On This Day – 17th August
David Beckham catapaulted his name into the football limelight on this day back in 1996 with a goal from 55 yards on the opening day of the 1996/97 season.
With football fans all over the country still reeling after the disappointment of England losing to Germany in Euro 96, Manchester United started their Premier League season away to Wimbledon.
United had won the League and FA Cup Double the previous season and manager Alex Ferguson was keen to carry on the momentum from that previous campaign. Over the course of the summer, he signed five players to bolster his already talented squad. Jordi Cruyff and Karel Poborsky had suitably impressed during Euro 96 whilst playing for Holland and the Czech Republic respectively. Two Norwegians Ronnie Johnsen and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer joined the squad and Dutch goalkeeper Raimond van der Gouw was signed to act as cover for Perter Schmeichel.
Eric Cantona scored United’s first goal of the season, thumping in a shot from the edge of the penalty area on 25 minutes. Denis Irwin then added a second for United, squeezing the ball in at Neil Sullivan’s near post to make it 2-0 just before the hour mark. The best was yet to come though, as United’s David Beckham was about to score one of the greatest goals seen in the Premier League.
21 year old Beckham wasn’t part of Terry Venables’ Euro 96 squad two months before despite playing in 33 of United’s 38 league games in the 95/96 season. He had also fired in the winner in the FA Cup Semi Final victory over Chelsea.
With seconds of the game remaining, the ball fell at Beckham’s feet just inside the Manchester United half. Wimbledon’s defensive line was pushed very high up the pitch, the young right winger looked up and saw Wimbledon’s goalkeeper Neil Sullivan standing at the edge of his penalty area.
From a full 55 yards away from goal, Beckham thumped the ball as hard as he could towards the Wimbledon goal and Sullivan began to backpedal furiously. He got nowhere near the ball as it dropped nicely under the crossbar into the back of the net in front of the travelling Manchester United fans in the stand behind the goal.
Beckham celebrated with an air of nonchalance that you would normally see from his team mate Eric Cantona. He raised both his arms in the air with a huge smile and a look on his face that he always knew that he would score. His team mates ran to join and celebrate his marvellous goal, all amazed with what they had just witnessed.
The goal won the BBC Goal of the Month for August but didn’t win the Goal of the Season award. That particular honour was given to QPR’s Trevor Sinclair for an incredible bicycle kick in an FA Cup tie with Barnsley in the January of 1997.
It is no coincidence that Beckham was named in Glenn Hoddle’s first England squad after taking over from Terry Venables as England manager after Euro 96.
The United midfielder made his debut away to Moldova on 1st September, just 15 days after goal from the halfway line in the glorious sunshine at Selhurst Park.
He would go on and play every minute of England’s five World Cup qualifiers over the course of the 1996/97 season and won a League championship medal at the end of the season with United.
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