The legendary Red Devils coach: The road to success

Chapter 225: A Boy Alone in a Foreign Land

"No success in professional football is easy. Being handsome is not a plus. You are nothing before you become successful. Beckham understood this very early on. He seized every opportunity to work hard, put in 1000 times more effort than the average person, and overcame the loneliness and pain of being away from his family."

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The Red Devils ultimately failed to buy Alan Shearer this summer, and Ferguson had to look for someone else at the last minute, and finally pinned his hopes on another striker bought under Plan B, Dion Dublin.

Because of Shearer, Ferguson knew that his team would have a strong opponent in Blackburn, but this did not affect his serious preparation. In the Red Devils for so many years, Ferguson has already been able to focus on himself, carefully explore the details of the tactics, constantly polish the overall coordination of the team, and constantly strengthen the construction of the team's combat effectiveness.

The Red Devils insisted on optimizing the original lineup, but the bad news was that Robson was injured again during the European Cup, and the old captain is expected to miss the first few games of the season. In order to improve the plight of Robson's absence, Ferguson specially practiced a defensive midfielder with Ings in the preseason. This arrangement allowed Ings to rise rapidly and become an indispensable barrier in the midfield. As a very powerful midfielder, Ings can provide excellent running and has strong tackling ability. His excellent coverage and interception can become the best barrier in front of the penalty area. In order to match the midfield lineup more safely, Ferguson began to intensively organize players such as Phelan and Webber to practice with Ings, Giggs and Kanchelskis to increase the tacit understanding of the midfield.

Ferguson returned early from his summer vacation, and the Red Devils' pre-season preparations began early. Before July, the Red Devils' players had already returned to the base to start physical preparations and tactical drills. Except for the players who went to the European Cup a little later, the Red Devils' Carrington base was occupied by high-intensity training and team cooperation projects arranged by Ferguson.

The Red Devils only brought in one player from the second division, Dublin, which was great news for the young people in the youth training camp. The young people of Class 92 worked hard day and night. Without exception, they were mixed by Ferguson to train with the main players and participate in group matches together. It was already very difficult for these children under the age of 18 to compete with the players of the adult team, but what made them even more frustrated was that there were many new tasks in the training subjects, and the standards and requirements far exceeded the limits they could achieve before.

Class 92 is growing rapidly and its strength is increasing. Harrison and Kidd are excited about this and have discussed with Ferguson many times, hoping that the first team will give more opportunities to this group of young people with great potential.

When the players who had just returned from the European Cup or vacation arrived at Old Trafford, they found that the atmosphere was a little different. They found that the youngsters were working hard. The faces of these kids were shining and full of infinite motivation. Their slightly thin bodies and their running speed revealed great hope. The young generation knew that the opportunity was coming and the door to the professional league was slowly opening.

All the players in the Red Devils' youth team have been offered professional contracts, and Ferguson has begun to give them different opportunities. Giggs has become a starter, and Butt has also come off the bench in the league; Gary Neville, Savage and Gillespie are also full of confidence, looking forward to wearing the Red Devils jersey and opening a new chapter in their careers.

The one who is a little depressed is Beckham, because there are so many difficulties ahead of him.

Beckham has good talent, but it was just good at that time. At that time, Beckham played as a central midfielder in the youth team, and sometimes played as a right midfielder. There was a lot of competition for these two positions in the team, and there were many famous players in the first team. On the right, in front of him was the Eastern European express Kanchelskis, who was the undisputed main force on the right at that time. After Kanchelskis, the first substitute was Lee Sharpe. Even if Lee Sharpe did not play, there was Gillespie. The first place in the reserve team was not a boast. What's more tragic is that after Gillespie, Savage could also play on the right, and he would not be at a disadvantage in the competition with Beckham.

If he is in the middle of the Red Devils, it will be even more fatal. Beckham will be the choice after Robson, Ince, Phelan, Webber, Butt and Savage, which is not good news.

Moreover, the introverted Beckham found it difficult to adapt to the Red Devils' training. His teammates were too fierce and too desperate. The sliding tackles, flying kicks and physical fights were even more fierce than in the official games. Even his childhood friends such as Gary, Butt, Phil and Scholes were merciless when they tackled the ball. For a long time, Beckham was a little stage-frightened and a little timid.

"Go ahead, don't be a woman!", "Either you ruin him or he kills you!" Kidd would sometimes criticize Beckham, his angry and disappointed look made Beckham a little nervous. And every time Ferguson came to the training ground to give instructions, his huge voice, like a tsunami, made Beckham feel nervous.

Although Beckham is introverted and quiet, he is very tough inside. He certainly doesn't want to admit defeat. He finishes training every day, and then insists on practicing free kicks and going to the gym to practice strength. Although sometimes he returns to the dormitory alone, washes off the mud and grass clippings on his body, applies ice to swollen muscles or joints, or washes the wounds with hot water, he often misses his parents far away in London and can't help crying secretly.

As a young boy working alone in a foreign land, he can only cry alone and then raise his head to show his stubbornness.

