The Beckham documentary only makes watching modern Man Utd harder (2024)

For anybody watching David Beckham’s Netflix documentary, echoes will have rippled around Old Trafford as Scott McTominay ran down the touchline to a backdrop of whirring limbs and open mouths after scoring his second goal in the 97th minute against Brentford.

United had gone into stoppage time trailing 1-0; they emerged from it as 2-1 winners. They last did that in the Camp Nou in 1999, a match which forms the dramatic climax of the second episode of Beckham’s four-part series.

There was also a flicker of Steve Bruce’s brace from 30 years ago.

United, trailing 1-0 to visitors Sheffield Wednesday in the inaugural Premier League season, equalised in the 86th minute and won the game deep in added time 10 minutes later, sending Brian Kidd, assistant to Sir Alex Ferguson, bouncing onto the grass and dropping to his knees in ecstasy. That iconic moment in United history features early on in the first instalment of Beckham’s biopic, setting the scene for the team he would enter.

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McTominay, an unexpected hero like centre-half Bruce, fell to his knees just as Kidd had done, overwhelmed by celebration.

Perhaps, once the joy subsided, there was an element of melancholy too. The sensation bittersweet. Because this was a replica without the resonance of those originals. In time, maybe it will come to be the turning point on Erik ten Hag’s reign as manager, viewed in hindsight as hugely significant. But right now, it was a last-ditch win that put United tenth in the 20-team table.

That night in Barcelona against Bayern Munich, when Beckham twice delivered corners to cause goal-scoring damage in stoppage time, won United the Champions League final and eternal glory. Bruce’s double helped secure the first of Ferguson’s 13 Premier League titles.

Beckham’s documentary is a revealing personal story but it is also a stark reminder of the heights once scaled by this club, the force of personalities who used to set the standards here, the connection between fans and the team.

It had an effect on McTominay, who has been at United since joining the academy when he was five.

“I was watching David Beckham’s documentary last night, and things like that inspire you,” he said. “The real culture about Man United, what it means to the fans and the people who work here; Kath on reception, people like that. That’s who we do it for and who it means the most to.”

Kath is Kath Phipps, United’s receptionist since 1968, who was responsible for sifting through Beckham’s fan mail — which often included female underwear. “I’d put them to one side and didn’t reply,” she chuckles in the Netflix show.

There has been a loss of people with deep United bonds in positions of power in the years since Ferguson retired as manager a decade ago, and that is a shame. The club should not be a case of jobs for the boys, but the strand of knowledge from when United won the game’s biggest trophies is important.

The cord could have broken with McTominay this summer.

United were not actively looking to sell him but they would have agreed to do so at the right price.

West Ham made a £30million ($36.7m) bid that did not match United’s £45m valuation, but in any case it was unclear whether McTominay wanted that particular move. Of greater appeal was Bayern’s interest, which was genuine and driven by their manager Thomas Tuchel, who knew the player from his days in charge at Chelsea. Bayern looked at reviving an offer close to the September 1 deadline, when their pursuit of Fulham midfielder Joao Palhinha collapsed, but by then it was too late for United to countenance.

Perhaps in Ferguson’s time, McTominay would have been sold — he acted quickly when he made up his mind. In the documentary, the brutal reality of Beckham’s sale is laid bare. Beckham’s celebrity status had grown too influential for Ferguson, who refused to even take a call from the player once he’d made the decision: “There was not going to be any point in me saying to David, ‘I’m selling you’. Then he would say, ‘Why?’. The decision that was made was better.”

There was ruthlessness amid the romance, but that edge undoubtedly kept those remaining sharp. At the modern United, players are able to stick around long after their sell-by date.

Anthony Martial was somewhat effective when he came on against Brentford, but he should have left the club by now. Donny van de Beek, another who has wanted a new club for several windows, was named on the bench again.

Ten Hag has Ferguson’s decisiveness on squad shaping — look at his disposal of Cristiano Ronaldo almost a year ago — but the mechanism around executing his demands is vastly different. Jadon Sancho, who continues to train away from the first team, is another case in point.

Those limbo-states undermine atmosphere. Ferguson’s former United captain Roy Keane knew the importance of maintaining an elite environment, where there was daily accountability. He would call out team-mates for slacking. “If they weren’t coming in training properly, that was always my worry,” Keane told The Overlap podcast when discussing Beckham’s documentary. “But I never found it with Becks. So that’s why we never fell out.”

Mathias Jensen’s goal for Brentford was a case of abysmal absentmindedness from United. It was the Theatre of Daydreams, mistakes from Casemiro, Victor Lindelof and, again, Andre Onana.

Ten Hag touched on a sense United have not been fully committed this season in his answer to a question on how he makes sure this can be a catalyst for a turnaround. “These games give fuel to the dressing room,” he said. “They know how far they have to go to get results.

“In football, it is eat or get eaten. Too many times in the first half of this season, we got eaten by opponents who are more hungry. This can’t be. It has to go away.

“Every player has to deliver that in every second he is on the pitch. That is the demand, the standard. When you do that, we have seen last season you get a determined team. We were not always determined on every occasion in games, and you get hammered for it. This has to change.”

McTominay could never be accused of not working hard, and although his goals at the weekend were not for any silverware, the sight of a Scot scoring a Fergie Time winner may have brought some comfort to the former manager at this most difficult of times.

(Top photos: Getty Images)

Laurie Whitwell worked for the Daily Mail from 2010, covering midlands football for the last five years, including Leicester’s remarkable Premier League triumph. Whitwell was nominated for sports scoop of the year at the 2019 SJAs for breaking Wayne Rooney’s move to DC United. He will be reporting on Manchester United for The Athletic. Follow Laurie on Twitter @lauriewhitwell