Grab your tights and ballet shoes; we’ve got David Beckham! Teamwork, Ownership, Family… and the difference between football, soccer, and American football. So pull up a stool and join us for a pub lunch, a roast dinner, and some jellied eels… on an all-new SmartLess. Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ on Apple Podcasts to listen to new episodes ad-free and a whole week early.
Roses are red, violets are blue. This is a smart list. Coming right at you. Oh, that's genius.
Yes, wonderful. And cue the music.
Jason, hi. Sorry, so stressful. That is so stressful.
We have sometimes, every once in a while, we'll have tech difficulties.
Yeah, listener, we apologize if we were late today. Well, would we have been late with the listener? How does it work?
Not like that. But it's a good, I get where you're going with it. And yeah, more an apology to our special guest. Yeah, I'm so sorry, special guest. Who Sean and I don't know who it is yet. Yeah, so sorry.
Well, let me tell you something, Will. You're going to be mortified when you realize that you've embarrassed yourself. You and your silly podcast operation have embarrassed yourself in front of this guest. Why? How did I do it? I'm not in charge of Sean. Yeah, but you're going to feel the most embarrassment. No, no, no.
It should be. It's not even Sean. I mentioned Scotty. This one's firmly on Scotty. Yeah. And I feel like this is his department. He's in the tech department over at their house. And he's head of IT and he fucked up.
I know nothing. I know nothing.
I hand him my iPhone.
Where is Scotty today? What's his excuse?
He's working in the back in his little studio. So he's doing his things instead of doing your things. That's right. There's the problem. Priorities have shifted.
Yeah, they have shifted. We should bring him in front of the council.
And he probably can't step away from those duties for 10 minutes, can he?
No, no, he can't. I mean, the 12 steps that it takes him to walk from the back to the front. By the way, Jay, I didn't know that Franny was in 9 to 5. Yes, yes. I would have completely seen that.
Oh my God, you would have loved it. Yes, so Franny Tracy, my 17-year-old, she was in a musical last week at her school. She was incredible, I can say. I heard she was great, yeah. Yeah, and I'm just, I'm so, so proud. And she seems to, unfortunately, have been bitten by the actor bug, the performance bug, the audience bug, the whole thing.
I bet.
And so, you know, we're going to have to manage that. I'm obviously going to support her. No, I mean, I've tried.
I heard she played Roz, right? Did she sing the theme song, like the title song?
uh as part of the ensemble yes it was now now nine to five was on broadway at one point was it not correct yes uh-huh it's it seemed like it would be that's it's a great show yeah i heard it's really good it's the whole like tumble out of bed stumble to the kitchen pour myself a cup of ambition yawning stretching try to come alive oh you know the song i've never seen jason i know
Three times last week. And Maple, our 12-year-old, she was maybe even more obsessed by the whole experience. Yes, she told me. There are two on the loading dock. Here it comes.
Hollywood better get ready. Maple liked it a lot too, huh?
Yeah, she loved it. She's going to get into theater when she gets to the upper school. Really?
She says she's not interested in the tech part at all.
Yeah, she doesn't want to get her hands dirty building sets and light cues and stuff like that. She just wants a spotlight. Yeah, yeah. But it was very, very cool. I loved it. It's fun to watch that, right?
It's fun to watch that. The painting behind you, you painted that or you bought that?
It seems like it's something that I would, I know it's a little frame heavy left. Let me adjust my composition there.
Let's do that.
There we go. Let's go, me and... Oh, look at that nice kitchenette. It looks like flowers, but it's actually a broom. All right. Sorry, listener. You know what? It's been too long now. We've kept our guest waiting because of Scotty ignoring you, Sean. I know. So let me do my best.
Sean, just have a deep, deep pool of milk, though, before we... before we get the guest out here.
He truly did, listener. Just a big hard shot of milk. So this is a fella that... Will would probably do a better job introducing this guy. And he probably will be driving this interview much more than me, although I am a huge fan of his as well. But I can't really elaborate with one of my incredible introductions like I usually do. When do you do those? But I will... Sean, what did he say?
So I will say that, well, let me, I'm going to say some things here. And Willie, as soon as you guess it, you can go ahead and introduce them. All right? All right. This guy, this stud, this world famous athlete. In the room. Played for... Manchester United, Real Madrid, AC Milan, LA Galaxy, Paris Saint-Germain, and the England national team.
It's David Beckham. Are you kidding me?
David Beckham, get out here.
What?
No way. You're joking. No, I'm not joking. You're welcome, Will. It's not even your birthday.
Wait, I'm so sorry for keeping you waiting. Don't worry. Shut up, Sean. You've done enough damage already.
Shut your mouth.
David, thank you for joining us. It's a pleasure. Thank you for having me on. This is so exciting to me because I knew nothing about football, soccer. Watched the documentary. It's all I can stop talking about. It was incredible. I can't stop talking about it.
We're going to get to that. And the fact that you had to spend so much time with Fisher Stevens shows what great resolve you have as a human being.
Fisher's our friend. He's amazing.
He's amazing. It took us a while to find him as a director. You know, I looked for a long time for the right person to help me tell the story. And the moment I met him, I knew he was firstly, unfortunately, he was a Liverpool fan like you, Will. But other than that, he's a great guy. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
David, what an absolute thrill to meet you, my friend.
This is so cool.
I'm such a massive fan. First of all, where are we finding you right now?
I'm actually in London. Okay. I've been in the office all day, and then I have a premiere of a Friends series on Netflix tonight, so I'm heading there after here, but that's why I've got a shirt and tie on. Yeah, I was going to say.
