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      Baby Tyson was 1lb and docs said he’d die. I said: ‘No, he’s a warrior. He’ll be 7ft tall & world champ, says John Fury

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      JOHN Tyson, the dad of WBC world heavyweight champ Tyson Fury, has written a knockout account of his wild and wayward life as a bare-knuckle fighter and no-nonsense minder – and we have exclusive extracts from the book, When Fury Takes Over. In Day One he tells how premature baby Tyson was not expected to survive – and how Jesus spoke to him in his jail cell.
      Tyson Fury’s dad John has written a book about raising a future world heavyweight champCredit: MacMillan
      The knockout account tells how Jesus appeared to him when he was in prisonCredit: Alamy
      “THE night that Tyson was born is something I’ll never forget.It was August, and the baby was due in seven weeks’ time.
      My wife Amber and I had had problems with previous births.
      Hearing that she had gone into labour, I left work and went straight to Wythenshawe Hospital in Manchester.
      It was a foul night of thunder and lightning, rain pouring down as if it was the end of the world.
      READ MORE ON THE FURYS
      Again, there were complications for my lad. Tyson had been born massively premature and weighed only 1lb — small enough to fit into the palm of my hand.
      The doctors said he wouldn’t make it, but I saw something completely different — a little warrior with a glint in his eye and his fist held up, as if he was ready to take on the world.
      I said to the doctor: “That boy is special, he is going to live and he’s going to be almost 7ft tall, weigh 20st, and one day he’s going to be the heavyweight champion of the world, mark my words.”
      When a gypsy gets a funny feeling in his stomach, you should always listen to them — the chances are they’ll be right.
      Most read in Boxing
      John reveals that he had a funny feeling about Tyson when he arrived, even though he was born prematurelyCredit: MacMillan
      As Tyson grew up, there were problems for the first four years. He kept overheating and suffering delusions.
      He would have terrifying hallucinations that lions, monsters and demons were trying to eat him.
      Amber and I would pack him in ice and rush him to hospital. I started to take him outside for the natural medicine of fresh air.
      Once, I took him to a golf course. I was mucking around with a golf club when the president of the club appeared in the distance.
      He started shouting and walking towards me, so I picked up Tyson and legged it.
      I tried to jump over a ditch but the bank gave way beneath me and I landed with all my 20st on my baby son’s leg and snapped it.
      It sounded like a dry stick being broken. I took him home, he was shaking and sobbing in my arms.
      Naturally Amber was fuming, and I was devastated. It was one of the most painful experiences of my life, never mind for my poor son.
      “How could you get this wrong?” I asked myself. How can a father break his own child’s leg?
      “You can see the bone sticking out of his leg!” screamed Amber.I hung my head in shame.
      “You’re absolutely right. I’m a misfit and not capable of being a father,” I agreed.
      We took him to hospital where they performed emergency surgery on the limb.
      It haunted me, seeing his little leg with a steel bolt through it.
      For me there is nothing worse than causing pain to one of my sons, intentional or not.
      Now, 33 years on, it still brings a tear to my eye when I think of it.
      Over the next six weeks, Tyson wore a kind of protective pot on his leg.
      It didn’t stop him crawling around the house at speed or drawing boxing gloves.
      After this traumatic event, I’m glad to say the rest of Tyson’s childhood was smooth as milk.
      He was 11 years old when he decided he wanted to take up boxing.
      Me, I didn’t want him to go down that route, so I gave him no encouragement whatsoever.
      But he was determined to do it and he found an amateur gym on the other side of Wythenshawe.
      When he went to school in Styal, Cheshire, he was huge compared to the other boys in his class.
      He would often get taunted by older boys, but the difference between Tyson and me was that he learned self-control and discipline at an early age, and he was better at controlling his red mist.”
      John recalls how Tyson was 11 when he decided that he wanted to take up boxing, well before he broke several recordsCredit: Alamy
      John says he did not give Tyson any encouragement to begin with, as he did not want his son to go down that routeCredit: Getty
      “I REMEMBER the summer of 1969 and one of many trips to Yorkshire.
      Some of my mum’s people were up there working at Martin’s Farm in Norton, picking fruit on a family estate called Castle Howard, the baroque palace in Garfield II and Brideshead Revisited.
      Six miles from the estate was a huddle of derelict red-brick farm buildings, where we pitched up our trailer and car.
      One day a whole lot of blackbirds and crows started to gather. There must have been more than 100.
      It was like something out of that Hitchcock film, The Birds.
      In Romani lore — my mother’s lore — a large collection of black-feathered birds signifies the coming of death and a predator among us.
      The messengers of doom then started their assault on our home.
      The air was full of their cawing, the flapping of their wings and their talons tearing at the paintwork.
      The noise was insufferable. Then, as quickly as they had come, they began to disperse.
      My dad had this ominous knack of knowing when something bad was about to happen.
      “Something terrible has happened to one of our own,” he said.
      Within half an hour, we saw a solitary police car rattling down the lane toward us. This was the messenger of doom.
      The copper looked at my parents uncomfortably and said: “Your nephew, Owen, has just been killed in a car accident, just 15 miles down the road.”
      It was my cousin. At the time the crows had attacked us, Owen had died and met his maker.
      Six years earlier, he had been hawking carpets with my granny.
      At one door, a woman’s gaze fell on Owen and she said: “Do not ever take this boy near the coast, because it will be his demise.”
      It had been six years from when the medium first laid eyes on Owen, to his horrible death, just a short distance from the sea.”

      “ON both sides of my family, we were very religious.
      When I went to prison for the first time, serving an 11-year sentence for a fight in which another traveller lost an eye, I never questioned my faith, nor tried to blame it on God that he had landed me in such a horrible place.
      It was my actions, and my actions alone that had taken me there.
      Jesus has come through for me that many times when things have got rough — more times than I can remember.
      Two years into my sentence, Tyson rang up, sounding hollow and scared.
      He was in Sheffield hospital and his little son Prince, who was only one year old, was very ill with meningitis. “They told me he’s going to die, Dad.”
      I said: “Listen, son, they told me you were going to die, so that’s rubbish.
      “Your son is going to be all right. I’m going to call you tomorrow in the morning, and your son is going to be here.”
      Back in my cell, I sat down on my bunk and took up my old Bible.
      As I read, the words were leaping out at me in a more pronounced way than usual.
      It was as if the letters had been dipped in gold.
      The more I read, the calmer I was becoming. I said a prayer under my breath: “Dear Lord, I’m in need of help today. Well, not me, my grandson.
      “He’s struggling a bit, but keep your hands on him and do the best you can for him, please.” Then I fell asleep.
      My eyes open suddenly. At the bottom end of the bed stands the figure of a man, and though I can’t see his face in much detail, I know it is the shape of Jesus.
      Then with a voice as clear as a bell, the figure says: “Everything will be OK.”
      Pure joy passes through me, like someone has just told me that I’m to be released from my prison sentence in the morning.
      It’s four o’clock in the morning and I feel like bursting out into song!
      At 6.45am I call Tyson to see how his boy is. “Everything’s all right, isn’t it, son?”
      “Yes, Dad, it is. You were right again. He came right in the night — some time between 3 and 4am.”
      Read More on The Sun
      After that moment, I sailed through the rest of my sentence.”

      When Fury Takes Over, by John Fury, (Macmillan) is out on Thursday, £22.

