"David Beckham"

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.

Smart. List.

Smart.

Smart, smart.

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.

Sean, and I don't know who it is yet.

Yeah, so sorry.

Well, let me tell you something, Will, you're gonna 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 gonna feel the most embarrassment.

No, no, no, no, no.

It should be, it's not even Sean, I mentioned Scotty, this one's firmly on Scotty, 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.

Yeah, and he probably can't step away from those duties for 10 minutes, can he?

No, no, he can't.

Listen, Sean.

By the way, Jay, I didn't know that Franny was in nine to five.

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 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 gonna have to manage that. I'm obviously gonna support her.

You mean you're gonna talk her out of it?

No, I mean, I've tried.

Did she sing? I heard she played Roz, right? Did she sing the theme song, like the title song?

As part of the ensemble, yes. It was, now, nine to five was on Broadway at one point, was it not?

Correct, yes, uh-huh.

It seemed like it would be, it's a great show.

Yeah, I heard it's really good.

The whole, like, tumble out of bed,

stumble to the kitchen, pour myself a cup of ambition, yawn and stretch and try to come alive.

Oh, you know the song?

I've never seen Jason, I don't know,

I've never seen him sing. I saw him 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 gonna get into theater when she gets to the upper school.

Really?

She said she's not interested in the tech part at all.

Yeah, she doesn't wanna get her hands dirty building sets and light cues and stuff like that. She just wants a spotlight. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But it was very, very cool. I loved it.

Now, Jay, the painting behind you, you painted that or you bought that?

It seems like it's some, like I would, I know, it's a little frame heavy left.

Let me adjust my composition there. Oh, nice.

Let's do that. There we go.

Let's go, man.

Oh, look at that nice little 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.

Sean, just have a deep, deep pull of milk, though, before we get the guest out of here.

He truly did, listener. Just a big, hard shot of milk.

When do you do those?

But I will.

Okay, 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.

Is David Beckham, are you kidding me?

David Beckham, get out here. What?

What? No way! Okay?

Oh, my God, David. No, I'm not joking. You're welcome, Will.

I'm just joking.

It's not even your birthday.

Wait, I'm so sorry for keeping you waiting. Don't worry.

Yeah.

Shut up, Sean.

Yeah.

You've done enough damage already.

Will, you shut your mouth. David, thank you for joining us.

No, 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.

It was incredible. Yeah, we're gonna 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.

Well, Fisher's our friend.

He's amazing. He's our friend. 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.

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 friend's 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 gonna 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 was surprised, and you made an excuse for wearing a shirt and tie, but you always look really, really well turned out.

Sorry, you're not good looking.

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 gonna 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 wanna know, do you feel pressure in that way?

Yeah, 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 a page boy at one of our friends' weddings, my mom's friend's wedding, and she asked me if I wanted to wear a suit or I wanted to wear tights and a pair of ballet shoes, and I chose the tights and ballet shoes. So, in all honesty, I never feel pressure.

But so, you have a position somewhere in the English government or somehow with the fashion industry. I should have this, and I'm looking for it.

I don't have it here. 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 talented young designers, and that's what I love doing. The work that I do on the charity side, the work that I've done on the soccer side over the years, it's 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 stepping into the fashion world in that way was exciting for me.

Well, here's the thing about fashion, because to me-.

Oh, go ahead. Yeah, let's hear it from the expert.

Everyone's been dying to hear.

Definitely interrupt David Beckham to get your opinion on fashion. Go ahead.

No, but my thing is, it's like, I, Scotty, always, my husband, Scotty,

always wishes- Oh boy, another fashion firestorm.

Always wishes I would dress better, right? Like, oh, it's 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 on? And I was like, you know, like the looseness of a T-shirt and the looseness of, like, it's more comfortable to me. Yeah, that's what it is.

Well, if it fits right, if it fits right, then it's comfortable. So most of the time it does. Yeah. So I feel okay doing that, but I, you know-.

But most of the day, you'd like to be in sweats and a T-shirt.

Or jeans and a T-shirt. Yeah, of course.

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 size 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?

It looks like he's been sitting in it.

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.

Oh, yeah, I'll do. Just take your time through this section, David.

They look good. They look good.

Thank you. He's a very handsome boy. I'm shy.

To be honest, I very rarely go to the shows other than my wife's show. I've gone to a couple of the 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. She made me a pair of jeans the other day. So we'll see.

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, right?

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. Yeah. 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.

And who's mail were you accidentally getting that week?

Fuck. 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. So she broke her foot. Funny story. We went skiing.

Is she? Oh, no way.

She is so sweet. And 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 actually 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 gonna give you some pointers.

So, you know. We're gonna cover a little bit of it and Tracy's just gonna have to deal with it.

Believe me, first of all, let's say that we're fans of Victoria's.

Yeah, huge.

First and foremost, 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. Thirdly, we're gonna 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.

Wait, soccer?

David, so let's get into it.

Where did the ER come from? Soccer or?

Like the way they do rugby and they call it rugger? It was the same idea, it was kind of, 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. Oh, yeah. I agreed.