Ferguson liked Beckham at first and thought he was smart and self-aware, but he later felt that this gentle-looking London kid was too gentle and weak, which was not what he liked. Ferguson thought that if he didn't instill a little toughness in Beckham, didn't train his sharpness, and didn't give him a little domineering, then this little guy would probably be useless.

This is also the fundamental reason why Ferguson decided to send Beckham to a lower-level league for loan training after his debut for the Red Devils.

After Beckham became a world-class superstar, many reporters who interviewed him were still shocked by his description of his teenage experiences. "My life in the Manchester United youth team was simple, repetitive and boring, but I always completed all the schedules without getting tired of it. I had no entertainment here, no relaxing leisure time, no evening parties, and even no extra books to read."

"Is that a prison?"

"No, no, no, it's a school. A football school that all the kids are eager to attend, a base for manufacturing football stars. Everything we have paid for is actually our own choice. Of course, you can also take it easy, deal with those training programs, and then take the time to sneak out and have fun. If you don't want to accept high-intensity training and don't want to face those coaches, you can even ask for leave. But you will soon find that you are far behind those guys who are training hard and can never catch up."

Beckham concluded: "What motivates us to keep working hard is our inner drive to succeed. It is a great thing to be in a big family like the Red Devils and play for this team. Helping the team succeed and win the championship is our eternal goal."

Beckham overcame the loneliness of being alone in a foreign country and worked a thousand times harder for success. But not everyone in Class 92 was like Beckham. Scholes, who developed more slowly, encountered new problems.

For a long time, Scholes had no confidence at all. He was so thin at that time that almost everyone in the team could crush him in the confrontation and take advantage of his body alone. This made him unable to find any hope, and Scholes almost gave up his football career.

When Scholes was most helpless, Harrison saved him. Harrison noticed Scholes' despair and called him to his home. Under Mrs. Harrison's gentle eyes and caring, eating the big meal prepared by Mrs. Harrison for him, Scholes revealed his fears and worries.

Harrison said, "My child, in my eyes you are one of the best forwards. I don't want you to just practice strength, speed and endurance now, because these are easy for you. I hope you can observe and learn from the playing styles of the forwards in the team, and learn from their experience and wisdom. You will definitely be better than them in the future, and you will definitely achieve brilliant success in the future."

"How can I succeed when I'm so thin?" Scholes worried.

Harrison said, "Being a good striker does not rely on the body. My little Paul, you have to remember that super strikers always play with their brains. You are brave and not afraid of those strong people at all. This is enough. Think about it, how does Best play football? How does he interpret goals into art? How does Charlton play football? Does he need to deal with those physical entanglements and confrontations?"

"Kid, I hope you can do this. Turn playing football into your performance and scoring goals into your art." Harrison advised earnestly.

Scholes suddenly understood.

Scholes worked harder in the summer of 1992 and soon showed amazing progress. Scholes was low-key but also stubborn. In addition to concentrating on honing his skills, he also dared to make direct tackles or use some unconventional moves when intercepting.

Harrison said: "This young man changed all of a sudden, becoming mature, calm and full of confidence."

Ferguson admired the young guys in Class 92 very much, and he decided to strengthen confrontational training. In addition to the games within the team and the reserve team, Ferguson also organized more and more frequent games with lower-level teams, using roughness to hone the young people and confrontation to awaken their dominance.

Ferguson arranged matches with lower-level teams, which were actually full of dangers, but without going through these, there would be no success. Fortunately, almost every member of the Class of 92 survived. In view of Beckham's lack of toughness, Ferguson later directly loaned him to the lower-level Preston team, allowing him to further hone his skills in the lower-level league.

Beckham later said: "I was much more vulnerable than I am now. I didn't even dare to rush over to tackle in the first team. Gary and others in the youth team laughed at me. Schmeichel and Ince in the first team often threatened me viciously, which made me depressed in fear. I was also very afraid that Ferguson would give up on me. When I was loaned to Preston, I was very desperate and thought there was no hope of returning to the Theatre of Dreams."

Beckham went to Preston with countless trepidation, but he showed his ability there and quickly adapted to the more rough game environment. This result surprised Ferguson, who recalled him directly before the end of the season and gave him a chance to play in the first team.

Gary Neville, who has loved fighting and making trouble since childhood, lives in the local area. He is the real pure Red Devil who adapts to Ferguson's "extra meal" requirements. Gary has insisted on training himself for many years and finally gained a foothold in the youth team and became the captain of the youth team. He has long tried to use crazy tackles to scare opponents, using his thin body to resist opponents, and he did not say a word when he was violated, but turned around to find a place to fight back.

Gary, who lives in Manchester, is worried about Beckham. "Beckham looks so gentle and quiet, like a mimosa. Sometimes we don't have the heart to tease him. But those big guys don't think so. They want to bully everyone they see, and David is no exception."

Gary said: "David and I are as close as two brothers. We train together, play together and grow together. But after the league started, the boss (Ferguson) loaned Beckham out directly. This was a bolt from the blue. You know, he was the only one on loan in the entire youth team. I was very reluctant to see him leave and was extremely sad. I thought he would never come back."

Gary emphasized, "I am not so good to my brother. Beckham is my best brother."