      John Fury’s book is out Thursday, for £22Credit: MacMillan More

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      in Boxing

      I gouged out a gypsy’s eye and have to avoid crowds because of my violent temper, reveals Tyson Fury’s dad

      by

      SHOWING a Zen-like calm, Tyson Fury weighed in for another bone-crushing heavyweight contest – as his snarling dad John went berserk.It was 2018 in Belfast, and in the crowd the raging elder Fury had spotted Tyson’s future opponent — the then world champion Deontay Wilder — and a “red mist” descended.
      John Fury with son Tyson in the boxing ringCredit: Alamy
      John said: ‘On my gravestone I’d like them to put, ‘John Fury, a man of extremes’Credit: Alamy
      John celebrates victory with Tyson and team after the WBC World HeavyweightCredit: Getty
      In an exclusive interview, former bare-knuckle boxer John told me: “Wilder was cussing us and my switch flicked.
      “My mother used to say, ‘No matter who they are, son, stand your ground’. I don’t care if you’re the heavyweight champion of the world, you’re not going to put it on me and walk away.”
      Well-versed in hardcore violence — John was once jailed for gouging out a man’s eye — he had to be restrained by security guards.
      Tyson, who inherited his father’s fighting prowess, if not his fiery nature, “had a few quiet words” to calm him down.
      READ MORE ON TYSON FURY
      Now John has catalogued his eventful life in an autobiography, appropriately named When Fury Takes Over.
      Tyson — current WBC world heavyweight champion — has written the foreword, describing John as “our clan leader”.
      The book charts John’s life, from his birth in a “bow-top gypsy wagon” on an Irish roadside in Tuam, County Galway, to becoming a Netflix reality TV star.
      Speaking from Saudi Arabia — where Tyson is preparing for his fight on Saturday with Cameroonian Francis ­Ngannou — John said: “I wake up every morning now thinking it’s a dream. My childhood was very different to that of my kids’.
      Most read in Boxing
      “Growing up, it was a struggle to get the bare necessities like running water, electricity and a fixed abode.”
      One of four boys, John is the son of Irish traveller Hughie and English Romany gypsy Patience, known as Cissy, who roamed Britain in their caravan.
      John recalled: “Back then every pub you went to used to say, ‘No dogs and no travellers’.
      “People looking at you and being derogatory was how it was. You know, ‘The gypsies are in town, lock up your kids, lock up your ­belongings’.
      “But my family treated people with respect and we expected it back.
      “We were clean and tidy, we never abused people’s property.
      “But everyone was stigmatised as thieves and vagabonds.
      “Over the years we’ve had to ­integrate and learn the settled ­people’s ways.”
      According to John it was tough-as-nails Cissy — a “natural southpaw” (left-handed boxer) — who gave the family their boxing abilities.
      John didn’t get much regular schooling due to deep-rooted prejudice against travellers.
      In the same gravelly tones as Tyson, John, 59, told me: “If a gypsy went to school in the early Seventies, you weren’t going to learn anything because you got battered from pillar to post.
      “You were more worried about ­getting a good hiding than learning stuff, so we never bothered.
      Good hiding
      “My dad said, ‘Learn to get your living’. So we went out with my mother and father, working.”
      That meant hawking — selling — carpets door-to-door or surfacing roads.
      Dad-of-six John recalled: “I hawked at my first house when I was about seven years old.
      “If you opened the door to John Fury when he was a kid, I hope you had half an hour to spare.
      “‘No’ was often the answer but I had to talk them into saying ‘yes’ to help put food on our table.
      “Half the time they bought carpets off me just to get rid of me.”
      Very much his mother’s son, the young John was as adept with his fists as he was with the sales patter.
      He said: “Fighting has always been in our family — it’s our second nature.
      “I was big for my age and people my age wanted to fight me.
      “I would beat them up and then they’d go and get their big brother.
      “It was a free-for-all. You either damage me or I damage you. It was dog eat dog.
      “I probably got more hidings than anyone alive. It’s turned me into the person I am today.”
      John is the son of Irish traveller Hughie and English Romany gypsy Patience who roamed Britain in their caravanCredit: MacMillan
      When John was 15 he fought a dad in his thirties who had called him a “gyppo” after John brawled with his son.
      As the bearded man came towards him demanding a fight, John hit him “with a left and a right”.
      He recalled: “He went straight down and I kicked him full in the face with the instep of my hobnail boots.”
      Eventually John ended up in a ­Nottinghamshire borstal, which he likens to the grim 1979 film Scum, starring Ray Winstone.
      There he confronted two bullies, punching one “weasel” so hard “that his nose shattered”.
      Afraid his sentence would be increased, John jumped from a third-storey window to escape.
      On the run for three years, he met traveller Amber, who became his wife and had a son, John Boy, when John was just 18.
      Then he was arrested and sent to a young offenders’ unit to finish his sentence.
      In 1988 his son Tyson Luke Fury arrived three months premature, weighing just 1lb.
      John said: “I could hold him in the palm of my hand. He had to be a fighter to survive.”
      John and Amber had two other sons, Shane and Hughie. In 1997 daughter Ramona was born but died after just four days.
      When the couple split, John found love again with second wife Chantal and became a dad to two more boys, Roman, and boxer and Love Island star Tommy.
      John recalled: ‘Back then every pub you went to used to say, ‘No dogs and no travellers’Credit: PUBLISHER
      John with his father, mother and uncleCredit: MacMillan
      With cash short, John — a seasoned street fighter — decided to try boxing professionally.
      He entered a ­promoter’s gym for an audition wearing hobnail boots and jeans, and recalled: “They looked at me funny but it was all about money for me to feed my family.
      “Fighting professionally for a few hundred pounds on a Saturday night was easy money for me.
      “Meanwhile I was trading scrap metal, doing some roofing, tarmacking and still hawking carpets.”
      John was also carrying on a family tradition of bare-knuckle boxing.
      The 6ft 3in bruiser, who later helped guide Tyson as he made his way in the conventional game, said his tactics were to “throw a lot of punches” and “get the job done as soon as possible”.
      His professional record included four losses, but with bare knuckles he was unbeaten, adding: “I was ­prepared to fight anyone, anywhere, any time.”
      John bought a farm at Styal, in Cheshire, when he was 26 and the settled life gave Tyson a formal education his father was denied.
      The future champion went to the local primary school, where John remembers he was “huge” compared to the other boys in his class.
      Tyson began boxing aged 11 and took to it “like a duck to water”.
      By the time he was 15 he was already 6ft 5in and finding sparring partners difficult to come by.
      John would drive him as far afield as Huddersfield and Leicester looking for suitable fighters who could cope with his son’s explosive power.
      ‘Prison didn’t bother me’
      When John was 30 he embarked on a five-year stint as an “enforcer” — which meant people who were owed a debt or were being bullied could call him and he would “sort it out in my own way for a fee”.
      In 2011, John was jailed for 11 years after gouging out fellow ­traveller Oathie Sykes’s eye following a 12-year feud.
      John said: “It was two gypsy ­people, proud people, so someone’s going to get hurt.
      “I never intended to hurt him like that but, when you are fighting where anything goes, it can happen.
      “If it had happened to me I’d have moved on and not got the police involved because I’m a true-bred, fighting, travelling man.
      “Other people don’t think like me but that’s in the past and I’ve moved on from it.”
      He added: “Prison didn’t bother me. I’m a big believer in Jesus Christ and thought, ‘If this is my destiny, I’ll come out a better man’.
      “I abided by the rules, didn’t talk back to anybody and kept myself very fit. I salute the prison officers.
      “When I finally left prison after serving five years, I took the warders some boxing gloves signed by Tyson. They were very good to me.”
      Now John avoids big gatherings in case his violent temper should get him into trouble again.
      Months after his release in 2015, he was ringside to witness Tyson become world champion after ­beating Wladimir Klitschko.
      With his gift of the gab from hawking carpets, John was TV gold at weigh-ins and press conferences.
      And he was soon a star turn on reality shows including ITV’s Tyson Fury: The Gypsy King series and Netflix’s At Home With The Furys.
      But, like Tyson, John suffers from mental health issues.
      He admits: “Even after everything Tyson has achieved, I can get up in the morning and think, ‘What a waste of time, nothing is worth anything’.
      “The only thing you get in your head is negative stuff.
      “I try and put it to one side and be positive about everything and say, ‘OK mental health, I ain’t playing today.
      “If I’m feeling not too clever I find some nice, bubbly person to talk to. They can make you feel so much better.”
      Yet the red mist can still descend for John.
      At son Tommy’s final press conference before fighting KSI last Saturday, a sweary John punched and headbutted a Perspex panel dividing the two fighters.
      He said: “It’s not pantomime, it’s the real me. If you upset me, I’m going to have a go back.
      Read More on The Sun
      “On my gravestone I’d like them to put, ‘John Fury, a man of extremes’. I may be a fighter but the best of me is as a father.”