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 or 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. Oh.

So. What about West Ham? Were you?

I was, yeah. West Ham wanted me to go down and train with them, but I was 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 till 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.

Yeah, me as well. 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 West of the world. And so.

Like the West 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 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?

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.

Yeah, 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.

Yeah, and you can't hide, I'll bet, right? I mean, England is such a small place in comparison to America. or, and you can't, there's not a corner. you can go without having to be ready for either confrontation or adulation.

I know a couple of corners in London. I can show you.

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, 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, no one really kind of knew me in the US at that point. They kind of knew who I, some soccer fans knew who I was, but actually me, but me actually going. there was an escape for me. But then the media was so intense at that point, I kind of disappeared for a few weeks and then, by the time I came back, I thought, and I talk about it in a documentary, I thought, oh, they'd have forgot everything and they didn't.

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, a lot of the things that are being said, but 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 okay. 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, let me ask you this, David, and it comes out, 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, like you mentioned your family, Sir Alex Ferguson, how much was having that core group of people supporting you, 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.

Yeah, you and your player, you and your teammates, were like brothers. I've seen a few different things. I saw that one, I forget what it was. It was the five of you kind of reminiscing and going, do you remember that we came out a couple of years ago?

Yeah, the class of 92.

Class of 92, 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 the, potentially the greatest dead ball kicker of all time. I mean, you had a movie named after you.

Yeah, that's so cool. I know, I know.

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?

I mean, like that was- Wipe your mouth like Sean Hayes.

But David, did you-.

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. What was it, 99 when you guys were down?

Two goals in three minutes, yeah.

Wow.

It was un-fucking-believable. And you, so? who were the tight guys in that group? It was, 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 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,

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.

I have a feeling Victoria is about to come in and stab David with her headphones.

She is.

I feel like this is the weeds 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?

She was like that.

That's true, exactly.

We're gonna 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 the Smartless crew. These guys are my supporting.

We're the ball.

Except for the looks, the fashion, and the athletic ability.

Barely, barely.

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 10 years before, it was actually 10 years,

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 gonna 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. I never-.

You should be surprised that even I watched it.

In my wildest dreams, I couldn't have, I wasn't expecting all of what has happened since we brought it out. But with Chasing the High, I knew that once I finished my career, I kind of planned it 10 years out. Before I retired, I didn't know when I was gonna 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 built that into me.

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 LA, I put that in my contract that I could buy a franchise at the end of my time playing in LA. 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.

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 that I've ever done. Whether in my career or outside of my career, in the business side. Because we had to jump over a lot of hurdles along the way. There was so many difficult moments.

Unbelievable.

I mean, how crazy that you've ended, you're Messi's boss. I mean, let's just, you know,

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.

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.

Yeah, I mean, and then you also got Suarez and Jordi Alba.

I know. 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.

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 zenith, current zenith with Messi. Are you bullish? Are you confident that American soccer will continue to grow and someday be on par with our American football and baseball and basketball as far as notoriety and attendance, and licensing and TV rights, all that stuff?

At the end of the day, it's hard to be as big as baseball, American football, basketball, because it's just what it is. But I think we have a real opportunity with soccer in the MLS and in the U.S. 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.

And we need to have the talent.

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're one of the all-time greats, I will say this, is, and you've got a good coach, manager over at Inter Miami, but you know what I'm gonna 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 Juergen over, and let me be the three muscles over dinner.

Don't you start crying again.

I love Juergen Klopp so much.

I must admit, even as a Manchester United fan, I love Juergen. 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 gonna get killed by some of my Manchester United friends.

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, has been incredible.

Pulling close to your breast in Miami.

Yeah, well, David, you should know this. We've not got much money left, though.

Listen, we're gonna put it together. We're gonna put it together. I wanna 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-.

Is that right, eh?

They had me be sort of like a celebrity captain, whatever. Yeah. And so, I was with Connor McDavid, who's one of the greats of all time, and I gave a speech. He said, do you have a speech for the boys in the locker room? I said, I sure do.

Oh, my God.

And I started, and 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?

Anyway, we're gonna get Jurgen Klopp.

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. Cheerleaders.

Cheerleaders, yeah.

Well, 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, you know, academy systems that run from 12 years old up until 23..

I was gonna say, yeah.

Bringing Leo to the league wasn't just about, you know, giving a gift to the U.

And, you know, how- It's continuing what you started. Yeah. Gareth Bale did it too. Yeah. The great Gareth Bale.

Yep. We love Gareth. Exactly.

Golf swing on this guy.

He's a great golfer, by the way.

He's a great golfer. He's a great golfer. Good Lord.

How's your golf game, David? It's okay.

It's okay.

I bet it's pretty damn good.

Come play with us. Come play with us next time you're in L.A.

Okay. I'm not-.

What is your-?

Gareth embarrassed us. Gareth, he literally embarrassed us. Didn't he, J.B.? Yeah.

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? You know, I've always-.

Are you a Miami Heat fan?

No, I'm a Lakers fan.

Are you?

