Netflix's David Beckham documentary is brilliant and a must-watch for any football fan

Turn off Welcome to Wrexham and put on Beckham!

My interest in watching Welcome to Wrexham ended on 22 April 2023, when Wrexham earned promotion to the Football League. Having watched the entire first season of the documentary, I was very much invested in the club’s fight for promotion to League Two. Fortunately, thanks to TNT Sports in the UK, it was a promotion fight I was able to watch regularly, with Wrexham’s most important matches televised. 

As I have written multiple times here and elsewhere, Welcome to Wrexham is a documentary about a town and population with football as the backdrop. But with the club securing promotion to League Two, my desire to watch the second season of the documentary ended quite abruptly. I know the storybook ending. I have even been to Wrexham since they won promotion. You would never have guessed Wrexham is a town that people from all over the world want to visit thanks to a famous documentary. There was no sign that Welcome to Wrexham existed during my short visit, as I passed through town on my way to a cabin deep in the woods of northern Wales. 

My lack of interest in watching the series makes me wonder how likely Ryan Reynolds, Rob McElhenney, and the club are to produce a third season and beyond. 

While interest in Welcome to Wrexham was (and still is) nil, my desire to watch the new Netflix David Beckham documentary was high. Beckham didn’t disappoint, and it has triggered plenty of fans, especially Manchester United supporters, to long for the past. 

It is the type of 1990s nostalgia documentary to make people rush out and buy up old Man United memorabilia. Beckham has the same effect on sports fans that Netflix’s The Last Dance had just a few years ago. The Last Dance has been credited by many for a new interest in sports cards and sports collectibles. I was late to the dance (get it?) watching the Michael Jordan/Chicago Bulls documentary. 

It didn’t disappoint. It took me back to the 1990s when I was a teenager and watched those NBA Finals. I can still remember sitting in my bedroomI watching Game 6 of the NBA Finals when the Bulls beat the Phoenix Suns thanks to a last-second shot from John Paxson. Similarly, I can remember where I was for much of the story told during Beckham despite spending the first half of my life 4,000 miles away. 

In 2023, it is easy to forget how massive Beckham-mania was in the late 1990s and through the 2000s. I remember the 2002 World Cup, when England played early morning matches in Japan, and the games were promoted as “breakfast with Beckham” due to the time difference in the United Kingdom. This was just four years after Becks was sent off against Argentina in the World Cup. 

During much of the group stage, I remember being at a baseball tournament, staying in a hotel and unable to watch the games. There is a gap in my memory from the 1994 World Cup to the 2002 World Cup. The former introduced me properly to football, the latter solidified my interest in it. 

I remember Beckham signing with the LA Galaxy like it was yesterday,  and the media’s interest in Beckham in the United States. With Lionel Messi joining Inter Miami (co-owned by Beckham) in 2023, that insanity was eclipsed. Yet, Messi going to play in the US would likely not have occurred had it not been for Beckham first. Indeed, soccer in the US wouldn’t be at its current level without Beckham playing there. It has now been over a decade since Beckham played for the LA Galaxy, so there is a new generation of fans that have no clue what he did for US soccer.  

Not only was Beckham a world-famous footballer, but he married a member of the world’s most popular music act of the time. Imagine if Messi married Taylor Swift, or Jennifer Anniston tying the knot with Neymar (yeah, that would be weird) in 2023 and that is what it was like for the Beckham’s over 20 years ago. 

Perhaps the biggest take away from Beckham was the ridiculous reaction England had towards the ex-national team captain after the 1998 World Cup. Although I watched the 1998 World Cup, I was over 4,000 miles away at the time, and as a teenager, didn’t realise the vitriol that was being spewed Beckham’s way in jolly old England.

In recent years, mental health has become a major part of football. Dele Alli’s mental health admissions in the summer of 2023 again opened the door for players to talk about their issues. New talk is also being done on the effects of addiction in football, including sleeping pills and painkillers. Yet, in 1998 and 1999, no one talked about Beckham’s mental health and the issues he went through.

From having a mannequin made to resemble him strung up by the neck and hanged from the top of a pub to death threats, Beckham went through far more issues than many of today’s modern players of any sport. That is not to dismiss anything that Alli or anyone else has experienced or is experiencing. Addiction and mental health are major problems in all walks of life. But it seems that the entire country of England owes Beckham an apology.

Throughout Beckham, the director makes note of the retired footballer’s need to have everything perfect. Beckham exhibited a form of OCD in the documentary in which everything had to be clean and tidy. His wardrobe is immaculate, with clothes folded and placed in specific ways. The former footballer ensures all the folding and hanging of his close are done himself. 

During the filming, he surprised the director by being able to tell that someone had been in his wardrobe due to a hanger being fractionally out of place. Beckham even sets out his suits for the week ahead well in advance. The candles in Beckham’s kitchen have to have their wicks cut after being burnt just right. At times, it was as if Beckham had gone from being a world-famous footballer to being the inspiration behind Tony Shalhoub’s character on the popular TV show Monk (that’s another blast from the past).

This level of control is an example of the chaotic public life Beckham lived during his career. He had no control over the paparazzi, the media, and what they said about himself or his family. He did have control over everything inside his home, however. It was weird to see the iconic footballer  in such a vulnerable state. 

Beckham was an excellent watch, and justified my subscription to Netflix, which is one of the least watched streaming services I subscribe to. Indeed, it is even a documentary that non-football fans enjoy, something I’m not sure can be said about Welcome to Wrexham. Beckham-mania wasn’t just about football. It was pop culture. 

With so many football documentaries available and more likely to come out in the next 24 months thanks to Welcome to Wrexham’s initial success, there is a lot of drek out there. Fortunately, Beckham didn’t disappoint. It offers viewers a glimpse into one of the most famous footballers of all time, his life then and now.