David Beckham has admitted he banned his Inter Miami players from doing fashion runways ahead of matches to ensure their minds were firmly focused on their performances on the pitch. The Manchester United hero was one of the best-dressed players in the game during his career and was almost as famous for his choice of outfits off the pitch as he was for his performances on it.
Beckham became the co-owner of MLS team Inter Miami after hanging up his boots following spells with the likes of the Red Devils, Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain.
And his team have managed to attract blockbuster stars such as Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Jordi Alba.
Beckham sat down with ex-United team-mate Rio Ferdinand for a lengthy chat on the former defender’s YouTube show this week.
The conversation turned to fashion, with Ferdinand explaining that Barcelona have stopped their stars showing off their outfits to supporters before games.
And Beckham exclaimed: “Yeah, funnily enough, our team started doing it a couple of times and I stopped that.”
Ferdinand retorted: “What? The man about fashion, the man who broke down all the barriers….” The former midfielder justified his actions as he replied: “Yeah, but we weren’t winning games at that point.”
And Ferdinand eventually saw the logic as he stated: “That’s the key, see, that’s what I’m like. If I’m the owner, I don’t want to see you on social media if we’re seventh or eighth. I don’t want to see you coming in in different fits every day. If we’re top of the league and we’re winning, by all means you can do that.”
But he then added: “I can’t believe that Mr Fashion said, ‘There’s no fashion going on at my football club’. That’s nuts.”
And Beckham ended the exchange by saying: “Well, they can still do it. I just don’t want to see it on social media if we’re actually losing games.”
The 49-year-old had earlier touched upon his fashion choices in his younger days as he revealed: “I actually didn’t put too much effort into it, I just wore what I wanted. I always liked fashion.
“Even when I was a page boy for my mum’s best friend when I was a kid… I was given the opportunity as a kid when I was 12 years old or 11 years old and I was page boy for one of my mum’s friends.
“And she gave me the opportunity to either wear a suit or knickerbockers – knickerbockers with white silk socks and a pair of ballet shoes. And I wore that. There was always something in me that liked dressing different.”