      When Fury Takes Over, by John Fury (Macmillan, £22), is out on Thursday.
      Tomorrow: Exclusive extracts – why gangland boss put a contract out to kill me.

      Like Tyson, John suffers from mental health issues.Credit: MacMillan
      John exchanges words with champ Deontay Wilder during a weigh-inCredit: Sportsfile – Subscription
      When Fury Takes Over, by John Fury (Macmillan, £22), is out on ThursdayCredit: MacMillan More

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      in Soccer

      How Sir Bobby Charlton rose from the ashes of Munich disaster to become player ‘better than Pele’

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      THE scene at the German airport that bitter February afternoon in 1958 was one of utter devastation.Pulled free from the twisted wreckage of the Munich air disaster, Sir Bobby ­Charlton rose to become one of the finest footballers England — and the world — has ever known.
      Sir Bobby Charlton survived the Munich air disaster and went on to win the World Cup for EnglandCredit: Allsport – Getty
      But for the rest of his life he would be haunted by the tragedy that left eight of his Manchester United teammates dead, including England legend Duncan Edwards.
      Sir Bobby said: “All my mates — I think about this fact every day of my life.”
      Over the next decade, he reached peaks of achievement no other domestic player has reached.
      An exceptionally gifted midfielder with a thunderbolt shot, he was the leading scorer for both United and England for more than 40 years until being overtaken by Wayne Rooney.
      READ MORE SIR BOBBY CHARLTON
      Partly because of the trauma of Munich, his character has been described as modest and reserved.
      Flamboyant former Manchester United boss Ron Atkinson once called him a “grizzlin’ old miser” — but on the field Charlton oozed a unique charisma.
      Renowned football correspondent Geoffrey Green summed up his brilliance in 1969, writing: “It is the explosive facets of his play that will remain in the memory.
      “His thinning, fair hair streaming in the wind, he has moved like a ship in full sail.
      Most read in Football
      “He has always possessed an elemental quality, jinking, changing feet and direction, turning gracefully on the ball or accelerating through a gap surrendered by a confused enemy.”
      In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Charlton was an enigma — unable to fulfil his talent consistently.
      But all that changed when he was switched from left winger to the role of attacking central midfielder for club and country.
      The national team was now under the management of Alf Ramsey, whose pioneering approach abandoned the use of traditional wingers.
      With more scope to dominate, Charlton flourished. In 1963, he said: “I’m in the game all the time. I could not be happier.”
      Sir Bobby Charlton led Manchester United to become the first English team to win the European CupCredit: Getty – Contributor
      He became the fulcrum of United’s forward line as the revived club won a host of trophies, including an FA Cup, three league titles, and, above all, the European Cup in 1968 — exactly a decade after Munich.
      Charlton was just as vital to Alf Ramsey’s world-beating England side of 1966.
      Squad member Jimmy Armfield said: “We had a trump card — every great team has one and ours was Bobby Charlton.”
      His typically spectacular long-range goal against Mexico kick-started England’s campaign, and his brace against Portugal saw England through to the final.
      Full-back George Cohen recalled: “He had that great acceleration and beautiful balance that gives great players half a chance at goal where there isn’t one.”
      It was a reflection of Charlton’s stature that in the 1966 final, the German maestro Franz Beckenbauer was instructed to sacrifice his own freedom to mark him, though that did not prevent an England triumph.
      Beckenbauer said: “I have more admiration for Charlton than any other player, even Pele.”
      Franz Beckenbauer famously said Sir Bobby Charlton was better than Brazilan great PeleCredit: Keystone
      Central to the admiration Charlton provoked was his supreme professionalism.
      Unlike his United team-mate George Best, who squandered his talent through alcoholic self-indulgence, Charlton was a role model in the way he conducted himself, never flinched from the fight and gave wholeheartedly to every team he represented.
      Even his signature comb-over — for which he was ribbed by some — was a mark of an unflashy man brought up in a Northumberland mining town.
      He appeared in more than 750 matches yet was only booked twice.
      Irish legend Johnny Giles, who began his career at United, said: “He always tried his hardest, no matter what the circumstances.
      “He would never hide on the field, even when he was not playing well. I never saw him give anything but his best.”
      His decency extended to his personal life, built on his happy marriage to Norma Ball, who was a receptionist in a fashion agency before she met Bobby in 1959.
      They had two daughters — Andrea and Suzanne, who went on to become a weather presenter for the BBC.
      There was never the slightest whiff of scandal about Sir Bobby.
      He was too restrained, too self-conscious ever to have been a playboy, and a secure domestic life as both loyal husband and devoted father suited him perfectly.
      Sir Bobby earned more than 100 caps for England and scored 49 goals for his countryCredit: Getty
      Ronnie Cope, who played 93 games for United with Charlton, remembered: “I have always said that marrying Norma was the best thing that ever happened to Bobby.
      “She was a smashing girl, very attractive and seemed to have an influence on him straight away.”
      But the advent of Norma into his life also caused a rift in his family, particularly with elder brother Jack and his mother Cissie — who came from the famous north-eastern Milburn footballing family and was very much the matriarch of the Charlton household in Ashington.
      Outspoken, domineering but warm, Cissie was similar in character to Jack, whereas Bobby took after his quiet father, Robert, a miner who worked down the local pit and was more interested in boxing than football.
      It was a tough life, and Jack and Bobby grew up in a small terraced house where they had to share a bed and use an outside toilet. They also shared an ability at football.
      From his earliest years in Ashington, Bobby had seemed destined for greatness, as his neighbour Walter Lavery recalled: “He stood out like a beacon.
      “He was different, far above the rest of the young players, as near a genius as you could get.”
      But Jack, while more limited, was still sufficiently effective as a defender to attract the interest of league clubs.
      Despite their differences, the pair did embrace when they won the 1966 World Cup.Credit: Getty
      He joined Leeds United at the age of 15, a year before Bobby signed for Manchester United.
      Despite embarking on the same career path, the two brothers were never close.
      Indeed, the differences between them were far greater than the similarities.
      Uninterested in academic work, Jack went to a secondary modern school, Bobby, more diligent, to a grammar.
      Jack was a rebel, always challenging authority, while Bobby was a conformist. Jack was a voluble Labour supporter, whereas Bobby was essentially conservative in outlook.
      Against this backdrop, Bobby’s marriage to Norma dramatically widened the chasm between the brothers. Norma and Cissie could not abide each other.
      Norma once said: “I was never accepted into the family by my mother-in-law. She has never acknowledged me or my children.”
      In her turn, Cissie admitted as much: “We got off to a bad start. I think we rubbed each other up the wrong way.”
      Inevitably, Bobby took Norma’s side, and Jack his mother’s.
      The result was that they were barely on speaking terms for much of their later lives.
      In the playing arena, there was an air of anti-climax for Bobby after 1968.
      United went into decline following the retirement of manager Sir Matt Busby, while Bobby’s England career ended on a sour note when he was substituted in the 1970 World Cup quarter-final defeat by West Germany in Mexico.
      On his departure from United in 1973, he had a spell as manager of Preston North End.
      But his habitual reserve and inability to connect with players much less skilful than him meant he was never cut out for such a role. He left after two seasons.
      More fulfilling were stints as an international ambassador for the FA — where he was the architect of a network of international youth coaching schemes, of which David Beckham was one product.
      As a director of Manchester United from 1984, he played a vital part in the success of Sir Alex Ferguson’s managerial career at Old Trafford.
      Bobby himself was knighted in 1994. No one was ever more deserving of the honour.
      Read More on The Sun
      And it was his elder brother Jack who presented him with a BBC Sports Personality of the Year Lifetime Achievement Award in 2008.
      Jack told his sibling: “Bobby Charlton is the greatest player I’ve ever seen. And he’s my brother.”
      In later years, the Charlton brothers rekindled their relationshipCredit: Getty More

