Shadowing Practice: David Beckham on pressure, competition, and redemption | ReThinking - Learn English Speaking with Video
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For my motivation, you know, there's nothing better than playing in front of 100,000 fans.
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You know, I'd much rather do that than playing in front of 10 people, you know, and that's what I miss about the game.
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It almost sounds like you miss the pressure.
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It's a strange thing, you know, the more the pressure, the better I seem to perform.
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You beat me here.
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I did.
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Why?
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I came so early.
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I was 20 minutes early.
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I'm not always just on time and before that.
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My wife kind of picks at it all the time, in all honesty.
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She's always saying we're going to be too early, we're going to be too early.
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But I got brought up by parents that always made sure that we were on time.
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I got, you know, brought up
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when I was in Manchester United by an incredible coach that always made sure that we're not just on time, but 20 minutes before time.
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So I'm sorry I got here before you, but not sorry.
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I can't believe it because I am always late
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and I made sure to not be late this morning and I still couldn't get here.
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Well, you definitely wasn't late.
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I was just really early.
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So I apologize.
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I'm rejecting your apology.
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What happens if you're on time or late?
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Does it bother you?
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I am very aggravated if I'm late.
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It upsets me.
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I worry about what people think about me if I turn up late.
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So that's why I'm always very early.
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Aren't you past being judged now?
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At what point in your career do you stop caring about image?
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I don't mind being judged.
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I just hate being late.
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It's one of my pet peeves that I just really don't like.
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So I'm always on time for everything, whether it's Sunday lunches, whether it's a drink with friends, whether it's school runs.
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I'm always on time.
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We are not going to get along then.
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So, David, I want to talk about sport.
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We have the World Cup on the horizon.
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And I think it's something that really has the potential to bring the world together in our divided times.
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Can you talk to me a little bit about the power of sport in general and football in particular in 2026?
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I think sport has always had the power to unite people, children, communities, villages.
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And that's what sport does, not just soccer, football.
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That's what sport does in general.
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So I think that this is a real opportunity.
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again.
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You know, we see it every four years.
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Every time a World Cup comes around, you know, cities change, countries change, people change.
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People have the opportunity to go and have fun.
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They're passionate about it.
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And I think this is a real opportunity again, you know, for sport to prove that.
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I hope so.
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I was surprised going into the Paris Olympics.
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I read a bunch of research showing
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that we think the Olympics are going to bring people together and they actually tend to divide countries.
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People love their own nation more, but they also start to hate their rival nations a little bit more.
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That seems like a lost opportunity.
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What's your take on how to prevent that from happening?
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I think there's always going to be rival rivalry in sport.
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I think it divides people, but in a way that brings people together.
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You know, I think that you have a stadium full of 80,000 fans, 40,000 for one country, 40,000 for the other country.
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Yes, there will be rivalry because one set of fans want their team to win
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and the other set of fans want their team to win
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so there's always going to be
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that rivalry I think it's a good thing you know we
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always talk about you know moments of you know people disagreeing you know
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and this is a moment where fans disagree
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but then they're coming together in a stadium where they're celebrating
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you know I saw this in the last World Cup you know fans coming together
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and I think that that's such an important part of sport.
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And that's why I always talk about sport being such a kind of brings a real unity.
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And soccer is that moment.
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Soccer is going to be viewed by almost four and a half, five billion people.
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And when you talk about the magnitude of that and what that does to communities and what that does to people,
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you know, that's the biggest thing that people want these days.
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Did you just call it football soccer?
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I think I might have said it a couple of times.
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Is that a verbal tick?
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What's happening here?
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You know what?
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It was always football to me until I moved to America.
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And then I had to adjust.
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I had to adjust.
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But I still obviously know that it is football.
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So what role did fans play in your motivation throughout your career?
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They played a big motivation.