Now, let me guess. Is this for Ripley?
This is Guy Ritchie's series tonight. So he's doing the Gentleman series. I've seen the movie, but the series he's been working on for a while, so I'm heading there tonight. I think he's a great director.
It's no surprise, and you made an excuse for wearing a shirt and tie, but you always look really, really well turned out.
And I'm sorry you're not good looking.
Yeah, he's working on it. He's trying to distract from his ugly looks by dressing up a bit, you know?
No, but I was going to say... We do what we can. You do what you can. That is something that has been a trademark of yours. You've always been kind of into style and into fashion and that comes through in the docu-series about your life. Do you feel pressure in that? I always want to know. Do you feel pressure in that way because you've set this standard?
You're like, oh, shit, I better look good when I go to the store?
To be honest, not at all. You know, I never feel pressure on that side. You know, I think, you know, my wife added to the fashion side of my life when we met 27 years ago. But even before then, you know, I was always into fashion, even at eight years old, when I tell the story about when I was...
page boy at one of our uh friends weddings my mom's friend's wedding uh and she asked me if i wanted to wear a suit or she wanted to or i wanted to wear tights and a pair of ballet shoes and i chose the tights and ballet shoes so i and in all honesty i never feel pressure um i enjoy wearing suits i enjoy wearing casual clothes but i never feel the pressure to to look in any certain way
But so you have a position somewhere in the English government or somehow with the fashion industry. I should have this. I'm looking for it. Great research. Yeah. It's not great over here. Sorry, David. But can you fill in where my dumbness is taking over?
Yeah, I do a lot for the Fashion Council, which they made me... Sounds like the Ministry of Magic. They kind of made me an ambassador of the Fashion Council. And it was something that I was quite surprised about. But in all honesty... It's something that I've loved to be part of because it's about the new generation and the next generation of, you know, talented young designers.
And that's what I love doing. You know, the work that I do on the charity side, the work that I've done on the soccer side over the years is all about the young talent and bringing them through. It's one of the reasons why I started the team in Miami, because I was excited about the talented players that we have in Florida. in South Florida, and obviously in Miami.
And that excited me more than anything. So, you know, stepping into the fashion world in that way was exciting for me.
But here's the thing about fashion, because to me... Oh, go ahead. Let's hear it from the expert.
Everyone's been dying to hear. So when you tie the baseball cap into the T-shirt, tell us what the process is.
Definitely interrupt David Beckham to get your opinion on fashion. Go ahead.
No, but my thing is like, Scotty always, my husband Scotty, always wishes that I... Another fashion firestorm. always wishes I would dress better, right? Like, always like, he's like, are you really going to walk out of the house like looking like that? Can't you just put like some nice pants and nice shirt?
And I was like, you know, like the looseness of a t-shirt and the looseness of like, it's more comfortable to me. Like, yeah, that's what it is. And to me, comfort is like, I don't like dressing in a shirt and a tie because it's so restricting and the pants are tight in a tuxedo. Like, and you enjoy that? Well, if it fits right.
If it fits right, then it's comfortable. So most of the time it does. So I feel okay doing that. But most of the day you'd like to be in sweats and a t-shirt.
Absolutely. Or jeans and a t-shirt. Yeah, of course.
That's what I'm saying, yeah. Now, can I ask you, David, do you like a little bit of stretch in your jeans?
I do. I do. It's nice to have a little bit of stretch in the jeans.
I get a lot of heat for the stretch I prefer in my jeans. But, you know, us athletes, David, we've got nice-sized legs and a real motor behind us, and so we need some room when we sit down.
We need room in our jeans. I agree. Yes, we do.
Jason's a little different from you, David, in that he's got the kind of thighs that are made for playing video games. You know what I mean? He looks like he's got atrophied limbs.
Well, to be honest, I was a fan of Ozark, so I saw those thighs quite a lot of times. Take your time through this section, David. They look good. Thank you.
He's a very handsome boy. I'm shy. To wrap up the fashion side of it, I'm curious... Will, I'm curious if you like going to these fashion shows. Do you like sitting front row and seeing all the fashion forward stuff?
To be honest, I very rarely go to the shows other than my wife's show. You know, I've gone to a couple of shows over the years, but I don't go to as many as people think I do. But the ones that I have to go to now and I want to go to, obviously, are my wife's ones. So I enjoy that.
Does she make men's clothing?
She doesn't yet. She made me a pair of jeans, actually. She should send you a pair and they fit well. So she made me a pair of jeans the other day. So we'll see. I don't know what she's going to go into next, but she's doing very well. She's a very hardworking woman. So yeah, we'll see. She's always looking for new projects.
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I think I saw a video of you at the show the other day and she came over and gave you a big kiss.
Well, she gave me a big kiss because obviously it was quite an emotional one for her. These shows are always emotional for obviously the work that she puts in and then it's over in like eight minutes.
That's what I'm saying. So I got invited to an Armani one in Milan. Yeah. So I flew halfway across the world because I'd never been to a fashion show.
Who's male were you accidentally getting that week?
So we fly around, halfway around the world. I go sit in the front row of this Armani fashion show. It's two minutes long.
Yeah, I know. I know. I'm like, what? It is amazing. But she was emotional because she's also got a broken foot at the moment. Oh. Yes. So she broke her foot. Funny story. We went skiing. She came for two days. She kept on saying, I'm not going to ski. I'm not going to ski because I've got too much going on. So she then went home after two days, left me with all the kids.