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      in Soccer

      Meet Brit battling to set up world’s last national footy team in country where locals play barefoot & pitch is landfill

      by

      IN concrete basketball courts on tiny islands in the Pacific Ocean, bare-footed footballers dream of representing their country.Yet few other aspiring soccer stars have so much standing in their way as those on the Marshall Islands.
      The Marshall Islands is the last country without a national football teamCredit: Shutterstock
      Brit Lloyd Owers has been appointed as football technical director of the Marshall IslandsCredit: Paul Tonge
      The first problem is that it is the last country on the planet without a national team.
      Last year the nation — 1,225 islands 8,000 miles from Britain, some sitting atop submerged volcanoes — didn’t even have an amateur league.
      There are no football grounds and in the US-dominated culture there has been little interest in the beautiful game.
      But that is all changing in the country most famous for witnessing nuclear weapon tests on its Bikini atoll in the Forties and Fifties.
      READ MORE FOOTBALL NEWS
      Three Brits are part of the Marshall Islands Soccer Federation, which is aiming to become a member of football’s governing body Fifa and to take part in World Cup qualifiers.
      They include football coach Lloyd Owers, who led the first training sessions on the islands this summer.
      The Marshall Islands will next year have a stadium with a proper pitch and in the summer intend to field a side against neighbouring islands.
      ‘Playing barefooted’
      They already have a football strip, which has been selling more than 100 replicas a week since it went on sale last month, even though there is not yet a team to cheer on.
      Most read in Football
      Lloyd, 34, from Oxfordshire, whose previous jobs include working as a scout for League Two Mansfield Town FC and under 23’s manager at non-league Oxford City, tells The Sun: “When we started in January there was nothing. There were no leagues, no kids sessions, no anything.
      “We want to be confederation members, we want to be part of the international stage qualifiers, Olympic qualifiers.
      “Long term, we want to be Fifa members, World Cup qualifiers, that’s genuinely something we want to do.”
      In many ways, it is surprising that the Marshall Islands, which has a population of 42,000, doesn’t have a national side.
      There are plenty of smaller coun- tries with one.
      The Marshall Islands football strip has been selling more than 100 replicas a week since it went on sale last monthCredit: Marshall Islands Soccer Federation
      Even the neighbouring commonwealth Tuvalu islands, with just 12,000 people, has a team affiliated to the Oceania Football Con- federation, which has 11 members af- filiated with Fifa, including New Zealand.
      And despite having only 760 citizens, Vatican City in Italy has managed to field a team for international friendlies.
      The Marshall Islands, which are named after the British explorer John Marshall, who visited the long-discovered islands in 1788, was fought over by several nations before gaining independence from the US in 1986.
      But America still has a military base on Kwajalein Atoll, with around a thousand personnel, and has a big influence on the isolated nation.
      As a result, basketball and baseball are the most popular sports.
      That, though, has changed since football superstars such as David Beckham and Lionel Messi raised the profile of the game stateside.
      When the son of oil worker Shem Livai, who lives in the capital Majuro, became a fan, the idea of a national side took root.
      Shem formed the federation in early 2020, became its president and, once the Covid pandemic was over, set about kicking off the team’s development.
      Lloyd, whose coaching consultancy work has taken him to the US, Canada and Sweden, wrote a blog which Shem read.
      The pair got into a conversation over the internet “quite randomly”, according to Lloyd, and he found himself taking up the part-time job of technical director for the fledgling football federation.
      By the start of this year Lloyd and his fellow Brits, communications director Justin Whalley and commercial director Matt Webb, set about raising sponsorship and the project’s profile.
      That included a competition in April to design the nation’s football shirt. “When the sales started rolling in, you realised how popular the project is. We sold 400 in three weeks in 40 different countries,” he says. In the summer Lloyd flew to the Marshall Islands for his first coaching sessions.
      It is a 46-hour journey — if there are no delays.
      Lloyd’s connecting flight from Hawaii to the islands was cancelled and he had to wait two days for the next one, although he admits that being stranded in Honolulu was no hardship.
      They are very tough
      When he got there he realised the scale of the task.
      He reveals: “It is an eye-opener, they are playing barefooted.”
      Locals would enjoy a kickabout wherever there was space, which was mainly on basketball courts.
      Lloyd developed a football programme for schoolsCredit: SUPPLIED
      The Marshall Islands has a population of around 40,000 peopleCredit: rmisoccer/instagram
      Lloyd set about organising a league, which now consists of four futsal teams.
      Futsal is a five-a-side game which can be played in smaller spaces and is good for developing skills.
      He continues: “The men’s futsal league takes place on concrete, the majority are still playing barefooted, they are very tough.”
      Lloyd developed a programme for schools and the government has agreed to include football in PE lessons. He also taught 23 locals how to coach the game.
      Playing the traditional 11-a-side game remains a challenge.
      Lloyd explains: “One of the battles is a lack of space. The main island of Majuro is literally a 24-mile drive from one end to the other, one long road with buildings either side and you are surrounded by water.”
      Climate change is only going to make that problem worse. The highest point on Majuro is only ten feet above sea level, and scientists have warned that the oceans could rise by six feet by the end of this century in a worst-case scenario.
      Lloyd says: “It is a real battle. When I visited, I went to one of the ends of the islands and that’s where it is going to be at threat.
      “There is talk that by 2030 that whole area could be submerged.”
      For this reason the country’s first stadium is being built on reclaimed land. The multi-purpose complex, which includes a track and field for athletics and a football pitch, is due to open in July next year.
      “The football stadium used to be part of the ocean, but they have built it in landfill, similar to what they did in Dubai,” explains Lloyd.
      On top of shrinking land, the nation also suffers from a shrinking population, with the Marshallese heading to Australia, New Zealand and the United States to find work.
      Tech billionaire Elon Musk used Kwajalein Atoll for his early SpaceX rocket launches.
      But the logistics of getting supplies to the remote eight-acre Omelek island proved to be so tricky that the staff reportedly mutinied in 2005 when they ran out of food.
      These days SpaceX operates in Texas.
      Fortunately, a free movement agreement with the US means there is a potential pool of players among expats.
      There are an estimated 30,000 Marshall Islanders in the US, with half of them in the state of Arkansas.
      Lloyd says: “We have had a few players contact us that play in the US college system, for example. They will be part of the plans over the next few years.”
      The main aim, though, is to develop a grassroots game on the islands themselves so the team has players with sand between their toes.
      The federation will need to show there is an established, competitive league to apply to membership of either the Oceania Football Confederation or Fifa.
      Lloyd says: “You need football to be regular, you need it to be benefiting every group possible, regular competition.”
      Read More on The Sun
      What gives him so much hope is the way the islanders pull together.
      He concludes: “It is very much a together community feel, everyone helps everyone. I have never been to a place which is so hospitable.”
      Progress is being made on the Marshall Islands’ new stadiumCredit: rmisoccer/instagram
      The Marshall Islands is a small South Pacific Island nationCredit: Shutterstock
      The Marshall Islands and Bikini Atoll on a map
      Nearby Bikini Atoll is known for being the site of breakthrough Atom bomb testsCredit: Getty More