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obviously you know to have fans in the stadium it's what we realized through through lockdown you know
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when you had two teams playing against each other with an
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empty stadium you know it felt soulless you know you have all different fans I think more
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so in America than anywhere in the world you know
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when I moved to America and played in LA in 2007 I noticed
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that there was young kids you know people
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that were 20 years old people that were 40 years old people
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that were 80 years old you know all turning up as a family to go
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and watch their team play for my motivation I miss the entertainment side I miss walking out onto
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that pitch you know and performing and people turn around to me all the time
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and say you know what do you miss about the game
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I miss everything about it it almost sounds like you missed the pressure I love the pressure I went through a
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stage where in 1998 where I'd been sent off and I was kind of getting a little bit of abuse from fans, from media, from people.
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But in all honesty, the thing
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that I knew what to do best is to put my head down to work as hard as I can
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and then results would come and thankfully they did.
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There's a big nature-nurture debate when it comes to handling performance pressures.
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I think a lot of people believe you're just born with that ability or not.
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I'm thinking though there's some Classic research in psychology is showing that how you respond to pressure depends on your skill level.
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Where basically what happens is when you're under stress, that increases the probability of your dominant instinctive response.
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And if you're not good at the task or the game, then your dominant response is to screw up.
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But if you're an expert or if you're highly practiced, your dominant response, the autopilot, is actually excellent.
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And so I think what that research at least would suggest is that over time, you get better at handling pressure as your skill level improves.
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Agree or disagree?
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I don't know, I was quite young when I first went through all of this.
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You know, I was 21 years old, so that's pretty young.
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I never really questioned that I was good enough, but obviously doubts come into your mind at times and you wonder if you can get through certain situations
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with the pressure that was, you know, mounting on me at the time.
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I relied on my wife, my family, my parents, my friends, and that's really my teammates.
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That's what I relied on to get me through the moments where I was doubting myself.
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So I agree but also disagree because, like, I'd never been through anything like that before
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that before what was the moment of peaked out when did you feel it most intensely i think i had
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that feeling the intense feeling for probably four years four years yeah
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and how old were you 21 jeez
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so you alluded to i think the red card in 1998
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world cup loss um set the scene a little bit for us on
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that what what happened what did it feel like how did
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you deal with it okay i went into the World Cup in 1998
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and I played every game on the lead up to the World Cup.
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I go into the World Cup.
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The coach at the time didn't think that my head space was right.
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So he dropped me for the first game, for the second game.
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And we won the first game.
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We were losing the second game.
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And then the third game was against Colombia, which was actually on my mum's birthday.
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And I remember going into this game really happy because, you know, I was back in the team.
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I scored a goal on my mom's birthday.
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My first goal for England in a World Cup was on my mom's birthday.
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I had a really good game.
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We won the game.
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We then progressed onto the next stage.
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So the next game was against Argentina.
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Obviously, we talked about rivals earlier.
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There's not many bigger rivals than England-Argentina for many reasons.
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But that moment, I go into the game.
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We were in good form.
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we were winning 1-0
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and then Argentina got a goal back
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and towards the end of the first half there was a player called Diego Simeone
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and he was always one of these players that kind of, you know he was one of those players on the field that kind of aggravated,
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you know, the situations so he was that player
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and he came right into the back of me fell on top of me
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and then he kind of brushed my head like that
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and I felt that and I kind of just flicked my leg up kind of and kicked him.
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Should never have done it.
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It was a mistake.
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It was one of the mistakes where I wish that I'd never done it.
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But I look back and I think everything happens for a reason.
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But that was what happened.
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So I got the red card.
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And then after that, you know, I got probably three or four years of abuse.
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But that but that fourth year, I then became England captain.
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You know, I could never have dreamed of captain in my country.
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My dream was always to play for my country.
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I never saw myself as a leader.
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I never saw myself as a captain, you know, at that time.
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But then I got that armband and I had to turn into a leader overnight.
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I want to talk about that too.
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Before we go there, I think what you're describing is a basic emotion regulation challenge, right?
