[commentator] Hello once again. I'm Martin Tyler.
Welcome to the start of a new season in England,
football more popular than ever here.
-[crowd cheering] -[whistle blows]
Ekoku.
[David Beckham] I remember Brian McClair just tapping the ball forward,
and it was just rolling perfectly, and I thought, "Why not?"
And it was just instinctively something that I knew,
that I'd done so many times as a youth team player.
I remember it going far out left,
and then all of a sudden it started to turn,
and I was like, "This has got a chance."
[commentator] Beckham!
That's absolutely brilliant.
Take a bow, David Beckham.
[Beckham] The boss said to me, "Get on the bus. Do not speak to the media."
That was his way of protecting me
because he probably knew what was gonna happen after scoring a goal like that.
I don't think anything prepares you
for media attention at such a young age.
And I think that for some it was too much.
The Football Association has approved controversial plans
to set up a new super league.
[commentator] On he goes!
[man 1] When Murdoch wrote the cheque,
everyone said, "Poor old Rupert's lost it this time."
[Alan Shearer] How big it was gonna be, I don't think anyone could have predicted.
I would love it if we beat them. Love it.
[Eric Cantona] When the seagulls follow the trawler,
they think sardines will be thrown.
It's just all money. Each club is one big theme park now.
[Les Ferdinand] Footballers became sort of like rock stars overnight.
[crowd roars]
[Paul Merson] I've got a choice in life now. I either go back to the booze
and the gambling and the drugs or I go the other way.
It's like a religion. It's something to believe in.
[narrator] In 1992, the Premier League and its stars were roaring onto our TV screens
and into the public consciousness.
But behind the scenes,
the big clubs were developing players
who would soon become a new, emerging cast in the football soap opera.
[man] We'd heard rumours that something special was brewing at Manchester United
with the group of young players that were coming through.
Something young and fresh and exciting, which is what the Premier League was.
[narrator] David Beckham was part of the first generation
to come of age in the Premier League era.
The youth team he joined at Manchester United,
would go on to dominate British football for a decade.
[commentator] Beckham, who's a ball-playing midfield man,
the number eight for Manchester United.
[Beckham] From the moment we started playing for the youth team,
we realized that we had something special
because we were coming up against teams like Liverpool, Everton,
and we wasn't just beating them 1-0 or 2-0.
We were beating them like 7-2 and winning these games easily.
We were all from working-class backgrounds,
and being at Manchester United, we knew that we had one opportunity.
This wasn't gonna come around again.
[commentator] Gillespie.
[narrator] At the time, one of the most promising players on their side
was Keith Gillespie, a 17-year-old
from a small town in Northern Ireland.
[reporter] They've asked you to sign now?
Actually, I have signed to an apprenticeship.
It starts next year.
Do you feel under pressure, or are you excited?
Excited. Right, yeah.
Keith was one of those kids that naturally...
You know, when he ran with the ball, it's like when you watch Giggsy play.
I was nowhere near as fast as Keith. He was so talented.
[Gillespie] It's obviously very difficult, you know, leaving home at such a young age,
and you're sort of thrust into the big, bad world so to speak.
You know, but I think the main focus is that you just want to do well.
You want to make people proud of yourself.
And for a town like Bangor where I was living,
it was a big thing signing for a club like Man United.
So that was the first sort of press that I would've had.
The youth team that I was part of,
we were very fortunate as a group that we all came through the same year,
and we really helped each other on.
[chattering]
[Beckham] Keith, he was actually next to the same digs as what I was in.
Keith was one of the ones that I knew probably best
out of most of the lads, really.
Obviously, him being from Ireland and me being from London,
there was a bond there because, A, we both missed home,
and, obviously, you know, we were also both right wingers.
[Gillespie] A few of my mates in London turned around to me and said I'm lucky
and that I know I'm lucky, but you know, you have to give up a lot of things,
and I was prepared to do that.
Yeah, he was just like any normal young lad
who just wanted what everyone else wanted, to be a professional footballer.
He was very dedicated.
[news anchor] We're gonna meet one 14-year-old boy
who has just signed for Manchester United.
But the question is, can he handle the fame,
or will he eventually self-destruct like George Best?
David, will you hurry up? You're late.
[reporter] There's a picture of you there signing with Alex Ferguson.
What was it like when you signed that? How did you feel?
[Beckham] Well, it was brilliant. Just brilliant.
When I first met Becks, he had this perfect coiffed hair,
gelled-- probably Brylcreem or something fancy like that--
and I just thought he was flash. You would do.
Perfect track suit, perfect trainers,
perfect hair style, and I was Gary from Bury.
[narrator] In the early days of the Premier League,
Manchester United started filming
their young players behind the scenes
as well as on the pitch
to sell mail-order videos to fans.
I always got a camera on me. They always push it on me.
I think it's 'cause they're from Bury. I don't know.[man] Bury!