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      in Soccer

      We live INSIDE famous football stadium & it’s like having a private box…but when club got promoted it caused big problem

      by

      WHEN Ikram Patel rented his two-bedroom flat in East London, he was mainly attracted by its location in an upcoming area that would suit his young family.But a year later the property manager has become such a big fan of Leyton Orient Football Club that he often finds himself jeering away fans on a Saturday afternoon.
      Ikram Patel’s balcony overlooks the Leyton Orient football pitchCredit: Louis Wood News Group Newspapers Ltd
      There are blocks of flats on the corners of the historic, 9,271-capacity stadium which has been home to the O’s since 1937Credit: Louis Wood News Group Newspapers Ltd
      His flat boasts an unrivalled view of the O’s Brisbane Road pitch, a vantage point so good it’s like having his own private box.  
      His living room balcony is close enough to rival supporters in the East Stand that he can respond to their taunts while his sons, aged three and one-and-a-half, look on from their tiny chairs.
      When The Sun visited as part of our Life’s a Pitch series, Ikram, 30, told us: “I’m a cricket and tennis fan and I was never interested in football until I moved here.
      “But this is an upcoming area – it’s beautiful around here – and when I saw the view it encouraged me to rent the flat. I thought it would give my sons something to look at.
      READ MORE LIFE’S A PITCH
      “Now my cousin is always messaging me asking if he can pop round to watch the games and the boys are fascinated by the crowd and the noise.  
      “They really look forward to the games and will sit out on the balcony in their little chairs, while we stand most of the time.
      “It’s fantastic on match days especially when the stadium is full.
      “My friends follow football and, being from the area, they tend to come round to watch the match because it’s like having our own private box.
      Most read in Football
      Ikram admits he wasn’t hugely into football until he moved to the flatCredit: Louis Wood News Group Newspapers Ltd
      He says his kids love watching the games from their balconyCredit: Louis Wood News Group Newspapers Ltd
      “We are very close to the away fans so we do hear a lot of colourful language.
      “They have a go at us sometimes, especially when we are all cheering on Leyton on the balcony – and I do give it back occasionally.”
      However, living in the corner of the historic, 9,271-capacity stadium which has been home to the O’s since 1937, does have its downsides for Ikram and his family.
      He added: “It does get a bit much for the kids, especially when they are trying to have their afternoon nap.
      “My wife sometimes complains. It can be annoying for her as she doesn’t follow sports.
      It does get a bit much for the kids, especially when they are trying to have their afternoon nap. My wife sometimes complainsIkram Patel
      “There are often big crowds outside that can make it difficult to get around on match days and the traffic can get really bad.
      “Also, the rent has shot up since Orient won promotion to League One last season.
      “It’s a bit pricey and has gone up to about £1,300 to £1,500 per month now, which is about £50 to £100 more than it was last season.
      “But there was a huge celebration when they got promoted and the atmosphere was lovely because we weren’t sure if they were going to make it.
      “I have to admit that I find myself checking the scores online all the time now when I’m not at home.”
      When Leyton Orient got promoted, Ikram says the rent shot upCredit: Louis Wood News Group Newspapers Ltd
      Some residents complain about the noise – especially from away fans – on match daysCredit: Louis Wood News Group Newspapers Ltd
      Supporters witnessed a sad tragedy last week when lifelong O’s fan Derek Reynolds, 74, collapsed and died while watching the match against Lincoln City.
      Leyton Orient were winning 1-0 at the time and Ikram’s wife Nosheen watched the aftermath of paramedics giving him CPR on the side of the pitch.
      Mum-of-two Nosheem, 30, said: “I was putting the kids to sleep when that guy died. 
      “One of the fans told my husband what happened and when I got to the living room I saw the police and the ambulance crew. It was really sad.
      “My husband loves football so you can see why he likes living here because the view is amazing. 
      “He’s always posting videos of the games on TikTok, but for me it’s a lot of noise.
      “All of our cousins and friends want to come round on match days. I think we had 10 people in here for one game. 
      “My husband’s first cousin comes here for every single game.
      Ali Barker is another resident who has had to get used to facing thousands of screaming football fansCredit: Louis Wood News Group Newspapers Ltd
      Some residents complained the noise from matches keeps their kids awakeCredit: Louis Wood News Group Newspapers Ltd
      “Sometimes there are fights in the stands and on the pitch, although that doesn’t happen often.
      “The away fans do swear a lot and they’re always putting their fingers up. 
      “It doesn’t bother me too much except when it keeps the kids awake.
      “Also, when the game is on it’s really hard to get out of the house because there are so many people milling around – you have to plan ahead.”
      Leyton, where the stadium is based, has been described as east London’s “hot new neighbourhood” by property experts.
      Despite its crime-blighted past and the fact it still holds significant pockets of deprivation, locals are bracing themselves for young professionals flocking here in the near future.
      Gentrification is expected to spill over from neighbouring Walthamstow, which the Sunday Times has described as one of London’s best places to live thanks to its “arty, crafty shops, street market and pretty houses”.
      The average house price there has already shot up to £500,000, forcing traders at Walthamstow market to move out.
      And a similar process seems to be taking place in Leyton, where the air around the O’s stadium vibrates with noise of trendy flats being built ready to welcome the new arrivals.
      Ali Barker is another resident who has had to get used to facing thousands of screaming football fans – despite not giving a hoot about the game.
      One year ago he moved into a one-bedroom apartment on the fourth floor of one of the modern block of flats built into the corners of the stadium by property developers.  
      The modern blocks of flats were built into the corners of the stadium by property developersCredit: Louis Wood News Group Newspapers Ltd
      Some of the apartments, which include service charges of around £2,400 a year, come with fake grass on the balconies to encourage football fans to snap them upCredit: Louis Wood News Group Newspapers Ltd
      Going for between £300,000 and £400,000 at the time, he considered this something of a deal given that the flats – which were constructed around 20 years ago – are within walking distance of Leyton Underground Station and the Central Line.
      Some of the apartments, which include service charges of around £2,400 a year, come with fake grass on the balconies to encourage football fans to snap them up.
      But unlike his downstairs neighbour, Ali has yet to be converted to become a fan of the O’s.
      The software engineer, 30, who hails from Hampshire, said: “This is one of the few places in London I could afford to buy. 
      “It was good value given its size and location. I don’t know if it’s more affordable or less because it’s attached to a football stadium.
      “I did spend a while thinking if I wanted a flat so close to a pitch before I bought it.
      It was good value given its size and location. I don’t know if it’s more affordable or less because it’s attached to a football stadiumAli Barker
      “But eventually I decided I wasn’t too worried about a bit of noise.
      “I do follow the team a little bit, but mainly out of curiosity. I’m not a huge fan.
      “You can see three quarters of the pitch from my balcony and only one of the goals so it’s not ideal for watching the game.
      “It can get really busy on match fans and some fans get really drunk. I’ve seen them urinating in the park.
      Read More on The Sun
      “Overall I would say moving here has worked out well for me. Once in a while, I have thousands of people outside my flat.
      “But that’s OK and I imagine that the area is going to change a great deal when the new flats are built opposite the stadium.”
      Ali Barker on his pitch-side balconyCredit: Louis Wood News Group Newspapers Ltd
      There are more flats being built in the area surrounding Leyton Orient’s stadiumCredit: Louis Wood News Group Newspapers Ltd More