She was stretching in the gym. And by the way, Victoria is the biggest fan of the podcast, by the way. Is she? Oh, no way. We love her. This morning, I don't think I've actually never had so many texts from her during the day on the lead up to this. She literally texted me at three o'clock. She was like, have you done the podcast yet? And I was like, no.
And then this morning at breakfast, she was like, okay, I'm going to give you some. Don't try and be funny." She said, you guys usually focus on actors and not so much athletes. Obviously, I've listened to a few of the athletes you've had on, but she was like, don't talk too much about soccer because these guys are intelligent.
And all the people that are listening to these podcasts are people like me, she said. So she said, I don't want to listen to soccer the whole way through this.
We're going to cover a little bit of it, and Tracy's just going to have to deal with it.
Believe me. First of all, let's say that we're fans of Victoria's. Huge, huge, huge. So hello, Victoria. I'm a huge fan, yeah. Secondly, I'm sorry to say that when she says we're intelligent, she must be talking about a different podcast. And thirdly, we're going to talk about football, aka soccer, which, by the way, we covered this. Soccer is actually an English term.
Everybody thinks it's an American term, but you, David, probably know. Soccer is an abbreviation of association football, and they called it soccer. Right, David? Yeah, that's true. I didn't know that. Yeah, it's not American. No. Oh, it sucks.
Where did the ER come from?
Like the way they do rugby and they call it rugger? It was the same idea. Right, David?
By the way, this is the first time I'm hearing this, so I'm just agreeing with you, Will. It's just, you know, I agree.
It's true. So the way that they took rugby and they called it rugger is like a sort of a slangy version. And soccer, football, is called association football to distinguish it from rugby. It's called association football. And then they just took the sock from association and called it soccer. Anyway. I think we just ran out of time.
Yeah, thanks for joining us, David.
David, so listen. So you started playing football when you were a kid. And your dad, and I love that they cover this in the documentary. Your dad was a huge Man U fan. Yeah. Growing up. And then you go and become... One of the great Man U players. When you say Manchester United, you think David Beckham.
But you started the Man U Academy as a little kid, right?
Well, I'm an East End boy. So I'm from the East End of London. And obviously I started actually at Tottenham's Academy and Arsenal's Academy as a young kid. Ah.
What about West Ham?
Yeah, West Ham wanted me to go down and train with them, but obviously at that point I was having to decide between Arsenal and Tottenham. My grandfather was a season ticket holder for 50 years at Spurs at Tottenham, so I decided to go with Tottenham. So I spent a couple of years training at Tottenham until I was 12 years old, and then Manchester United noticed me down in London.
They invited me up to Manchester and that's when it all started and I moved up to Manchester when I was 15.
Wow. And let me bring Sean into the conversation. Sean, when David said that he's an East End boy, did you start humming Pet Shop Boys to yourself?
Absolutely. I love that song. Wait, but I have a question about the doc, because now I know everything about you, and I'm obsessed with you like the rest of the world. Like the rest of the world?
By the way, are you just going to go off topic because we're just getting on? No, no. It's about soccer.
It's about football. So because in the documentary, the thing that blew my mind was when the whole country was, turned on you in that moment that, right in the moment of the documentary and the moment in your career. And I was at home not knowing anything, not involved with like the ins and outs of like the crowd and the game and everything like that. I'm going, why are they booing
the greatest player, like they should be supporting you. So what is the mob mentality of turning on the best player in England?
In the world. I think the English have always had that mentality of build someone up, knock them down and then watch them get out of that again. And once they get out of that, there's a lot more respect there. But I think, you know, I made a mistake in 1998 with the red card and I owned up to that mistake.
And then I had to spend the next three or four years trying to get through these games and the seasons and the abuse that I was getting. But I think, you know, to your point, Sean, that... I think one of the things that came out of the documentary is the fact that, you know, everyone in America remembers me playing for the Galaxy.
They remember me playing for my country and also other teams that I played for, but they didn't know the story of what I'd gone through. So every time that I'm in Miami or LA or New York or somewhere in the US, people come up to me and were like, we didn't know that story. Like, just like you've said. And I suppose for a lot of people, the documentary was a reminder of,
firstly, how bad it was, and also for people to actually know the story. So it was quite hard talking for it, actually.
It humanizes, and you know, look, at a certain point, and you know this, David, and certainly you guys know this to a different degree, not the same way that David does, but... You become, you are your own person, but then the public owns you in a way. They own this idea of you, and you play for England, you captain England. They kind of, in their mind, they kind of own you.
So if you fuck up in whatever way that they perceive, they're like, hey, man, you don't get to make mistakes. Right, right. You don't get to be human. Yeah. And to fuck, oh, boo-hoo, David. Oh, you're rich, famous. And it's like, well, I'm still a... A person who wakes up in the morning and makes mistakes.
Yeah, and you can't hide, I'll bet, right? I mean, England is such a small place in comparison to America. There's not a corner you can go without having to be ready for either confrontation or adulation.
I know a couple corners in London I can show you.
We'll be right back. Is there a place on the planet that you found that you can go and you can have relative anonymity and just bop around?
Well, one of my, you know, and I talk about it in a documentary, after the World Cup, the place where I went was New York because Victoria was there with the Spice Girls and she was on tour and my escape was New York. So I thought, you know, no one really kind of knew me in the US at that point. They kind of knew who I was. Some soccer fans knew who I was, but actually me... Because of MLS, right?