[man] Show us which is your favourite.Probably the New York one.
New York? Did you get that from...I got it from London, actually.
Not from New York.No.
[man] How many pairs of football boots have you got?
[Beckham] Two pairs there and I've got about four pairs in the cupboard.
[man] And these here? See that? "Becks".
David wanted to be a star.
I genuinely believe he wanted to be a star.
He was meant to be a star.
[boy] David, can I have your autograph?
No problem. What's your name?[man] Joey Roberts.
Marc Pettican.Marc.
And a "C".
[crowd cheering]
[Neville] It was almost like the perfect storm. The Premier League starting,
us coming through at Manchester United,
Sir Alex winning the league for the first time.
Everything coming together at once.
♪ Here we go Here we go, here we go♪
[narrator] As this generation came through,
they were entering a new world where footballers
were transforming from sportsmen into celebrities.
[audience applauding, cheering]
Extremely lucky this morning. I'm on the bed with soccer's latest sex god.
Yes. He has scored more times than anyone else in the Premier League.
[Ferdinand] With the introduction of the Premier League,
footballers became sort of like rock stars overnight.
What rock stars were, footballers became,
and most of us tried to live up to that lifestyle.
So what did you do before?
I did a variety of jobs. I was a steam cleaner,
I did a bit of painting and decorating.
All the best-looking boys are painters and decorators.
[laughs]Well, they are. They are.
At the time, my job was to edit the Bizarre pages of The Sun.
It was the most famous sort of pop celebrity column in Britain.
I'd regularly see footballers out and about at parties.
There'd be loads of girls clamouring around them.
A lot of them enjoyed playing a part of that,
and that helped fuel the rise of their celebrity and fame.
-[fans clamouring] -[Jamie Redknapp] As the Premier League started
to really transform the game,
I was sort of 19, 20 years of age and so wide-eyed.
I just wanted to be a part of it.
I enjoyed the razzmatazz, if you like, of it.
[photographer] This way. Around this way.
[Redknapp] David Beckham was starting to come on the scene
and the pop star girlfriend. I had a pop star girlfriend.
There was a lot of people judging you.
Worrying-- What's first, is it football or show biz?
What do you want to be more?
[Merson] It all changed, you know?
Girls have pictures of footballers on their wall.
And that's how it was going. It was becoming that big.
Would you please make some noise for Mr David Ginola.
[cheering and applause]
How does it feel when your balls hit the back of the net?
[audience laughing]
What is that feeling like?
-I know what you mean. Exactly. -Good. I'm glad you do.
-Exactly. -We're getting on just fine.
[crowd] Five, four, three, two, one!
[cheering]
[narrator] As Manchester United enjoyed success on the pitch,
they were rapidly developing ways to exploit their brand off it.
[man] We find that the kids today are more a leisure garment.
People actually look forward to the kit coming out
'cause they want to wear it as a fashion garment.
And we'd rather them purchase clothing off us
rather than going to Harrods or any other High Street--
Harrods may not be a good example-- any other High Street store.
[narrator] Like many of the big teams,
Manchester United were fast realizing the real value lay in their stars.
We've been to places, the Far East, we've been to Europe,
and no matter where you go, there's people brawling to get lads' autographs.
-[man 1] You're on the air. -[chattering]
-I was quiet, mate. -[man 2] Shh.
[man 1] How do you think you'll cope with all the fame--
-[man 2] Stop. Let's do it again. -[man 1] How do you think...
How do you think you'll cope with all the fame
and all the pressure that might come from the media?
When you come to a club like Manchester United,
you've got to be able to handle the media.
And at the moment, organized by Paul McGuinness,
there's media training at the club,
and people from local radio come in and test us
and try and catch us out.
It's very good.
Thank you.[chattering]
[man 1] I was gonna say, and it's working.
When I look at the media training, it was critical
because Manchester United is the most scrutinized football club in this country,
and we, if we were gonna make it into the first team,
were gonna be always expected to speak to the media.
It was actually more nerve-racking speaking in front of your teammates
than it was actually to a reporter without them being there.
[reporter] What is Manchester like as a city to live and to work in?
[all laughing]We're overwhelmed. Over-bloody-whelmed.
[chattering]
What is Manchester like as a city to live and work in?
Fantastic.Brilliant.
[all laugh]
[chattering]
Giggs, they need us here again.
[reporter] All Ferguson's youngsters are warned about the dangers of various vices
at a club where memories are still fresh of how George Best once fell prey
to a cocktail of bunking, betting and boozing.
[chuckling]
Jesus Christ!
[chattering]
[Neville] We were close as a group of people.
You were there from 8:00 in the morning till 4:00 in the afternoon,
and we were always socializing together.
I was living with one of the boys I played with on the youth team,
and he said to me one day, did I fancy taking a walk with him up to the bookies?
And I'd never been to bookies in my life before, but took the walk with him.
I got in there, and that was me just totally hooked.