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That moment, you're probably not using your best higher level reasoning.
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So I suppose, you know, the red mist, they called it the red mist.
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They always said that I had red mist and the red mist came.
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And unfortunately it was on the biggest stage that you can have as a footballer.
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But unfortunately, or fortunately, it shaped me as a player and as a person.
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When I teach leaders and students to manage that red mist, I actually, I use football as an example.
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I like the Zidane headbutt moment because it's just so extreme.
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But my typical advice there is to recognize that you have some emotional triggers, some buttons that can easily get pushed.
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Know what those are and then build a script for what you're going to do when somebody pushes that button.
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And I'm curious about whether you did anything along those lines.
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No. Obviously not.
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I suppose, you know, at that moment in time, I didn't have time for that.
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You know, I'd been knocked over.
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My frustration came out straight away.
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And like I said, do I wish it had never happened? absolutely
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but it happened for a reason it happened to shape me as a person
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that seems like one of the few moments on a pitch
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that you don't train for and i've often wondered
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if would you simulate those kinds of moments in practice to
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actually give you not at all absolutely not never never never
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you just trusted yourself to act differently next time absolutely and
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and did i probably act in a way that i shouldn't have acted you know a few years after that probably
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Probably because I was a passionate player.
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You know, I was a passionate player on the field.
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And when things upset me, it was very clear that they upset me.
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But I learned to control a lot of the things over the years because I had to.
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You know, I had to become a different person.
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I had to become a different player.
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I had to be in control as much as I can be of certain situations where I was put in.
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Because every time that I stepped out onto the field, you know, 98% of the stadium was booing me.
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because they were either England fans or rival fans because that was what it was like then.
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I'd let people felt that I'd let my country down.
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People felt that I'd let my family down.
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And in a way, I kind of had because of what my reactions.
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But I always think it's not about what actually happens in that moment.
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It's about how you react after and how you handle those moments.
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I'm reminded of a scene in Love Actually where...
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I get mentioned in Love Actually.
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You do.
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In a particular way, Hugh Grant is describing what makes England a great country, and he names your left foot and your right foot.
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When I was watching that movie, I actually didn't even know that I was in it.
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So that's a very nice thing.
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Was that a marker of shifting perception of, in that moment or in that time period, people starting to come around and support you more?
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No. I think that the marker of having more support and people coming around at the time was three years after that.
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So there was a game against Greece at Old Trafford where Manchester United played.
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That was my team that I played for at the time.
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And we went into this game and we only needed to draw the game.
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So a draw was perfectly OK.
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The sun was shining.
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It was the perfect day we go into this game, only need to draw and we play terrible, but I was playing really well.
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It was one of the, one of the best games that I had.
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And I never say this about myself as a, as a, as a player.
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It's probably one of the best games that I've played in, in football.
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And, um, we go one nil down.
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We then get a goal back, uh, which was one of my assists to Teddy sharing.
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They grease thing, go up the other end and they score a goal.
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There's three minutes left in the game.
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I've taken about eight free kicks so far, seven free kicks so far and all missed.
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and then I get one more free kick at the end of the game with three minutes to go
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and I score and that goal took England through to the World Cup finals
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and that was the moment where everything changed for me
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that was the moment where I think people I mean I always get emotional talking about it
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because it's the moment where I realized people forgave me and
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that that was you know my mom
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and dad were sat in the director's box at Old Trafford
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and they said they've never seen a reaction from people after I scored
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that goal you know people were crying you know young kids you know grandmas
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and grandpas you know they were they were crying they just burst out crying
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because the raw emotion
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and that's what I'm saying about football as a game you
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know it unites people like like no other sport in my opinion.
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Yeah.
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So did you feel in the years before that, like you had to earn a whole nation's forgiveness?
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Yes.
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Wow.
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Yes.
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And how did you deal with that pressure?
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Because that's a different kind of weight to carry.
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Um, I, I actually don't know.
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I don't know how I dealt with it.
