoring, too. In addition to promoting innovation in the sector, a key focus of the role is supporting the BFC across its education pillar, helping reach young talent from all backgrounds across the UK, through Saturday Clubs, scholarships and apprenticeships and via engagement in arts education.

It is no secret that Beckham is big in the East, as any visitor to Shanghai, Singapore, Seoul or Shinjuku will see immediately. His presence is huge and compelling. When I cohosted a lunch in Shanghai on behalf of the British Fashion Council, at which Beckham was the guest of honour, the executives (most of whom had travelled from Beijing on a public holiday in order to make the lunch) found themselves incapable of leaving for their planes without first getting that all-important selfie. To say that Beckham has the ability to unlock global networks is something of an understatement.

He might have spent 20 years building his brand, but the next five years is all about building an empire. Having worked with various business partners since he retired from football in 2013, after a phenomenal career, he is now breaking out on his own, building a company that can serve his interests while still assiduously burnishing his own image.

But at the heart of Beckham’s world and reflected throughout his office is his 20-year relationship with Unicef. It’s a point of passion for Beckham, a relationship that began during his time at Manchester United and deepened when then UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon asked him to become a goodwill ambassador. Ten years later, Beckham launched a standalone fund, the 7 Fund (the only Unicef goodwill ambassador to have done so). It’s a big deal and a responsibility he doesn’t take lightly. Put simply, his work helps highlight the issues that stop children reaching their full potential – and helps get the funding in place to make sure they do. No mean feat, but he’s in it for the long haul.

As he increases his global reach and his seven-star network – the number of influential people Beckham can’t get on the phone shrinks every day – he knows his options expand accordingly. But he is only one man, after all, and even David Beckham only has so much bandwidth.

He announced the launch of Studio 99, a content studio that will develop documentaries, TV and other formats, and also will undertake commercial work as a creative agency for brand partners. The studio already has a slew of documentary projects in development – including some that will feature Beckham – with stories spanning sports, travel, fashion and entertainment. He has cofounded Studio 99 with long-term manager David Gardner, who is managing director of David Beckham Ventures, and Nicola Howson, his strategic advisor, who will be Studio 99’s MD.

The umbrella organisation Beckham is building has been inspired by the way US sports stars use their influence when they finish playing and he is following in the footsteps of other pro athletes who have established media ventures, including NBA superstar LeBron James. In fact, Studio 99 has already secured a development agreement with Uninterrupted, the media company cofounded by James and his business partner, Maverick Carter. Their first project is a documentary series charting the creation and development of Inter Miami CF. Quoted at the time, Carter said, “David Beckham typifies the ‘More Than An Athlete’ mentality.” That mentality is playing through so many ideas and projects orbiting Beckham, including a new standalone fashion/leisurewear hybrid brand in the works.

Studio 99 couldn’t have been called anything else, being named after the momentous year in which Manchester United won their unprecedented treble – the Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League – and the year he married Victoria as well as the year the couple had their first child, Brooklyn. Coincidentally, 1999 was also the year that Beckham secured his first GQ cover, as one of the stars of our second Men Of The Year Awards. He has now graced the cover six times, more than anyone else (two of those issues had multiple covers, so it is actually eleven in total), and so it felt fitting to honour him properly this year, by giving him our Editor’s Special Award. It is not just a celebration of the man, but also an acknowledgement of the pro bono work he does on behalf of Unicef, a recognition of all the educational work he does for the BFC, as well as the many grass-roots organisations he supports, helping to engage young people across the country, encouraging them in everything from sport to fashion, offering pastoral care, financial support and media exposure.