We would go and sit in the bookies together, all of us.
We'd go in the afternoon, it was just to be two or three hours.
We'd put a pound on the placepot. We'd put a pound on the dog race.
We'd put 50p on it. It was always that money that you would...
I felt you would accept that you could lose. It was never big money.
It was more being together and socializing. We all did it together.
Keith obviously loved... He was the one that, to be fair,
he had the contacts with the trainers and stuff like that,
and he had contacts with people who would give him tips.
I used to bring in the fixed odds coupons into the training ground,
and, you know, the physios had a syndicate, the coaches had a syndicate.
Occasionally, Alex Ferguson would get one.
So, yep, I would have been the sort of bookies runner so to speak,
and put the bets on for everyone.
[McCarthy] Keith Gillespie, he and Ryan Giggs were the players that everybody spoke of.
Gillespie was the sort of person that if you were in the front two rows
at Old Trafford, you'd be on your feet.
This was something quite exciting, and he got into the first team
ahead of... obviously ahead of David Beckham.
By his second year, he was... he developed into a really, you know,
outstanding athlete. Good shoulders on him.
His stamina improved tremendously.
And then I gave him a chance in his third year.
[news anchor] Keith Gillespie made an unexpected but headline-hogging debut.
[crowd roaring]
Only 18 and surrounded by internationals,
he rounded off an impressive debut
with a memorable goal ten minutes from time.
[Gillespie] The debut couldn't have gone any better.
You know, setting one up
and scoring on your debut for the club that you supported.
So, as I say, things can't get much better than that.
It happened quite quickly for me. I left school at 16,
but within a year and a half, I had made my first team debut.
[narrator] Just as Gillespie was establishing himself
as part of the Manchester United team,
Alex Ferguson made an unexpected decision
that would have a huge impact on the young player's life.
We were playing a game against Sheffield United in the FA Cup,
and I'd travelled to the game and thought I was gonna play.
The team was announced, the subs was announced, and I wasn't involved.
[man] What's this? Alex?
We all know we're taking the Cole kid, do we?
Alex Ferguson just pulled me aside and explained the situation,
that we're in for the striker at Newcastle.
He says the only way the deal is gonna happen is if you go the other way.
You know, I'm a Man United fan. I still am a Man United fan.
And, you know, so, to be going to a sort of game where I'm expecting to play,
and within a conversation with the manager,
you're thinking about leaving the club that you love, and you're gonna be sad.
[news anchor] The Newcastle United forward, Andy Cole, has signed for Manchester United
in a deal worth seven million pounds.
It's a record British transfer and the third highest anywhere.
[reporter] Was it a shock?A big shock.
I think it's a shock to you boys as well 'cause no one thought that Kevin Keegan
would sell me to arch-rivals Man United, but I'm looking forward to it.
Big smile, big smile.[shutter clicking]
[reporter] The bait, as United hooked Cole, was their own Keith Gillespie,
admired by Newcastle not least for his goal against them earlier this season.
A million for Gillespie plus six million cash
makes seven million, a British record.
[audience clapping]
Thank you. If...
If-- Listen to me. If...
If you won a million pounds on the lottery, what would you spend it on?
Well, you'd probably buy a car.
You'd buy a holiday. You'd buy a big house. You'd buy a yacht. Maybe.
Or you could buy a top-class footballer.
Not just any ordinary footballer.
The one that Kevin Keegan has described
as the most exciting player in British football today.
Would you please welcome the former Manchester United
and now Newcastle United player, our very own Keith Gillespie.
[applause]
A million smackeroos.
Aye. Well, congratulations for a start.
Thanks very much.When did you hear you were on the move?
Late Monday night. It was just a total shock to me.
I think as a young 19-year-old and being at the club that you support and...
Does just go to show
how quickly things change in football.
Here one day, gone the next sort of thing. And, you know, clubs...
all of a sudden don't want you.
You must have some worries about going to Newcastle
because you knew Manchester very well. All your friends were there.
You're gonna have to start a whole new life. Will you fit in easy?
I think so. I mean, I've met--
I met up today with the players,
and they all seemed really nice,
so maybe they'll help me settle in into the area.
I remember Keith coming to see me in the gym at The Cliff the day he left,
and he said, "I've just been to see the boss, and I'm gonna go to Newcastle.
He's gonna swap me with Andy Cole." And I said, "No. You don't have to go."
I'd always say that to players. You could always say no.
You've got a contract. I was gutted.
[The Cure's "Just Like Heaven" playing]
[narrator] Newcastle United had long been
one of the best-supported football clubs in Britain.
But the passion of its fans had not been matched by success on the pitch.
[crowd cheering]
1992, Newcastle was a football club completely on its knees, going nowhere.
They had one foot in the old Division Three.
[crowd chanting]
[narrator] It had been almost 70 years
since the club had last won the league.
But things were about to change with the arrival of Kevin Keegan,
who'd been a hero as a player for Newcastle.