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      in Motorsport

      Max Verstappen’s lavish life with model WAG Kelly Piquet… from £12m private jet bought from famous Brit to £5m car fleet

      by

      HE’S the three-time world champion – so it’s no surprise Formula One heavyweight Max Verstappen lives a life of luxury away from the track.At just 26 he’s already making history, joining the likes of Ayrton Senna, Niki Lauda and future father-in-law Nelson Piquet by winning the Formula One drivers’ championship for the third time.
      Max Verstappen has clinched his third consecutive Formula One world titleCredit: Rex
      He has been dating Kelly Piquet for the past three yearsCredit: instagram/kellypiquet
      Unstoppable Max has a lot to show for his hard work and talent – including a staggering estimated fortune of £165million.
      He also has a fleet of James Bond-inspired cars, a lavish seafront apartment in Monaco, and a stunning model girlfriend in Kelly Piquet.
      Here, we take a closer look at his enviable life off the grid.
      Eye-watering fortune
      The son of F1 legend Jos Verstappen made his debut at the Australian GP in 2015 and is now one of the top earning drivers in Formula One.
      MORE FORMULA 1 FEATURES
      Last year he signed a five-year deal with Red Bull which has been described as one of the most lucrative in the history of the sport.
      According to reports his contract is worth £45million a year – and is likely to increase given his impressive winning streak continues.
      Max also benefits from endorsement deals from brands like G-Star RAW, Red Bull and EA Sports.
      The Dutch driver also has his own MV merchandise company, selling caps, clothing and accessories.
      Most read in Motorsport
      Since his debut in 2015, he has been a dominant force in the sportCredit: EPA
      Despite his success, Max has hinted he may retire early.
      Asked if he would like to race into his late thirties like other drivers, he replied: “No, absolutely no – no desire.
      “No, I have my mind already set on what I want to do also outside of Formula 1.
      “It’s a big passion of mine and I want to make that happen as well.”
      Dating daughter of F1 legend
      Max went Instagram official with Kelly in 2021 and called her his ‘love and happiness’Credit: instagram/@kellypiquet/
      The couple often post loved-up snaps on InstagramCredit: Instagram / @kellypiquet
      Max has been dating German-born Kelly, 34, the daughter of Nelson Piquet, for the last three years, and she’s regularly seen cheering him on trackside.
      Although her father is worth over £164m, she’s made a name for herself as a model, public relations agent and motoring columnist.
      She attended Marymount Manhattan College in New York where she graduated in International Relations with a major in Political Science and Economics.
      Before her romance with Max she was in a relationship with Russian driver Daniil Kvyat, with whom she shares a daughter, Penelope.
      Daniil made 110 Formula One starts from 2013 to 2020, and ironically when he was given the boot from Red Bull in 2016, it was Max who replaced him.
      Kelly often shares snaps of herself on holiday at exotic destinationsCredit: instagram/@kellypiquet/
      Max shares a kiss with Kelly during a boat ride while her daughter looks into the cameraCredit: Instagram / @kellypiquet
      Max and Kelly went Instagram official when he posted a snap of them together on the beach with the caption: “Let’s make 2021 a year to remember in many ways. Wishing you all success, love and happiness just as I found mine.”
      Since then they have been photographed together on numerous occasions looking loved up.
      Kelly has graced the covers of several high-profile magazines including Vogue in the Netherlands and has fully embraced life as one of the world’s biggest socialites.
      On Instagram she is followed by 1.2million fans and keeps them regularly updated with glam shots of herself and Max on holiday in exotic locations like St Tropez and Florida.
      In one snap, she can be seen locking lips with the racer while her daughter smiles at the camera.
      She has also uploaded pics of herself at glitzy dos like the Cannes Film Festival.
      Living large
      Max lives in Monaco, which has become a haven for some of the biggest F1 stars
      Max working out on his balcony with his two Bengal cats in the backgroundCredit: Instagram @maxverstappen1
      During his free time, Max takes to the water in a £16,000 jet skiCredit: Refer to Caption
      Like his fellow Formula One racers Lando Norris and Valtteri Bottas, Max has chosen Monaco as his home, where he lives in a £13million rented apartment overlooking the Mediterranean.
      He keeps his physical condition in top condition by working out on the balcony, which is kitted out with gym equipment and a frame for bungee pulls.
      He has shared glimpses of his chic pad, which he and Kelly also share with their two Bengal cats, Jimmy and Sass.
      In his spare time he likes to take the water on a Red Bull-branded jet ski, said to be worth around £16,000.
      For all his travels around the world, Max is said to have bought a private jet from Sir Richard Branson, worth £12million, which costs over £830,000 to maintain.
      Max has made sure the Falcon-900EX is customised to his expensive taste – it has a matt finish and brands Max’s logo of a lion on the tail fin, paying homage to the national animal of the Netherlands.
      He travels in the jet when he has to travel long distances for races and often gives other Monaco-based drivers, like Daniel Ricciardo, a ride.
      Max bought his private jet from Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson
      He has given stars a ride on the jet including Daniel Ricciardo
      The jet has been customised to Max’s expensive taste
      £5million car collection
      Max’s personal car collection, worth an estimated £5m, is nothing short of impressive and rivals that of Hollywood stars.
      After becoming the youngest ever racer to score a podium finish at the Spanish Grand Prix, aged just 18, Max splashed out on a Porsche 911 GTS R3.
      His car collection has been heavily inspired by James Bond – he owns a 007-type Aston Martin DB11, a follow-up to the DB10, driven in the movie Spectre.
      Read More on The Sun
      Alongside a 2018 Vantage and a DBS Superleggerais, Max is reported to have added an Aston Martin Valkyrie to his collection. According to reports, the vehicle is priced at a whopping £2.2million.
      The manufacturer’s website describes the car as the closest anyone will get to having the Formula 1 experience on the road.
      Max has an impressive car collection, including the £2.2million Aston Martin ValkyrieCredit: Alamy More