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I just did what I know best, which is to work hard and put my head down and, and, and stay and stay quiet.
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You know, Sir Alex Ferguson, who was my coach at the time when I got sent off in the World Cup.
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He was the Manchester United coach and he was the first to call me the next morning.
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And he said, David's son, how are you?
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And I said, not great, boss.
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And he said, don't worry, go away for a couple of weeks, have rest with your family, come back and we'll be there for you and we'll support you.
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And really, without Sir Alex Ferguson, without my teammates, without the support of Manchester United fans,
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I remember every game that I played that whole season, when we played at home and we played at Old Trafford,
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every time I went over to take a corner kick, the whole side of the stand stood up.
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And that is the reason why I got through that difficult time.
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Ferguson is regarded as one of the greatest coaches ever.
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Yeah.
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Beyond the importance of hard work and just the basic support that he gave you, what was your greatest lesson from him?
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It's hard to step away and not mention the hard work because that is what he was all about.
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Discipline, mentality, respect.
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And he gave us all of those things.
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All of those things.
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And he wasn't preparing us as football players.
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He was preparing us for life.
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It didn't matter who you were.
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It didn't matter what you'd achieved.
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It didn't matter where you'd come from.
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Everyone was treated the same.
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And you gained respect only by working.
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by working hard.
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I was playing in an era where, you know, therapy wasn't really a thing.
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I'm not saying it was frowned upon to kind of discuss it, but I grew up, you know,
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in a household where if I did have a disappointment, my dad would just say, okay, go out there and do it again until I got it right.
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And I'm all for that.
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You know, I'm all for people discussing their problems and talking about their problems and trying to find a solution.
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But for me personally, my way was to put my head down and work harder.
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Are you saying that if you were 21 today, you would be in therapy?
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Probably not.
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Probably not.
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I find it hard to believe
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that I would go into therapy through something like this with the upbringing
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that I had because there was a steeliness
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that my dad installed into me without even knowing that he was protecting me for the future, which he probably didn't know at the time.
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But as a father, you know, he supported me, but he was tough on me.
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And that's what made me.
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What was the most helpful thing a family member said to you during those four years of self-doubt?
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You know what someone said to me once?
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The hardest thing is to say nothing.
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And even though I was going through what I was going through, it would have been very easy to come out fighting.
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It would have been very easy to come out and say something and add to the, you know, the speculation or add to the conversation.
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but the best thing I did was I went silent.
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I went silent and I worked harder, and that was the right thing to do.
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To get through that doubt, what were you hoping to achieve?
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I always want to win, you know, and that was always on the field.
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I wanted to win.
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I wanted to show people.
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I wanted to, you know, I suppose the critics that were turning around and saying that I shouldn't be playing in the Premier League anymore, I shouldn't be playing in England,
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maybe I'm going to go and play somewhere else abroad.
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um my motivation was to kind of prove everyone wrong to prove everyone
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that i was still the player that wanted to play for my country
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that wanted to play for manchester united that wanted to play in england
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that was my motivation um
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and also i you know i'm i'm not i'm part of a sport where it's a team sport
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so even though i was going through difficult times i still
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had to perform i I still had to go out on
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that pitch with all the things that were being said about me, you know, in the stands, on the media, on the TV, on the radio, on the podcasts.
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I still had to go out and perform.
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You know, we went on to achieve things that that was the first time to win a, you know, a treble.
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You know, we won the Champions League.
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We won the FA Cup and we won the Premier League.
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you know we did that funnily enough the year after I went through
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that that that time
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so in 1998 I got the red card in 1998-99 season we did the treble
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and it was one of my best seasons as a footballer
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you just anticipated my next four questions sorry no it's good what was a bigger motivator for you
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loving to win or hating to lose?
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Oh my goodness.
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I really don't like to lose.
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I really don't like to lose, but it happens.
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You know, I talk to kids about it all the time.