I've always been a Lakers fan. Yes. And then, obviously, when I moved to L.A., you know, 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, you know, even through the early games and the middle of the season games, you know, two minutes to go, people are leaving the seats and going home.

No one wants to get caught in traffic in L.

Well, Jason needs to get home.

Yeah, I gotta get home.

I gotta get on the slippies. 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 the Staples Center, what was then called the Staples Center. That was true. 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 court. So there was no way. I was not gonna watch every second of Kobe being on the court.

Yeah, I get it.

Tell us 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. Oh God.

Fucking Thoreau.

He is so good looking.

Hey, he says here.

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.

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 would.

Can he apologize?

I will apologize for all the Reds fans out there. Because.

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 Jürgen before he wraps it up. But no, I will apologize for rude behavior. For sure I will.

For sure. 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?

He's unbelievable.

Yeah.

David, I have a question, for. I know. We all do, 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.

He's so good looking.

Somebody's 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.

I'm not gonna let him slide.

Journalism. Do you know what I mean? Like, do you recognize it now that you're older?

I think he's got it. Thank you, Sean.

No, I don't run from it. I don't run from it. You really?

No. Really?

No, 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 have the career that I had, you know.

I'm just saying, cause you're so like, you're so mellow and like cool and like easy.

Please tell my wife that.

Please tell my wife that.

And it's also conditioned, 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 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 create, manage, you know. Yeah.

Well, let me say this, David, let me ask you this, cause. this might help inform that and 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.

Hang on.

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, you know, 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.

Yeah, no, that's great. 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.

And you're still married.

And we're still married, yeah. 20, 25 years in July.

That's awesome.

Well, that is awesome. And I guess the reason I asked 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?

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's talking to the players and he said, look, the other team is gonna score.

That was it. 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, you know, the last 27 years, but we did. And we have an amazing family. We have amazing businesses and we're happy.

Now, let me ask you this. You said businesses as well as family, which is really cool. 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?

What was, how did you do that? Yeah, 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 and brands that I have and partners that I have are long-term partners.

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, but...

You would.

Hey.

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 busy, busier, than I was when I was a player, because, in all honesty.

But you're supposed to take it easy now. I know.

I know. You're like, everything. I see, you're like in a different city,

like opening a 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.

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 roast. I love a roast. I love a roast dinner.

Oh.

You love a roast dinner. That is probably the most quintessential part about...

That is a beef roast we're talking about, yes?

Chicken roast?

Chicken roast.

I go for chicken roast. Yeah, I get it.

I got it.

Jason, when you came over for dinner, we had a chicken roast. Yeah.

We did.

Yes, is that what you asked her to cook us?

You like being in England, like on a Sunday and having a proper roast dinner?

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, so.

What bands? Because I love British band. I grew up on, Will did too, like on British pop and stuff like that. Who do you listen to?

Stone Roses.

So I love the Stone Roses. Love the Stone Roses.

I'm a big Stone Roses fan. Me too. Because, obviously, growing up in Manchester, in the 90s, it was all about Stone Roses, Oasis.

Well, 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.

Apple and pears.

Yeah. Those kinds 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 kinds of words and things. Yeah, she would be happy.

You're obviously still staying in incredible shape. What about some of that British food there? What is, 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 a pie and mash. So it's simple. It's a mince pie.

Eel like the fish, the snake fish?

In jelly deals. In gelatine.

Oh, good Lord.

It's not for everyone. It's not for everyone, but that's.

Not for anyone.

Yeah.

David, you've been a very, very nice man to join us. And a great man during this interview.

I love you.

You're the best.

What a thrill. What an absolute thrill, man.

Thank you so much. It's a thrill for me to be on here. You know, 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, man.

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, but 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 Plymouth.

I would love that. I would love that.

Fantastic.

Thanks, pal. You're welcome.

Thank you very much. David, thank you so, so much. Have a great rest of your night.

Thank you very much. Love to the families. Oh, cheers.

Me too. And have fun at the premiere. Thank you. Yes, sir.

Thank you, I will. All right. Take care. Bye-bye. Bye-bye.

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'm like, oh, I'm not gonna know who the soccer player, I'm not gonna know who this person is.

When you kept saying, like, Will, you're gonna know, I'm like, what is he talking about?

Yeah. But, you know, to our listeners out there- Did he get a shanty back on?

Like, we got shanty again, like, you know?

But, like, so to our listeners, like me and Sean, we're not big soccer fans, but we make a commitment to you in the audience that if we're gonna bring somebody on that does something you have no idea about, they're gonna be charming, they're going to be uber famous, okay? And they're gonna walk you through it.

They're gonna answer all your questions. And, by the way, and sometimes they're not gonna be any of those things.

Yeah, sometimes they're- Okay, and then we just won't air those episodes.

What are you, a lawyer?

It's not making disclaimers. 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? Yes. 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?

Yeah. It's not, see, Sean, it's not hard. If he, just, if he just smile a little bit, Sean.

I know, I'm just like, ugh, ugh, ugh.

And by the way, and just get out into the world, too.

You know what I mean? Yeah, be nice to people.

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.

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.