Yeah, but me actually going there was... was an escape for me. But then the media was so intense at that point, you know, I kind of disappeared for a few weeks and then by the time I came back, I thought, and I talk about it in the documentary, I thought, oh, they'd have forgot everything and they didn't. So it was kind of difficult at the time. But obviously being...
being with a spy skill at that time they were at the height of their fame so you know it was kind of both worlds colliding and then you know and i think that's why probably i got you know some of the abuse that i got and in all honesty i accepted it i got on with it and i knew sure the only way of me getting over it was working harder and being protected by sir alex ferguson
I know, but you were so young to go through that process and to learn that that's how you get out of it. Like, how do you... You're so young.
Was it comforting at all to know that in England, that is kind of what...
white hot fame looks like that's the kind of treatment that you get so therefore need not take it too personally it's just that's the way they kind of do media there well i suppose you do think like that to a certain point but you do take a lot of the stuff that is going on personally you know some of the lot of the things that are being said but i i kind of knew deep down even though i'd not been through anything like that throughout my career up until that point
I knew deep down that I would be OK. I don't know how. I just knew that I was protected at Manchester United. I was protected by Sir Alex Ferguson. But the thing that I got upset mostly about was, you know, my grandparents got affected by it, my sisters, my parents. And that was what upset me more than anything. Yeah, yeah.
Well, I would, let me ask you this, David, and it comes out, it's, it's something that I've always sort of suspected, but it comes out glaringly in the docuseries. And is that how much is that support of you? Like you, you mentioned your family, Sir Alex Ferguson, how much was having that core group of people supporting you? Did, was that the thing that got you through?
Yeah, that was exactly what got me through. You know, obviously my friends and my family, you know, I've always had good close friends and my family are an incredible support for me. They always have been. And I've been lucky with that throughout my whole career, even at a very young age, my parents supported me with whatever I did.
But the one thing that got me through on the football side was the support of Sir Alex Ferguson, was the support of Manchester United. And probably the biggest was my teammates and the fans. Because every other stadium that I went to around the world, I got abused. But at Old Trafford, you know, whenever I went over and took a corner or a free kick, you know, the whole stand...
like jumped up and and that was and that was well like it was like a big family so you know that's what got me yeah you you and your player you you and your your teammates were like uh were like brothers i've seen a few different things i saw that one i forget what it was if it was you the five of you kind of reminiscing and going do you remember that we came out a couple years ago class of 92.
Class of 92 is so good. I watched that when I was in the UK a couple of years ago. I just loved it. And, you know, obviously known as potentially the greatest dead ball kicker of all time. I mean, you had a movie named after you.
I know. Yeah, that's so cool. That's insane. It was kind of amazing, actually.
Sean, if they did it for you, they'd do Eat Sloppy Joes Like Sean or something. You know what I mean?
Wipe your mouth like Sean May.
Hang on, hang on, hang on. But what I want to get into is you and your teammates. You guys had that class of 92, one of the great all-time classes. I remember watching you guys. Was it 99 when you guys were down? Was it Champions League and you won it? You got the two extra goals.
Two goals in three minutes. Yeah. Wow.
It was un-fucking-believable. And so who were the tight guys in that group? Name them.
Well, we were all tight in all honesty. But obviously the lads that grew up together was me, Gary Neville, Phil Neville, Nicky Butt, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs. So we all grew up like that. That was the class of 92 because obviously we all came through in 1992. The Neville brothers. Those are the Neville brothers.
Gary Neville, who's very outspoken and he's constantly sparring with my guy, Jamie Carragher, who's a Liverpool player. Gary is always on Sky Sports saying something controversial. He can't help himself. Is that right? I love that.
That is exactly right. And he's always been the same. He's always been controversial. He's always been able to talk a lot. And the funny thing, the relationship between him and Jamie Carragher, they used to hate each other as players. They did. That rivalry was so intense, but they're best of friends now, which is amazing to see.
I have a feeling Victoria is about to come in and stab David with her headphones. She is. I feel like this is the weed she's talking about.
I wish I was at home and I'd bring her in. Trust me, she's so jet. She actually said to me at breakfast, she was like, we should have done it. Why am I not doing it? That's true.
We're going to give her her own hour.
I will just say this and then we'll leave it.
I feel like I'm the David Beckham of my crew of this month. These guys are my supporting. We're the ball. And I would...
except for the looks, the fashion, and the athletic ability. Now, David, what part of the documentary were you most excited for the public to learn about you that perhaps they didn't know before?
To be honest, I was nervous about the whole thing. When I retired eight years before, or ten years before, it was actually ten years, I People wanted someone, they wanted me to do it then and there, there and then. And I wasn't actually ready to kind of look back. I was ready to kind of just jump into something else, which was the club in Miami.
But then about two years out from my 10 year retirement kind of anniversary, we started to discuss it and talk about it and think, OK, maybe this is the right time. So I don't know. In all honesty, one of the reasons why I wanted to do the documentary was for my family. I wanted them to have something all in one place for them to watch and for them to look back and reminisce.
And that's what really we created. You know, there was a hell of a story there from, you know, the upbringing to the different clubs that I played for to the ups and the downs. And my career was always... kind of a roller coaster. But obviously, I was very lucky to be as successful as I was because of the teams that I played for and the teammates that I had.
Right. And now did you have like, was there a moment where you thought, how am I going to chase this high of all of the success that I had? And if not, what made you get out of that feeling of like, God, I can't chase this high forever. Like, what am I going to do?
