- David Beckham said his former soccer boss wanted him to marry a local girl over Victoria Beckham.
- Alex Ferguson was the manager of Manchester United during Beckham's tenure at the club.
David Beckham believes that his former Manchester United manager and mentor, Alex Ferguson, wanted him to marry a "local girl" — not Victoria Beckham.
In a new, four-part Netflix docuseries about Beckham, the former midfielder suggested that Ferguson was concerned that his high-profile relationship with Victoria would distract him from his flourishing soccer career.
David met Victoria, who was part of the pop group the Spice Girls, in 1997.
Though they hid their relationship at first, when they went public, the superstar couple became the talk of the town and were quickly labeled "Posh and Becks" by the press.
The couple got engaged in 1998 and wed the following year, shortly after welcoming their first child, Brooklyn.
At the time, Beckham was also finding fame of his own away from the field, scoring lucrative sponsorship deals with brands like Brylcreem and Adidas.
"I didn't want anything to come in the way of the football, but I knew my career was going to end at some point," Beckham said in the first episode of "Beckham."
"And I wanted to have a career after football, and that ate away at the manager. He just wanted me to be the best footballer I could be, and be married to a local girl that wasn't a superstar," he added.
In the documentary, Beckham said that he doesn't think the media attention he was getting at the time changed him, Ferguson disagrees.
"He changed, there is no doubt about that," said Ferguson in "Beckham."
"Media attention he was getting and becoming a celebrity was different from what I wanted," added the former soccer manager. "Getting David to keep his feet on the ground became more difficult."
Beckham isn't the only former United player in "Beckham" to suggest that Ferguson preferred his players to lead quiet lives.
"Sir Alex would buy players, not just because they were talented, but he would look at their backgrounds," said Paul Ince, who played for United between 1989 and 1995.
Ince said Ferguson would ask players if they had a girlfriend, how long they'd been together, and if they were planning to get married.
"He liked the fact that you were going home to someone because he wanted you to be stable, not having parties every night," said Ince.
"Beckham" is streaming on Netflix now.