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You know, when I'm sat down and kids turn around to me and say, you've won all of these games.
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What is it like when you lose a game?
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It's one of the worst feelings in the world for me.
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You know, it's depressing.
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You wake up the next morning and you have this feeling in your stomach when you've lost a game.
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It means the same to me.
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It doesn't matter what level I'm playing at.
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It doesn't matter, you know, whether I'm playing in a cup game, a friendly game, a world cup game.
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If I win a game, I still feel the same.
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If I lose a game, I still feel the same.
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Is that true when you're playing other sports for fun?
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Yes.
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If you and I were to play ping pong, for example.
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I am not good at losing ping pong.
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I am not good at losing basketball.
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I am not good at losing a game of checkers.
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Do you ever throw the board when you lose?
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Oh, no. I'm not an aggressive person when I lose.
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I'm probably a sad person when I lose.
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Okay, so you just get depressed.
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I get depressed.
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All right.
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You mentioned earlier that you didn't see yourself as a leader for a long time.
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when did that shift and why it shifted
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when i got given the armband you didn't have any sense of yourself as a leader before
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that no why not um
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because i was brought up in an era where captains they shouted at players they led with with not aggression
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but they led by by vocalizing in in that way
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and I was never that person I'm a very quiet person I'm quite shy
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and I'm not very good at shouting at people I really not
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so to be given the captain's armband at
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that time again it was it was a decision
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that was quite criticized you know am I ready to be captain of my country
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but with that you know your responsibilities change you know you be you have to become a leader
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and I was a different leader.
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My way of leading was to work harder than anyone else, to turn up before everyone else, to leave after everyone else.
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And I always believed that that was my strongest way of leading.
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So I kind of grew into that moment.
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And I'm very proud.
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You know, I'm very proud that I got the opportunity to captain my country for six years.
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All right, you ready for a lightning round?
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Oh my goodness.
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Okay.
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We have some quick fire questions.
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Quick fire questions.
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Oh my goodness.
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First one is...
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It's like 10.30, right?
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So it's quite early for quick fires.
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How many hours have you been awake now?
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Quite a few.
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Okay.
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I think you can handle it.
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You love the pressure.
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We'll see.
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We'll see.
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We'll find out.
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We'll see how much I like pressure.
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Okay.
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Who do you think is the most underrated footballer?
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Most underrated footballer?
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Oh, my goodness.
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Do you know Gary Neville?
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Gary Neville was my best man at my wedding.
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He was the player that played in the position behind me from
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when we were 15 years old till I was 27 years old.
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But Gary was one of these players that he always talks about it, him not having as much talent as many other players.
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I disagree.
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I think he had great talent.
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But he believes that he wasn't as talented, so he had to work even harder.
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So I'd have to say Gary Neville.
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You're hosting a dinner party with anyone alive or dead.
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Who are you inviting?
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Jack Nicholson.
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What's the worst advice you've ever gotten?
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Try this.
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It tastes really good.
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Was there a dish in particular?
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Well, I'm not a parsnips fan, funnily enough.
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And I grow parsnips in my garden, and I'm not a parsnips fan.
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And when I was very young, my mom was like, try this.
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It's really good.
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And it really wasn't.
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We know what not to put on your lunch menu.
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Now I put a bit of honey on them, so it tastes a lot better.
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All right.
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What's something you've changed your mind about recently?
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I'm going to say hairstyle.
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yeah because I've changed my mind a lot over the years about my hairstyles
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and recently I thought why don't I go back to
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that hairstyle and then all of a sudden I went back to I was like
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that was a really bad idea
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so yeah hairstyle some of us don't have the luxury of making
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that choice well I'm sorry about
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that what's the question you have for me as a psychologist
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do you enjoy what you do I love what I do
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I think is it always what you wanted to do no
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no I didn't even know this was a career what's organizational psychology yeah and
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if you were to change your job what would you go
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into oh i think it would be fun to write sci-fi okay
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or i'd actually love to try coaching a sports team favorite
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sci-fi movie favorite side we've changed positions yeah i'm big on
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who's in charge here uh favorite sci-fi movie interstellar the martian there's so many it's hard to choose okay Okay.