Well, in all honesty, I'm shocked with the reaction to the documentary. I can't believe the reaction that we've had to the documentary.
You should be surprised that even I watched it.
In my wildest dreams, I couldn't have, you know, I wasn't expecting all of what has happened since we brought it out. But, you know, with Chasing the High, you know, I knew that once I finished my career, I kind of planned it 10 years out, you know, before I retired. I didn't know when I was going to retire, but I always knew that I needed to step into something new.
On the day that I retired, the day after, I knew that I'd have to go again because that's just how I was brought up. My parents worked really hard and they luckily, you know, built that into me. So I was ready to go straight after that. And nothing was going to replace, you know, the feeling of playing soccer, but I knew I needed to be busy. Right.
How long after you retired was it that you purchased Inter Miami?
Well, I announced I had to actually be finished playing soccer. So when I signed for L.A., I put that in my contract so I could buy a franchise at the end of my time of playing in L.A., And luckily they gave it to me. And it was for half the price of what they were worth at the time. And then obviously six years later, I was able to announce it. And then I was playing in Paris.
My last game was in Paris. And the day after I flew to Miami and I announced the team in Miami. The day after. Wow. That's really cool.
How are you liking that new role in the process, the role of ownership?
You know what? It's been one of the most challenging things I've ever done. I bet. Whether in my career or outside of my career in the business side. Because we had to jump over a lot of like – like hurdles along the way. There was so many difficult moments, you know, people turning around and saying Miami is a really difficult sporting city. Don't go there. Don't take the team there.
But I had a feeling that that was where I wanted to take the team. And it took a long time to get it up and running. And we're still jumping through different challenges.
But in all honesty, my vision from day one, when I presented the team and, you know, tried to put the logo together and the colors and all of that, the last slide of the presentation that I presented to the creative guys was a picture of Messi in the Miami jersey. So my dream was always to bring someone and him to our team. Unbelievable.
I mean, how crazy that you're Messi's boss. I mean, let's just, you know, let's not dress up.
I can't look at it like that. I can't.
I just can't. But it's pretty wild. And you, not only have you been successful with this team in Miami, but you brought over Leo Messi. In a time when, and as you are well aware, a lot of players are going east to get those big, you know, in search of riches in the Middle East. Yeah. A lot of players from Europe, a lot of players from the UK, they're all going there and getting these huge paydays.
Famously, Ronaldo and everybody else. And Messi comes to Miami. And that must have felt like a real vindication for you, like a real sort of vote of confidence that he... He said, you know what? I'm going to go to Miami and I'm going to partner with David Beckham. I'm going to play for Miami. I mean, that must have felt good.
It felt unbelievable. And I still can't believe it. Every time someone turns around to me and says, you have Messi in your team, you realize that, don't you? And it really is surreal, you know, to say that we have probably the greatest player to have ever played the game, the most successful player to ever play the game. And he's playing in Miami in the MLS.
But Leo, his vision was always different. He turned around to me many years ago. He said, I love Miami. One day I want to live in Miami. And it stuck in my head. And I thought, I'm going to make that happen one day. If ever we ever get a chance to bring a player like him and his caliber to Miami, then that's what I want to do. So it took... a lot of time.
We started the process four or five years before he came. Wow. I sneaked into his dad's hotel. You know, I said, I want to sign your son. I know he won't come now, but at some point we want to bring him to Miami. So we started the process five years out. And then all of a sudden, He decides to come and, yeah, I actually cannot believe. But you're right.
You know, a lot of players were wanting to go and go into Saudi at the time. And he had a lot of offers, obviously, on the table. But he's very clever. You know, he's very clever. He knows... what a massive market the US market is, the opportunities that you can have. I think he also saw the life that me, the kids and my wife had in LA. And, you know, that was his decision.
Yeah, I mean, and then you also got Suarez and Jordi Alba.
I know, yeah. Sergio Busquets. I know. I do get a little bit of stick from my Madrid mates because we're building a Barcelona team at the moment. So at some point, we might have to bring some Madrid players in. But yeah, it's very exciting.
Well, obviously... Obviously, bringing these global superstars into American soccer is hugely important. It's something that you basically started, if I'm correct. And the sport has consequently been growing in the United States quite a lot since then.
Since you started playing for the Galaxy, basically.
Yeah, yeah. And so you kind of started a thing going there and it's reached its, you know, zenith, current zenith with Messi. Are you bullish? Are you confident that American soccer will continue to grow and someday be on par with, you know, our American football and baseball and basketball as far as notoriety and attendance and licensing and TV rights, all that stuff?
Yeah. you know, at the end of the day, you know, it's hard to be as big as, you know, baseball, American football, basketball, because, you know, it's just what it is. But I think we have a real opportunity with soccer in the MLS and in the US. And I was bullish back in 2007. I knew
That firstly, moving from Real Madrid to the LA Galaxy, when at that time, I think there was 13 or 14 teams in the league. The league wasn't as established as it was. There wasn't a big TV deal there. There wasn't a big Apple deal. You know, all of these things weren't in place. So I arrived and it wasn't as professional as I'm used to. But I knew that I wanted that challenge.
I knew that I wanted, I always loved the US. I always wanted to live in US. And my decision at that time was criticized like quite heavily. And I was criticized as an athlete at that time. But I wanted that, you know, I wanted that challenge. And I could see, you know, what the future looked like in the MLS.
And luckily, there's been a lot of people that have really put a lot behind, you know, this league. And now it's gone from one extreme to the other. And now, you know, we need to continue to grow it.