I'd like to now introduce you to the new manager of Newcastle United,
Kevin Keegan.
♪ Show me how You do that trick...♪
[Keegan] We will turn this club around.
This club will go back where it belongs.
It may seem odd days to you all that it's not going the right way,
but long term, it will.
[narrator] When Keegan returned to the club,
it was hailed as the return of the messiah.
[crowd cheering]
[Hardy] The club just took off. It was incredible.
Newcastle scored more goals than anybody in the top two divisions,
and then went into the Premier League,
and Kevin Keegan said, "We're coming to win this."
The club was finally being run properly. The ground got redeveloped.
Better players were coming in.
♪ Ferdinand's a Geordie Ferdinand's a Geordie♪
♪ La, la, la La, la, la♪
[narrator] Newcastle landed star striker Les Ferdinand
for six million in 1995,
followed soon by Gillespie.
For a club that had been in the doldrums for so long,
it was just kind of manna from heaven.
[reporter] This morning was 19-year-old Gillespie's first chance
to impress his new manager at close quarters
and get to know a new squad of players.
Don't underestimate young Keith Gillespie.
He is the most exciting player in this country for me,
and I've looked at everybody.
He's a class player. He's better.
We got the better part of the deal between Andy Cole and him.
[pop music playing]
[crowd roars]
[Gillespie] I think you just know what the Geordie people are like.
It's a city with one football team.
They're great fans to play in front of.
We're gonna be the Premiership champions this season.
This has been a whirlwind, that the whole club has turned around.
And now it's Keegan versus Ferguson
and Manchester United versus Newcastle United,
and it's everything Keegan said would happen.
[narrator] Four years into the Premier League,
Manchester United had been dominant.
They'd won the title twice, but lost out the season before to Blackburn.
Ferguson was expected to spend big to revitalize his team.
Instead, he surprised everyone and took a huge gamble on his young players.
I was with my parents on holiday, and all of a sudden, I saw, you know,
Mark Hughes leave, Kanchelskis leave.
You know, all of these great players, and we were like, "What's going on?"
And then all of a sudden, the manager was turning around to us and saying...
"You're gonna be starting this weekend,"
and we were like, "Really? Are you sure?"
And I think people were very surprised, very sceptical.
[commentator] Aston Villa kick off the season
here at Villa Park
against a Manchester United side with the accent very much on youth.
And half the side with an average age of just 21.
We didn't think that Sir Alex was sensible
in getting rid of experienced players like Paul Ince, like Andrei Kanchelskis,
to facilitate the progress of these young players.
[commentator] Dwight Yorke,
who has been busy in this first quarter of an hour.
And a nice ball back to him from Townsend.
That came off the forehead of Neville. Villa still have it.
Here's Charles, just drilled it in. Taylor scores!
[crowd cheering]
Milosevic!
-Draper! -[crowd roars]
It's 2-0, and we've not played half an hour,
and Manchester United look a team in trouble.
[Neville] First day of the season, get beat at Villa away. I mean, battered.
There were polls from the Manchester Evening News saying he should be sacked.
-[crowd cheering] -[commentator] 3-1 is the final score.
It's a great start to the season for Aston Villa.
Well, United were scarcely recognizable
from the team we've known over the last couple of seasons. What's going on?
Three players have departed. The trick is always buy when you're strong.
So he needs to buy players. You can't win anything with kids.
The trick at winning the championship is having strength and depth.
-They just haven't got it. -When you hear someone like Alan Hansen,
who is a legend and was one of the best players in the game,
come out and say that, all of a sudden, as young kids, you're like,
"Maybe we're not ready. Maybe we are too young.
Maybe... Maybe that was our chance.
That was our one chance to impress, and it's gone."
[Blur's "Song 2" playing]
[commentator] Just at the moment, this seems to be
the most exhilarating place to visit in the Premiership.
Here at St James', they've lost only once in their last 31 league games.
[narrator] By contrast, Gillespie and the Entertainers,
as Newcastle were now known, were flying.
[commentator] Ginola. Oh, neat. Now Gillespie.
Now Beardsley. Back to Gillespie. He's gone over.
Penalty says the referee.
[Gillespie] The '95-'96 season,
we were playing on a side which was full of excitement,
full of attacking, you know, full of flair.
Les thrived on crosses, and Ginola was providing them from the left,
I was providing them from the right.
We started the season like a house on fire.
[commentator] Gillespie again. Looking for Ferdinand.
[crowd roars]
-[crowd cheering] -[commentator chattering]
[Ferdinand] Keith Gillespie was just out-and-out pace.
Get down the line, cross the ball, no nonsense.
♪ All of the time But I'm never sure♪
♪ Why I need you♪
♪ Pleased to meet you♪
[commentator] And Gillespie... What a goal!
The Entertainers was just a brand of football we played that everybody enjoyed.