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      in Soccer

      Football should be the beautiful game – but 2030 World Cup covering half the globe is an ugly kick in the teeth for fans

      by

      FOOTBALL is supposed to be the people’s game.It’s supposed to be about the fans as well as the players.
      Nobody outside a chosen few inside Fifa headquarters in Zurich was celebrating the latest brainwave pulled off by world football boss Gianni InfantinoCredit: PA
      Lionel Messi lifts the World Cup trophy in Qatar – a tournament allegedly powered by giant solar fields in the desert that NOBODY has ever seenCredit: Getty
      And the World Cup, the pinnacle of the sport, is supposed to be a global party.
      But nobody outside a chosen few inside Fifa headquarters in Zurich was celebrating the latest brainwave pulled off by world football boss Gianni Infantino.
      A World Cup covering half the globe, spread over 39 days and involving 48 teams and 104 matches.
      Starting with three games in South America, before the rest of the tournament is split between the Iberian peninsula and North Africa.

      Yet what was inconceivable is now, overnight, a looming reality, coming our way in just seven years, in 2030.
      A kick in the teeth for fans around the planet, who still love the beautiful game, no matter how ugly it can seem.
      And further irrefutable proof that what counts in football now is not the sport, the emotion and the passion.
      That went out of the window long ago.
      Most read in Football
      The brutal truth is that it is now only about the money, the politics, the deals and the TV contracts.
      Who in their right mind would conceive of sending fans halfway around the world — then back — for ONE match?
      Fifa, of course.
      The blazers in their ivory towers, who know they get executive travel, first-class seats and the biggest suites in the swankiest hotels, all meals and match tickets included, for nothing — plus £400 a day in cash for spending money just to keep them sweet.
      No worries about saving up for the journey for these men and women.
      The same Fifa that trumpeted the green credentials of a £185BILLION World Cup in Qatar, allegedly powered by giant solar fields in the desert that NOBODY has ever seen.
      That’s before you even get into the other issues in the Gulf state — the treatment of migrant workers and legalised homophobia.
      Yet it’s as much about the sheer cost of the concept as well.
      Playing the opening three matches in Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay pays homage to the centenary of the tournament that was first played in Uruguayan capital Montevideo in 1930.
      Divide and rule
      There is a romantic element in that — although many real fans of the game will argue that the 2030 tournament should have been hosted entirely back where it all began.
      But Fifa is asking some fans to fork out thousands to fly 6,000-plus miles to see their team in action in South America and then back across the Atlantic for a tournament split between Morocco, Portugal and Spain.
      Where, of course, tickets will be at premium rates for travelling fans. Someone has to pay the bills. And it’s you.
      Does anybody in Zurich care about that? It doesn’t look that way, does it?
      For Fifa President Infantino, football’s version of The Hood from Thunderbirds, it is an ingenious, some would argue brilliant, solution.
      After all, he has handed six countries and three continents a piece of the action.
      That allows all the potential bidders to keep face at home and also ensures the maximum interest and pay cheques from the European TV companies who fund his global projects, pitches and training centres in countries that otherwise would not be able to afford them.
      Infantino may not have been a protege of former Fifa chief, disgraced Sepp Blatter.
      But he has learned from the Blatter play book of divide and rule — and brought it into the modern age.
      And seasoned, and cynical, Fifa watchers know what the real end game is here.
      It is less about 2030 — although that is what has captured immediate attention.
      Instead, it is more, far more, about 2034 — and giving Saudi Arabia and Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman what HE has craved for years.

      The door for the Saudis to walk through and host that tournament is not ajar. It is wide open.
      Nominally, Australia could bid as well.
      But it would be a forlorn and expensive waste of money. The die is cast.
      “All the fish is sold,” as they say in Fifa land.
      It does not matter that there will be another desert storm of protest, that fans will not be able to get a drink — to be fair, the absence of booze in the stadiums in Qatar made for a far less aggressive and hostile atmosphere.
      Nor that the Saudi record on human rights is pretty compatible with that in Qatar.
      Indeed, the Qataris do not, as far as we know, have a track record of dismembering critical journalists in any of their embassies.
      Doha 1, Riyadh 0.
      Effectively gifting Saudi the tournament means another winter World Cup in November and December of 2034 — and another enforced six-week break for the Premier League.
      And because the new 32-team Club World Cup — Chelsea, Manchester City and almost certainly Liverpool play in the first version in the USA in 2025 — is held in the same country as the next World Cup, the situation will be similar 12 months earlier, with players going to Saudi in 2033.
      Scant consolation
      Two successive European club seasons ruptured in half, just to ensure MBS gets what he wants.
      Have the fans, players or even the clubs been asked about that? Of course they haven’t. They never are.
      The good news, the only good news, is that Infantino will not be around to bask in the reflected “glory” of his masterplan when it comes to fruition.
      Even after dismissing his first three years in the job as not counting, he must give up his place as Fifa President in 2031.
      Canada’s Victor Montagliani is a potential successor.
      But that will be scant consolation to the fans forking out money they really can’t afford to follow their teams in 2030 or four years later.
      They are barely an afterthought.
      Scenery for the TV pictures.
      Read More on The Sun
      Willing victims who pay for the privilege.
      As Sir Alex Ferguson once said, in very different circumstances: “Football. Bloody hell.” More

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      in Soccer

      Inside David Beckham’s dad Ted’s ruthless quest to get his son signed by Man Utd – including raw egg and Guinness diet