What can we do to sort of grow the sport? I really, you know, as you pointed out, I'm a massive Liverpool fan. By the way, my only piece of advice I'll ever give you, David, when it comes to football, because you... You're one of the all-time greats, I will say this.
And you've got a good coach manager over at Inter Miami, but you know what I'm going to say, who needs to come in because he's about to be available. I know. He's my guy. I know. And you know what? If you can bring Jurgen over and let me be the three of us, we'll go for dinner.
Don't you start crying again. I love Jurgen Klopp so much. I must admit, even as a Manchester United fan, I love Jurgen. I love his character. I love his personality. You know, I love what he brings to the sport. And, you know, to hear him say that he's leaving Liverpool, and obviously being a Manchester United fan, I'm going to get killed by some of my Manchester United friends. Who cares?
Say it.
Say it.
No one's listening. I'm sad to see him leave. I'm sad. You know, what he's done for the club and what he's done for the sport...
Pull him close to your breast in Miami.
David, you should know this. We've not got much money left.
Listen, we're going to put it together. We're going to put it together. I want to help make this happen. You should know a couple weeks ago I was in Canada for the hockey all-star game, and they had me be like a celebrity captain, whatever. So I was with Connor McDavid, who's one of the greats of all time. And I gave a speech, said, you have a speech for the boys in the locker room.
I said, I sure do. And what I had done was I pulled together a bunch of Jurgen Klopp quotes and I made it into a speech. And I started, because all his speeches are so inspiring, right? And it kind of goes beyond sport, the way he talks to people. And then I ended it by saying, when I first came to Dortmund, and then all the players looked at me like... Dortmund? What is he talking about?
Anyway, we're going to get you in the club.
My question was, what can we do to make football sort of, how can we improve it in this country, whether it's youth academies or just grow the sport?
Because I really want young people to play. In all honesty, when I came in 2007, I sat with the commissioner. I said, okay, talk to me about the academies that run through the MLS. He said, we don't have any. I said, okay, well then every team has to have an academy. And I'm proud to say that every team now has academy systems that run from 12 years old up until 23.
And we in Miami, that's one of the most exciting things for me You know, the academy, because we had six young kids in our first team last year. And those are the things that you need to do. You know, and also you need to do that, but you also need to bring stars. You know, bringing Leo to the league wasn't just about, you know, giving a gift to...
the US and the MLS and obviously to the Miami fans, it was more about what he can do for our academy players.
And it's continuing what you started. Gareth Bale did it too. The great Gareth Bale. We love Gareth.
He's a great golfer, by the way. He's a great golfer.
He's a great golfer. How's your golf game, David?
It's okay. It's okay.
I'll bet it's pretty damn good. It's okay.
Come play with us. Come play with us next time you're in LA. Okay.
I'm not that good.
Gareth embarrassed us. Gareth, he literally embarrassed us.
Didn't he, JB? And it wasn't just the hair.
No.
We'll be right back.
What is your favorite sport aside from soccer that you enjoy playing and or watching?
I love basketball. Do you? Basketball?
Are you a Miami Heat fan?
No, I'm a Lakers fan. I've always been a Lakers fan. And then obviously when I moved to LA, I was able to go to the games every week and I made sure that I go to the game every week. And what I found a little bit strange, and I always say it, that even through the early games and the middle of the season games, two minutes to go, people are leaving. and going home.
No one wants to get caught in traffic in LA.
Well, Jason needs to get home. Yeah, I got to get home.
So I always stayed right to the end. Firstly, because I'm a loyal fan.
You're also leaving in the SUV from the tunnel under what was then called the Staples Center. You don't have to deal with the nonsense of traffic getting out of the big lot.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. That is true.
Don't embarrass him. And you've deserved that. You've earned that.
But Kobe was on the call. So there was no way I was not going to watch every second of Kobe being on the court.
Yeah, I get it.
So it was more about that than anything else. I'm a Lakers fan.
Yeah, yeah, that makes sense. I'm a Lakers fan too. David, we have, every once in a while, we get a lucky caller will break through with a question. Oh, no. I don't know if you're seeing it there on your board. Oh, this is for Will. This caller is from New York City named Justin T. Fucking thorough.
He is so good looking.
Hey. Don't say that. Don't say that. His arms are cold, though. So, Will, he says, I love the show, Will. You've always been a huge Liverpool supporter. As you know, your guest, Mr. Beckham, has at times not had the warmest of receptions by Liverpool fans. But because he is a wonderful man and a top bloke, He has generously forgiven them.
My question is, as a Liverpool fan, would you like to use this moment on the record and on behalf of all Liverpoolians to apologize to Mr. Beckham's beautiful face and admit that you were wrong and you should shut your big fat mouth?
That's a question. First of all, less of a question and more of an opinion when he says shut your big fat mouth. There's a lot of opinion there. There's a lot of... I will apologize for all the Reds fans out there. Wow, you're not going to be able to go back to Anfield. I know, it's true. I'm going back to Anfield in May because I want to see Juergen before he wraps it up.
No, I will apologize for rude behavior, for sure I will. Looks like he's got a follow-up question here.
He's got a follow-up question also for Will. Jesus. At night, do you use moisturizer on your chest or just regular prescription burn cream? and he says he can just take the answer off air. He's hanging up now. He's unbelievable. Yeah.
David, I have a question.
I know.
We all do. He's got great arms. What is the arms? Why has he always got his arms up?