Everywhere we went, I'd come back to London, and people used to say to me,
"I don't support Newcastle, but every time they're on the TV, I watch them
'cause I know I'm gonna see a good game of football."
[commentator] Now Gillespie... Beardsley wants it square.
Ferdinand wanted it, Lee got it.
Ferdinand... Goal!
♪ When I feel heavy metal Whoo-hoo♪
♪ And I'm pins and I'm needles Oh, yeah♪
I'll just go and have a quick word.Okay.
Or back to-- Oh, sorry.
Okay.[man] Shouldn't add too much to the day.
Okay. Turn him to-- Go back. Yeah.
This is Ralph Dellor with Keith Gillespie
at Newcastle for Match of the Day.
You look as if you're enjoying your football as well.
Yeah, I mean, I get a... I get a lot of support
from the midfield, which is nice,
and I like to get the ball to my feet and run at defenders,
and in the past few games, I've been able to do that.
Signing for them when I'm 19, nearly 20, I'm going to a strange city.
The first five months of my life at Newcastle, I was living in a hotel.
You're a professional footballer.
You train from half 10:00 till 12:00, quarter past 12:00 every day.
The rest of the day is your own.
And my afternoons were spent in the bookmakers.
I think I've probably got that addictive personality.
You know, the strange thing is, it didn't matter
if I had ten pounds on a horse or a thousand pounds on a horse, you know?
The thrill was all about the winning.
You know, I just loved that adrenaline buzz of winning.
[Dellor] And you're relishing your opportunity?Oh, yeah. Definitely.
[Dellor] We wish you luck. Thanks very much indeed.
[Gillespie] Thank you. Cheers.
Now this person, I'm really excited to be interviewing. I've got a TV exclusive,
and I know I shouldn't say this, but I really fancy him.
He's pinned up all over hundreds and thousands and millions of girls' walls.
He's really sexy, and I'm hoping I'm gonna get a really good interview with him,
and maybe something else. Come on.
[door squeaking]
[Beckham chuckles]
Right. Come on.
So, when... [laughs]
I'm gonna be really, really crap now.
So when did you first decide... realize that you were really famous?
Straight away.Straight... [laughs]
It was when he first started going out with me, I think, actually.
He met Victoria, and that took him from being what would be
an emerging, talented, good-looking young Manchester United player
to being somebody who was like sort of a megastar.
Wherever we went, there was a barrage of, you know,
photographers ready.
The Spice Girls' global status and their stardom was
nothing that I'd ever seen before.
[female reporter] The sun smiled on the pop star and the football idol
as they tied the knot at what's undoubtedly the show biz wedding of the year.
You'd go to film premieres or fashion shows,
and they were both in, head to toe, the same clothes,
so they really enjoyed marketing themselves in that way.
She was more famous than him.
It was a Spice Girl going out
with this bloke who's just signed for Man United.
Moschino.
[man laughs]
Is that a shirt? Spin it around.
Yeah, it's a shirt. It's a smart shirt.
I wore it once, and the manager had a go at me for it.
Yeah, and I totally went off it.
There was a time when studs was something you found on football boots,
shooting was something that footballers did with the ball
and vital statistics were how many goals your centre forward scored.
But now footballers are witnessing a whole new ball game opening up,
and it doesn't happen on the pitch.
We're talking modelling, on the catwalk, in editorials and advertising.
The guys from Arena Homme Plus, who we'd met out in a nightclub somewhere,
he said, um, "You wanna do a shoot?"
So I'm like, "Cool. They want me to do this modelling thing.
All right, cool. Yeah, I'll do it." So, um...
We go... Sunday morning, we're in this car park,
and Norman, the photographer, pacing up and down, he takes photographs.
I'm kissing-- "Can you kiss the ball?" So I went... [kisses]
And a few weeks later, I got a phone call that's like, "We like the pictures.
We're gonna put one on the cover."
I said, "What? Cover? Oh, cool. Nice, yeah."
Then a few weeks later, Norman calls me and he says,
"Armani's press office have seen the pictures,
and they want to consider you for the campaign."
And all of a sudden, it was like, yeah, you're an Armani model.
♪ Most of all I want that man♪
♪ I want that man♪
This is David James. He's the goalie for Liverpool.
He's only allowed to appear on The Clothes Show under certain conditions.
We're not allowed to call him a model
because he is, after all, the face of Emporio Armani.
[James] It's how the Premier League allowed me to be in that position.
There was this clamour for glamour.
You look at some of the old matches on telly and, you know...
With all... With all respect to the players, it was, like, just football.
Whereas all of a sudden, it was all about the image,
and the image sort of goes in line with magazines.
It goes in line with being on TV shows, and we liked that.
[Newton] You had the rise of the lads' mag in the '90s, which was huge.
Many footballers made the cover of those magazines
because people were so interested in their lifestyle.
And those articles weren't really about what they did in the pitch.