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I have to ask you, the Netflix doc.
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Yeah.
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For me, the most memorable moment was, and I'm sure you've been asked about this a lot, but I would love to hear the narrative behind it.
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Your wife is being asked about her upbringing
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and she starts to talk about how you were both raised blue collar and you're not in the scene.
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Yeah.
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And you poke your head in.
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Yeah.
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And what did you say and why?
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Well, you know, the funny thing about that was I wasn't meant to be at the house at the time.
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I was in the kitchen making a coffee.
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I was just about to leave the house and I had a set of headphones on listening to her.
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And as soon as I heard her start saying, you know, we're both from working class backgrounds, I thought, no, no, no, no. This is my opportunity.
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So I poked my head in and I was like, be honest, be honest.
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I was like, you got driven to school in a Rolls Royce.
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That is not a working class background.
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I thought in some ways
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that was the most revealing moment in terms of understanding your psyche because we got to see the quiet determination.
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And I thought this is David's version of yelling.
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Yeah, that really is my version of yelling.
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That's as loud as it gets.
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And why was it so important to you to set the record straight on that?
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Because I want people to know that I'm the one from the working class background, not my wife who got driven to school in a Rolls Royce.
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No, all joking aside.
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This was not about honesty.
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It was a competition.
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Absolutely.
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Everything's a competition.
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Even at home, even with my wife, even making a coffee.
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Everything's a competition.
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Okay, so who won the competition in our conversation today?
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Well, I think you did, because all the questions were great.
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I think I answered pretty well.
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We'll see what the audience thinks.
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David Beckham, thank you for joining Rethinking and On Air Davos.
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You're welcome.
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Thank you.
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Why Practice Speaking with This Video?
Practicing with David Beckham's conversation is perfect for shadowspeak and IELTS speaking practice. The dialogue blends casual chat with thoughtful insights, mirroring real-life interactions—key for fluency. You’ll learn to discuss motivation, habits, and global topics, all while mimicking natural pacing and tone. Using videos like this helps you master context-based speaking, a must for exams and daily communication. It’s not just about words; it’s about sounding confident in diverse situations.
Grammar & Expressions in Context
- "The more the pressure, the better I seem to perform": This "the + comparative, the + comparative" structure emphasizes cause and effect. Practice it to describe relationships (e.g., "The earlier I start, the more I finish").
- "I got brought up by parents that always made sure...": Passive voice with "got" is common in informal speech. Use it to talk about upbringing or experiences (e.g., "I got taught to prioritize punctuality").
- "It's one of my pet peeves that I just really don't like": "Pet peeve" refers to a small annoyance. Incorporate this phrase to add personality to your speech (e.g., "Loud chewing is a pet peeve of mine").
Common Pronunciation Traps
Beckham’s British accent has subtle nuances. Watch for: - "Pressure": Pronounced "PREH-sher" (not "PRES-sure"). Focus on the short "e" sound. - "Aggravated": Stress the second syllable: "ag-GRA-vated". Avoid overstressing the first syllable. - "Opportunity": The "tun" is soft, like "ch" ("op-or-CHOO-ni-ty"). Mispronouncing this is a common IELTS pitfall. Practicing shadow speak with the video helps you nail these sounds and match his natural rhythm.
Learning English with videos like this bridges the gap between classroom and real life. Use shadowspeaks techniques—repeat lines immediately after Beckham—to build muscle memory for pronunciation and flow. It’s a practical way to boost your speaking skills, whether for exams or everyday conversations.
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Conditional sentences if + clause, will/would + verb — a condition and its result | if you were 21 today, you would be |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | has always had · i've often wondered · I've played |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | being judged · be viewed · been sent |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | Colombia, which was · best, which is |
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.