Well, why would you hide them? I mean, if you forgot those arms.
I've never seen somebody in such good shape for somebody who's so unathletic. It's great. You throw a ball at him, he runs the other direction. Oh, my God.
Now, David, you mentioned, like, you know, my question about the documentary, about all that drama that you encountered. Just sitting here talking to you, never having met you before, you seem like the kind of guy, and I'm guessing...
You strike me as someone that recognizes people or situations that could potentially be drama or controversy, like you mentioned your mate that always gets himself into trouble because of all the controversy. Do you run from that now, having been through so much drama your whole life with reporters, journalism, the field that you were in or continue to be in?
Journalisms.
I'm not going to learn this slide. Journalism. Do you know what I mean? Do you recognize it now that you're older? I think he's got it. Thank you, Sean.
No, I don't run for it. I don't run for it. You really? No. God, I do. I really don't. It's just, you know, it's been part of my life for a long time. And, you know, everything happens for a reason. I had to go through that difficult time, you know, to maybe... made me have the career that I had.
I'm just saying because you're so mellow and cool and easy. Please tell my wife that.
Please tell my wife that. It's also conditioned you well to be a great husband, although she doesn't need any help navigating media, but a good father to help explain what some challenging stuff can be. Also a great owner for the team when some of these players start going through some of the same things
media scrutiny and stuff so you're in a it's so great that you have a position that you've earned that is going to demand all of the things you've had to uh create manage you know yeah let me say this david let me ask you this because this this might help inform that we can sort of backtrack are you obviously you've done a lot we've talked about a lot of these things are you happy
right now with where you are in life?
I'm so happy. Without crying, answer the question. I am very happy. I'm very happy because, you know, I feel very blessed to have had the career that I've had and played for the teams that I have and experienced that. And the one thing that I always wanted for me I was lucky I met Victoria when I met her because I always wanted to have kids young.
I always wanted to have kids that lived through my career with me. And I was lucky the three boys all lived through most of the teams that I played for.
That's really cool.
And that for me was a really important part of my life.
Yes, and that was one of the coolest parts of the documentary when you were like, you looked at her on screen and you're like, I'm gonna marry that girl. I mean, that's crazy. And then you met her and then you, and you married her.
I mean, that's just nuts. And you're still married. And we're still married, yeah. 20, 25 years in July.
That's awesome. That is awesome. And I guess the reason I ask that is because if you're happy and you seem like you are and you've got great kids and you're really close to them, that's evident. That really comes through. And you and your wife are really close. But everybody goes through stuff in life, right? Like it's like you're always going to go through shit.
I actually, you know what I quote all the time is, I don't know if you watch that All or Nothing, the Tottenham season. And Mourinho was on there for part of that, right? Yeah.
Yeah.
It was great. I advise people to watch it. It's really good. But I love one of the things that he said is that he, I remember at halftime he was talking to the players and he said, look, the other team is going to score. They're going to have possession. The question is, how do you cope? And if you can cope with that, you know, and it's true with life. I think about it all the time.
There are going to be times where you're not going to have your best day, where somebody else is going to get the thing you want, blah, blah, blah, blah. But how do you cope with it? And if at the end you end up being happy, then that was your journey.
And that's one of the things I think we both, me and Victoria, probably both get emotional about. And after watching the documentary, after everything was over and we watched it finally, that's the one thing that we looked at each other and was like, I don't know how we got through this. you know, the last 27 years, but we did and we have an amazing family.
We have amazing businesses and we're happy. And yeah, of course, when you're with someone for that amount of time, of course, you have your ups and downs. Everybody knows that. And at the end of the day, we were lucky because we had each other at those moments. You know, she was a Spice Girl. I was playing for Manchester United.
And even when we were going through the difficult times, we actually had each other to feed off. And that was the best part. You know, obviously we were 21 and 22 when we met. We got married when we was 23 and 24. And we had our first son when he was 23. So as soon as we had our first son,
Brooklyn, you know, that really also added another layer to obviously the family and our responsibilities then were to our son.
And those, you know... Now, let me ask you this. You said businesses as well as family, which is really cool. How did you... How did you craft a business mind? Because, you know, a lot of sports figures don't have that side of their brain that gets exercised like that. Or do they want to exercise that part of the brain? But you seem to gravitate towards it. How did you do that?
I think throughout my career, I was lucky to go into different things, whether it was being the face of, you know, certain, you know, brands and things like that. And I was able to work with great people over the years. You know, I've been with...
adidas for almost 30 years now so a lot of the people that and brands that i have and partners that i have are long-term partners so the business was something i was always interested in you know even from a young age i knew that the moment i stopped playing i wanted to have another life after that in the business world and in all all honesty you know putting the miami part was in was a big part of the legacy that i wanted to leave you know in the game
You know, I wanted to be an owner of a team. I wanted to be in the U.S. So if I got the opportunity to do that, that was what I wanted. But on the business side, you know, there's a lot of things that have continued throughout my business. And I'm lucky to have, you know, the business that I have. But it's something that I always wanted to do.
It's really impressive. Sean, you were saying that a lot of your partners were Adidas. It was hard to see because it was dark. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
David, are you traveling more now? Are you busier now than you ever were as a player?
I'm so much more busier than I was when I was a player because in all honesty... You're supposed to take it easy now. I know.
You're like everything I see, you're like in a different city opening the thing.
I know, but I enjoy that part of it. I enjoy to travel. I enjoy to work. And in all honesty, that's a big part of my business. So that part of my life, I enjoy it.