It was all what their home life was like.
[woman 1] Is there any kind of competition to get the best work?
[Redknapp] Nah, no. We all know that football's the most important thing.
Obviously, David has done very well with Armani, and we're all pleased for him.
[woman 1] How would you compare both careers?
Um, I don't think there's any comparison really.
Modelling's better. Nah. Football.
[woman 2] We did a shoot back in November issue
where we did ten pages of footballers, and we travelled all over England
trying to get these guys. There was a time when we turned up
at Liverpool training ground, and we were chasing them
all over the pitches trying to get hold of them,
saying, "We want to shoot you."
This was really the start
of the crossover between fashion and sport.
Footballers suddenly realized that their image was as important off the pitch
as it was on the pitch, and these guys were getting big advertising deals.
[pop music playing]
[Beckham] These things just came up, and every now and again,
it'd be the right thing to do, but I kind of enjoyed them.
To be part of a brand like Brylcreem at the time, you know,
it was a huge brand.
I must admit there's some front covers that I look back on,
and I think, "What was I thinking at the time?"
But it's obviously part of, you know, it was part of my life, you know?
At that point.
[Bellan] These were guys
which were earning huge amounts of money.
And what we saw is that, you know,
cars were important to them, clothes were important to them.
So they had the money to suddenly buy designer clothing
or the car of their dreams.
Consider what happens if you drink too much prune juice
and eat figs at the same time. It goes in one end and out the other.
And that's exactly what's happening with the TV money.
It really doesn't stay with the clubs. It just flows right the way through.
The people that are better off are the players,
who get paid enormous amounts of money.
[James] You know, John Barnes was on £10,000 a week.
I was like, "What? Half a million pounds a year?
Wow! That is ama--" And it sort of blew your mind.
And then within a few years, that was standard for a lot of players.
When the Premier League became so big, the money became so vast
that I did change, and I didn't change into a particularly nice person with it.
There are stories. One of my old teammates said
that if I lost a game, I would change my car, which was utter nonsense.
I changed my watch. Get a new watch, yeah.
We lost the game, I'd get a new watch.
This isn't a gradual thing. As an academy player,
you're not earning half a massive amount of money,
and then when you become a senior player, you earn the full amount.
It's kind of like you earn nothing, and all of a sudden, you're just given...
loads.
When I first came into the game
and was at The News of the World,
I was probably earning a similar amount to young footballers.
But suddenly, the Premier League took them into a different sphere,
into a different universe, really.
And there's situations where players had too much money
and that's what got them into problems.
[Gillespie] I just signed a sort of new contract with Newcastle
and so I was earning, what-- five and a half grand then?
So, talking 26 years ago, which is obviously, you know, a good wage.
I suppose when your wages increase...
you're gonna start putting more and more on... on your bets.
I think the big problem came when you had phone betting
and you could just ring up, and you're not physically handing over that money.
And that's where the problems, you know, really started for me.
[commentator] For tonight's match, Newcastle in their changed strip
of purple tonight. Stoke City in the stripes of course.
[Gillespie] We played Stoke away,
and I knew Peter Beardsley hadn't scored in quite a few weeks
and so I decided to ring up and had £500 on Peter Beardsley for the first goal,
and then I had £500 on Beardsley first goal with 2-0, 2-1, 3-0, 3-1.
[commentator] It's a dangerous one, and Beardsley
has taken full advantage by giving Newcastle United the lead.
[Gillespie] Peter Beardsley scored the first goal.
A couple of minutes later, he made it 2-0 just before halftime.
[commentator] Still Beardsley, chance for number two. Would you believe it?
And Beardsley makes it 2-0 at the other end.
About 15 minutes into the second half,
I had a cross shot, the keeper saved and Les scored.
[commentator] Gillespie, danger here.
Good save, and turned in by Ferdinand.
You know, we were 3-0 up, but the problem for me then is there's half an hour left.
You know, I'm not wanting any more goals. Well, not for us anyway.
If I was gonna say anything,
probably halftime would have been the time to say it.
But I suppose once it went 3-0, it's hard to sort of get everybody in a huddle
to let them know that, by the way, I've a bet on here.
Don't be scoring anymore. Just keep it tight.
So, I'm sort of not wanting to venture forward too much.
I was wanting to, you know,
pass the ball backwards.
And then about six minutes from time,
Darren Peacock, he found himself in the box.
[commentator] Still and still, and in the end...
[Gillespie] The ball fell at his feet and he rifled it into the top corner,
and everyone was running, jumping on top of him.
Everyone but me. I was sort of trudging back to the halfway line
thinking, "You've just cost me £52,000."
It was a heavy hit, and, I mean, probably should have learned my lesson then
but, you know, obviously didn't.
[narrator] Gillespie was losing thousands at the bookies,
but his team were delivering win after win on the pitch.
By Christmas, they looked like they were in with a chance of taking the title.
Manchester United were in second, a distant ten points behind.