      by

      THERE are many dads desperate for a footballer son, but David Beckham’s went to extreme lengths – even feeding him raw egg and Guinness once a week.In the Beckham documentary, out today on Netflix, David reveals the way Manchester United-obsessed Ted Beckham treated him growing up, training him from morning to night, giving him 50p for every target hit.
      David Beckham pictured with mum Sandra and dad Ted, who was Manchester United-obsessed and very strict on himCredit: News Group Newspapers Ltd
      Beckham always saw Sir Alex Ferguson as his second “father figure”Credit: Netflix
      With a disciplinary parenting style that his mum, Sandra, wasn’t a fan of, it’s no wonder Beckham always saw his equally strict Man Utd manager Sir Alex Ferguson as a guiding “father figure”.
      Aside from both men famously falling out with David when he moved from Man Utd to Real Madrid in 2003, there are many similarities between the two men who shaped the football legend’s career.
      Growing up in Leytonstone, Beckham got used to strict training from his dad, who would take him “out for hours”.
      “I’d loved to have been a footballer but I had the next best thing,” Ted says. “I taught him how to kick a ball properly.
      READ MORE SPORT FEATURES
      “I used to say to him, ‘Right, every time you hit the crossbar, I’ll give you 50p’ and it used to cost me a fortune.”
      Beckham adds: “Left foot, right foot, over and over again. And it was all about control. 
      “Even when I was seven or eight years old, he’d boot the ball up as high as he could and say ‘control it,’ ‘OK, not good enough, do it again,’ ‘Not good enough, do it again’ over and over again.”
      When he joined the youth team Ridgeway Rovers, he went 92 matches unbeaten – but his dad still wasn’t content.
      Most read in Football
      “I was a bit worried about the size of him,” Ted says. “So that’s when we started giving him Guinness and raw egg. 
      “To be fair to the boy, he did it every week.”
      Becks adds: “I was scared when he was there because I knew if I put a foot wrong, he’d tell me. And he’d always tell me. Always.”
      Mum’s fears
      Beckham was never out of the garden when he was growing upCredit: Netflix
      He was given 50p by his dad every time he hit the crossbarCredit: NETFLIX
      In the documentary, Beckham’s mum Sandra – who divorced Ted in 2002 – says she thought the determined dad was “too strict”.
      She says: “I used to say, ‘he’s only young, leave him be, let him be happy.’
      “I tried to tell him but he wouldn’t listen to me, and I used to get upset when he made him cry.”
      Beckham adds: “I would hear my mum turn round to my dad and say, ‘Stop talking to him the way you’re talking to him. Stop shouting at him, stop telling him off. He did well today,’ and my dad would always be like, ‘He did alright’.”
      But, having watched his hairdresser mum and gas engineer dad work so hard to provide for him, Becks didn’t mind the brutal regime.
      “I saw my mum and dad working hard every day until 11 or 12 o’clock at night and I knew the only way to be a professional footballer was to work hard,” he says. “From the moment I got in from school to the moment I slept, I would be out in the garden.”
      Beckham had trials with his local club Leyton Orient, Norwich City and attended Tottenham Hotspur’s school of excellence, though never represented the club in a match.
      He also played for Brimsdown Rovers’ youth team for two years and attended one of Bobby Charlton’s Soccer Schools in Manchester.
      It was here that he won the chance to take part in a training session with Barcelona, as part of a talent competition, which is when Sir Alex first became aware of him.
      Fergie time
      After being snapped up by Manchester United in 1991, on his 14th birthday, his first training session with the gaffer made him realise he was dealing with another disciplinarian father figure .
      On his first day, he brought in white trainers to wear on the pitch, rather than the required black boots and was told by Sir Alex “absolutely not”.
      Beckham’s former teammate Paul Ince says: “Sir Alex would buy players not just because they were talented, but he’d look at their background. 
      “‘Have you got a girlfriend?’ ‘Yes Gaffa’ 
      “‘How long you been with her?’ ‘Two years.’ 
      “‘When you getting married? ‘1990 gaffa.’ 
      “He liked the fact you were going home to someone because he liked you to be stable, not having parties every night.”
      Gary Neville adds: “He had socialist principles; You might be an individual but, in here, we’re all equal.  He built a team of mini-mes.
      “We all knew the rules. You had to conform. Go against him and you were out.”
      1,400 games on video
      David pictured with his mum and Sir AlexCredit: Tim Stewart
      While Becks says his dad never complimented him to his face, his pride is obvious in the documentary, and insists his strictness “turned out to be the right thing”.
      Speaking of his time prior to Manchester, Ted says: “He was brilliant. 
      “He won 92 games without getting beat. 
      “He was that good. I said to him, ‘See what we’ve been practicing? 
      “Whenever he played, I phoned the clubs up and got the videos sent to me. 
      “I got about 1,300 or 1,400 games on video. 
      “It was just a pleasure watching him play and he loved it, he enjoyed it.”
      Meanwhile, Sir Alex looks proud of Beckham every time he watches him score in the documentary.
      And when he speaks about first meeting him, he says: “He came to us as a small, skinny little boy you know? But when you see potential it sticks out at you.
      “It’s your job then to bring that to fruition, to make them a man.”
      Brought him back from the brink
      Beckham’s red card at the World Cup was his lowest momentCredit: Getty
      Beckham opens up on the worst year of his life in the documentary, when fans abused him and spat at him in the street, after he got a red card at the 1998 World Cup.
      He says he was “clinically depressed” at the time, but it was his upbringing, as well as Fergie’s help that got him through.
      “I think I was able to handle being abused by the fans, because of the way my dad had been to me,” he says. 
      “Wherever I went, I got abused, every single day. To walk down the street and to see people look at you in a certain way, spit at you, abuse you, come up to your face, and say some of the things they said, it’s difficult. That’s difficult. 
      “I wasn’t eating, I wasn’t sleeping. I was a mess.
      “I didn’t know what to do. Then the boss called me up.
      “He said, ‘David how you doing, son?’ I got quite emotional and said, ‘Not great, boss.’ 
      “He said, ‘Don’t worry about it, son.’”
      Sir Alex adds: “I told him, ‘Go on your holiday, get back and we’ll look after you. Don’t read the papers. There’s no point to it. What you can do is ignore it.’”
      When Becks returned to Man Utd, Gary Neville recalls him being “battered and bruised”.
      “But Sir Alex created an island and any unfriendly that came near the island didn’t get near it. We f***ed them off,” he adds. “It’s like an inner sanctum with no windows. 
      “We all look after each other. You look after your own, you never s*** on your own. 
      “We never leave one another in trouble and we never would. Ever.”
      Making history
      In 1999, Becks made history when he set up two goals in injury time in the European Cup Final, winning Man Utd the treble.
      And Beckham says all he was thinking about was what his dad had taught him at the point when he got a corner.
      He recalls: “I was thinking, ‘Do what I did when I was a kid.’ 
      “My dad used to make me do corner after corner after corner after corner and put it in the exact same spot as he wanted, and if I didn’t he’d kill me. 
      “He used to tell me, ‘It’s moments like corners at the end of a game that can create history.’”
      And he wasn’t wrong. Man Utd had been losing 1-0 to Bayern Munich for most of the game and, reflecting on the match, Fergie says: “With David, that night there was something inside him saying, ‘I am not going to let this happen’. 
      “It was a personal thing that he had in him, that stubbornness and determination.”
      Torn apart by Man Utd
      David and his dad have healed their rift and the star was best man at his 2021 weddingCredit: Tim Stewart
      Sir Alex speaks about his and Beckham’s row in the documentaryCredit: Netflix/BECKHAM
      Beckham’s dad was “absolutely obsessed” with Man Utd, and that was always where he’d wanted his son to play.
      “That was his dream. His dream was to have a son that played for Manchester United,” Beckham says.
      In fact, so obsessed was Ted that Beckham’s full name is David Robert Joseph Beckham.
      “The Robert is after Sir Bobby Charlton,” says Ted. “He’s my hero.”
      He’d get a Man Utd kit for Christmas every year, despite his parents “not having much back then”.
      So, when a furious Fergie – literally – booted David out of Man Utd and into Real Madrid in 2003 after a dressing room clash, Ted was far from happy.
      He learned of the transfer – which he opposed – from Beckham’s agent and he said the news hit him “like a sledgehammer”. 
      He publicly accused Sir Alex of betrayal and furious Becks refused to let Ted come to watch him sign for his new club. 
      “I don’t know if I can repair my relationship with him,” devastated Ted said at the time. “We’ve hardly spoken. My bigg­est upset was not being invited to his signing. I’m choked, really.
      “I’ve been there since day one and that really upset me. I’ll never forgive him for that.”
      The physical move put more distance between them, with Ted no longer able to get to matches to watch his son play on a weekly basis.
      “I’ve lost him – that’s how I feel,” he said. “We’ve lost that comradeship we had between us. It will be even worse now he’s gone to Madrid. 
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      “I still have to work and I can’t afford to fly over to Madrid every week. When he was at Man­chester United, I could pop in the car and drive up the road. I can’t do that now. My biggest fear is that it is all over for us.”
      Thankfully, David has since healed his rifts with both of his father figures. More