David, my mother's British, so I love people who are British, and I'd love to know what is the most quintessentially British thing about you?
I love a roast. I love a roast dinner.
Oh.
That is probably the most quintessential part about me.
Now, that is a beef roast we're talking about, yes? Chicken roast? Chicken roast.
I'd go for chicken roast.
I get it. I got it.
Jason, when you came over for dinner, we had chicken roast. Yeah.
We did. Yes. Is that what you asked her to cook us?
You like being in England on a Sunday and having a proper roast?
It's my favorite thing to do. It's my favorite thing to do.
Do you like going for a pub lunch? Do you like on a Sunday as well?
I do like a pub lunch. I like a pub lunch, and my kids love it.
What bands? Because I love British bands. I grew up on, Will did too, on British pop and stuff like that. Who do you listen to?
Um, Stone Roses. Love the Stone Roses. Love the Stone Roses. I'm a big Stone Roses fan because obviously growing up in Manchester, you know, in the 90s, it was all about Stone Roses, Oasis.
Oasis is Man City though, sadly.
What is the best British slang word or phrase? And can you give us an example of how you'd use it?
I was actually, my daughter started trying to ask me some slang the other day. She was like, Dad, you always talk about these like slang words as a cockney. And I was like, okay, I'm trying to, because I don't really want her to start talking slang in all honesty. So I was like, okay, so Harper, you've just run up the apple and pears. And she was like, what do you mean?
She was like, well, that's what it is. It's stairs. You know, you've just run up the apple and pears. So I've been trying. Apple and pears? Yeah. Apple and pears? Yeah. Those kind of Cockney, you know, slang she started to ask about. But, you know, Victoria would kill me. She would kill me if I was trying to teach her those kind of words and things. Yeah, she would be happy. Oh, really?
You're obviously still staying in incredible shape. What about some of that British food there? What's your favorite piece of crap over there in England?
Well, you know, I'm from the east end of London, so I grew up on it's pie and mash. So it's simple. It's a mince pie. It's your most simple mash. No butter, just salt. And then it's like a gravy called liquor. And it's stewed eels and parsley.
I'll do that.
Yeah.
David, you've been a very, very nice man to join us and a great man during this interview.
I love you. What a thrill. What an absolute thrill, man.
It's a thrill for me to be on here. I'm a big fan of all you guys and obviously what you do. And to be on here is a huge privilege. So thank you.
You set the bar very high for Victoria to try to jump over.
Don't worry. She'll kill it in a second. Don't worry.
We can't wait to have Victoria.
She actually said to me, you can bring the looks and I'll bring the humor. That's what she said this morning. Her words, not mine. Let's all have bangers and all that stuff without the eel when you're here. Well, you're invited to come to Miami or when you come to London and we'll go to have pie mash. I would love that. Fantastic.
Thanks, pal.
You're welcome.
David, thank you so, so much. Have a great rest of your night. Thank you very much.
Off to the families. Cheers, you too. And have fun at the premiere. Thank you. Yes, sir. Thank you, I will. Take care. Bye, buddy.
That was incredible.
Also, I'm good for your birthday, Christmas. That was incredible.
Yeah, wow. I did not see that coming. Me neither. I was like, oh, I'm not going to know who the soccer player, I'm not going to know who this person is.
When you kept saying, like, Will, you're going to know, I'm like, what is he talking about? Yeah.
But, you know, to our listeners out there, we—
shanty again like you know but like so to to our listeners like me and sean we're not big soccer fans but we we make a commitment to you uh in the audience that if we're gonna bring somebody on that does something you have no idea about yeah they're gonna be charming they're going to be uber famous yep okay and uh and they're gonna walk you through it they're gonna and by the way and sometimes they're not gonna be any of those things
And then we just won't air those episodes.
What are you, a lawyer? We've got a can full of them. But JB, you know what was great about him, and you kind of hit it on the head, which is he was able to articulate exactly what we want to know about him, right? So you ask him, and he's so open and real. And I love that, and it's evident that he's, I think it's part of being English, so that he's very down-to-earth. And he's so charming.
He's not over his skis. He's very in tune with his family, and he's just down-to-earth. So he can talk in a way that's very accessible.
Yeah, that's why I'm like, well, how are you so mellow?
It's not, Sean, it's not hard. If you just smile a little bit, Sean.
I know, I'm just like, hug, hug, hug. And just get out into the world, too. You know what I mean? He's a guy without doing shit. You're exhausted if you go to Larchmont.
You know what's so sad? That is true. It's fucking true.
This guy's going all over the world. You know what? He's getting into the world. He's out there, man.
I know. No, here's the other thing. Every time you guys said MLS, I was like, ooh, real estate. I thought you were talking about real estate. Exactly. I got so excited about like... Was he sending a listing?
By the way, maybe we can... Can I see photos? I'm so giddy at the thought of... I mean, I don't... I guess I'm now a Miami fan because I really love Beckham. I think I'm a Miami... Even though Will's gonna... Farrell's gonna be mad because he's a LAFC guy. We love Will a lot. We like the battle. And we like the battle. So we don't want to get in trouble with that.
But right now, we want to help David. Help. Jurgen Klopp to Miami, I will fucking... Here come the tears again. Yeah.
Well, if that happens, though, Willie, then you'll have... Well, but you'll be an LAFC fan. Yeah. And then you'll be a Miami fan. Yes. So, basically, your fandom will be literally by... Crossover! I was going to say, you're going to be so excited. Thank God we cut before that.
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