[commentator] It's Manchester United against Newcastle United,
the eagerly anticipated meeting of the top two in the Premier League.
Kevin Keegan and Alex Ferguson, though they look very relaxed,
but so much could depend on the outcome here.
United have gone five games without a win.
It's their worst run in the league since 1992.
And a return to Old Trafford, of course, for Keith Gillespie,
who scored for Manchester United against Newcastle
in this fixture last season.
I think at the start of the season,
the only person who believed we could win it was Kevin Keegan.
Without a shadow of a doubt.
We knew we had a good squad,
but I think by about four or five games into it,
we started to believe maybe we were onto something here.
[commentator] It's Gillespie who's down.
And it does look a bit serious, doesn't it?
My leg wanted to go one way,
and it decided to go to the other, um...
It was my... I had a bruise from my knee all the way up to my hip.
[commentator] It does look as if he may be playing no further part in this game.
[Gillespie] The physios had a look at it, and there is a possibility
that I could be out for the rest of the season,
which is gonna be very disappointing if I am.
The injury to Keith Gillespie is proof that the game isn't all glamour.
Following his move from Manchester United,
he's had a very good 12 months here at St James' Park.
But for the immediate future, he'll be on the treatment table.
[Gillespie] It's murder really.
The team's doing so well,
and all you want to do is play.
And, I mean, I just hope that we can get a trophy at the end of the season.
[commentator] Giggs takes that beautifully on his chest.
Now into his stride. Teases Phillips,
puts in a good cross. Great save! It's a goal!
[narrator] Whilst Gillespie was out with an injury,
Manchester United went on a winning spree
spearheaded by his old teammates.
[commentator] Shaw!
A beautiful goal from David Beckham!
[Neville] We, over a period of time, got stronger and stronger.
We turned it from a massive pressure moment to...
complete confidence and belief,
and then we just hunted them down.
[commentator] Beckham looking and finding Giggs.
Beautiful, beautiful!
Beautiful!
That was a class goal. Beckham, Giggs and Scholes,
the kids of United.
[man] Manchester United have moved to within four points of Newcastle
at the top of the FA Carling Premiership.
[Beckham] There was never a moment where I thought, "Do you know what?
It's really tough being a United player. It's really tough".
Because I was playing for the team that I always wanted to play for,
I was doing what I loved best and most
and we were winning.
[commentator] Scholes lets it run brilliantly for Beckham.
Under pressure, another one for David Beckham.
[narrator] Privately, Gillespie's gambling was spiralling.
Unbeknownst to anyone, he was often losing thousands of pounds a day.
[Gillespie] I remember the 27th of October, 1995.
I had been betting all afternoon.
You know, I had a thousand pounds
on the first race that day,
a horse called Quandary.
But by 5:20 that afternoon, I'd lost 47,000.
The following day, I had lost another 15,000.
On the Sunday, Kevin Keegan came in.
He was sitting opposite me, and...
You know, just sort of small chat at first,
but then he pointed at me and says to Peter Beardsley,
"He could be the best player in the country at this time."
I knew I was having a good season.
Incredible to hear somebody like Kevin Keegan
give me a compliment like that,
but I was sort of more just thinking
if only you knew the last two days I've just had and losing 62 grand.
I got a knock on the door, The Sunnewspaper. Um...
You know, the next day when I seen the paper,
they must have had somebody hiding as well
'cause there was a picture of me at the door, you know,
with hair everywhere and all sorts, so...
The bookie had sold the story.
On tomorrow morning's front pages,
The Sunhas news that Keith Gillespie of Newcastle
has apparently spent £62,000 in a week at the bookies.
[Gillespie] The hardest thing in the end that I had to do
was ring my mum to let her know the situation
and that there would be a story getting into the newspapers.
And that was... that was really difficult.
[Mrs Gillespie] I felt that there wasn't a lot for me to say,
and I really just wanted to support him.
And I just hoped that, you know, it was a blessing in disguise,
and that at 21 years of age, it had come to light
and hopefully this was the end of it.
[Ferdinand] Footballers being footballers, you go in,
and the boys were taking the mickey out of him.
I'll always remember him coming in the sauna
and he said to me, "Why wasn't you laughing
like all the other boys taking a piss? Why didn't you take a piss?"
And I said, "Well, basically, 'cause I know that you know
that my mum, my dad, your mum, your dad knows what a pound note is
and how hard it is to make a pound note.
So what you lost, I don't see as being funny."
From a young boy who's a long way from home
without his family influence around him.
Now, in today's football,
we talk about mental health issues and stuff that goes on with people,
but back when we-- you know, back in '95-'96,
because you're a footballer, you're...
It's deemed that you should just get on with it.
[man] Is it behind you?Oh, definitely.
I mean, you sort of learn by your mistakes,
and that was probably the biggest mistake I ever made.
You know, I mean, everyone's human,
and I've just got to get on with things.
