“He’ll look back and you can hear the regret in his voice.”
Alan Shearer has taken issue with a certain aspect of David Beckham’s new Netflix documentary, as his former teammate puts his whole life and career up on the big screen.
The documentary which was broken into four episodes, covers a range of topics such as Alex Ferguson, Victoria Beckham, leaving Man United, Real Madrid, and many other talking points in what was, a very talked about career.
However, one of the major ones, was the backlash that Beckham received after being sent off against Argentina in the 1998 World Cup, and how his then manager Glen Hoddle, hung him out to dry in the media.
Hoddle made no attempt to protect Beckham, who was only 23 at the time, and called his sending off ‘stupid’ and appeared to put a lot of the blame to that defeat on him.
Beckham’s wife made no secret about her feelings towards Hoddle in the documentary, saying that he “wasn’t a man”, while the former footballer himself openly critiqued his ex manager’s handling of the situation.
Shearer, who was captain of England in that tournament, and who played in that particular game which they lost on penalties, doesn’t agree with the superstar duo.
He told The Rest Is Football podcast: “He really heavily criticised Glenn Hoddle for his response after he got sent off. I loved Glenn Hoddle, he gave me the England captaincy and was a fantastic coach.
“I understand why David is critical of him. He didn’t agree with what was said after he got sent off in ’98. But I loved Glenn Hoddle, I thought he was brilliant. I get the criticism because I know he was younger and perhaps not as mature as he could’ve been. That’s understandable.
“But he did kick out and get sent off. No, it wasn’t his fault we didn’t go through. It wasn’t his fault (Paul) Ince or (David) Batty missed their penalties, not at all.
“But we would have had a much better chance with him on the pitch. It is what it is. I don’t blame him at all, we all made mistakes on the pitch that we regret.
“He’ll look back and you can hear the regret in his voice. It happened. I don’t blame him. With his criticism of Glenn, I always liked Glenn. He gave me one of the biggest and best things that can ever happen to you.”
Related links:
- Roy Keane shows great comic timing as David Beckham discusses 1998 World Cup abuse
- Roy Keane explains why he “never fell out” with David Beckham
- Roy Keane tells David Beckham that he regrets not leaving Man United