[Keegan] There's no doubt about it.
Had he been a bit more upfront with us at the time,
we could have helped him an awful lot more,
and maybe the headlines would never have got to the papers.
But I think he was embarrassed and he was shy, and he's a lovely boy.
I've spent a lot of time with him,
and I like his character.
But he's learnt a lesson a very hard way there.
[Gillespie] I think probably back then,
I probably should have been offered maybe more help,
but again, gambling wasn't that big a topic
as it is nowadays. Um...
And I was just sort of left to my own devices again and...
stopped for a while, but it was inevitable that,
you know, I would go back to it.
[Merson] I'd already been through all that before,
and then to see someone else do it is not nice.
When you got an addiction of gambling,
you could be on a million pound a week and it won't be enough.
You know? It's a bad addiction.
With the drink and the drugs, I could go out
and you can only put so much up your nose
and you can only put so much down your throat in drink.
But with gambling, you could lose everything.
You could lose absolutely everything.
Every player out there has to be careful
'cause it's the one thing you can hide.
You know, if a footballer's out and they've had ten pints,
you know they've had a drink.
If a player's lost all their money,
you would never know.
This is the feeling about, I think, most of the people around.
You are very young, you get a lot of money,
you are very lucky in this world,
so we will never forgive you if you do one mistake.
[James] A lot of the media side of it, the press in particular,
didn't like the fact-- and I say it because I had access with players--
the people that you're bumping shoulders with in the car park
all of a sudden are earning ridiculous amounts of money.
So, in a way, it was almost like the media's obligation
to bring people back down to earth a little bit.
Maybe.
Jealousy's a horrible thing.
[man] The Sunnewspaper
done this article on me about Kenny Dalglish.
He said, "You won at Anfield. We heard you said
you was gonna rip his head off and shit in the hole."
And I probably did say that to Kenny, but...
I don't remember doing it in the game or whatever.
I screamed something at him, I don't know.
'Cause he came and went in for a tackle,
he took a liberty and I went over the top.
Uh, he was a dirty little bastard, Dalglish, tough little bastard.
And I said, "Oh, yeah?" And he said, "Yeah, I want to do an article with you."
He said, "I'll give you 250 quid for the article."
So I'm getting paid, you know what I mean?
250 quid,
and then saw my mate who used to do the press for The Mirror,
Tony Stenson, and he said, "You'll pay for that for the rest of your life.
Once you take a dollar from any one of the newspapers,
you've sold your soul to them."
And he was right, to be fair. He was right.
Then they owned you. They wanted a piece of you, you know what I mean?
[Ferdinand] You was good fodder for the press
because they wanted to see players drunk.
They wanted to see players with women and all the stuff that goes with it.
You know, we were picking up the tabloids every Sunday,
and there was another footballer in it, there was another story.
That was the unfortunate thing with footballers
coming into the limelight, as it were.
That was always gonna come with it.
And then it got to a stage where you had the tabloids employing girls
to come down to London from up north and different places
just to try and bed footballers.
And that's when you're going way beyond anything ethical
that's right in life and in society, do you know what I mean?
And that's where it went to.
[Newton] Obviously, the press was incredibly involved,
but some of them were making the stories themselves.
They were not being dragged kicking and screaming to these celebrity events,
[Gillespie] I think with the English press,
they'd just be itching to get a story.
They want these big scandals, they want these stories,
and you just have to realize that that's what some people get kicks out of.
They like to do that sort of thing
and try and, you know, ruin lives pretty much.
[Merson] I was writing for the back page of a newspaper,
and I was on the front page for what I was doing.
They didn't look at it and go, "Oh, he writes for us."
But as George used to say to me,
"I'm on the front page. They keep on picking on me.
Why me? Why is it always me?"
I used to say, "Sit at home and watch the telly
and I'll bet you they don't write about you."
And it's true.
[crowd cheering]
[commentator] ...on recent record, they're the most likely to break the deadlock.
It's a good challenge by Speed. This is Keane.
Trying to find some room, and he has!
[crowd roars]
Priceless goal!
[narrator] After Roy Keane's strike delivered the win
for Manchester United against Leeds,
Alex Ferguson decided to play a psychological game.
Newcastle were to play Leeds in five days,
so Ferguson claimed opponents fought harder against Man United
than they did against Keegan's side.
For some, it's more important to get a goal against Manchester United
to stop them winning the league than anything else.
Which, to me, is they're cheating their manager.
That's all it is.
And when they come to Newcastle, you wait and see the difference, you know?
[commentator] At St James' Park...
[narrator] After being injured for more than two months,
Gillespie was fit to play in this crucial game.
[commentator] David Ginola is suspended for one game,
but Northern Ireland international Keith Gillespie
is a more-than-adequate stand-in for Ginola.
Manchester United will be watching tonight
knowing that the pressure is on Keegan's men.
Beardsley again to take.
Better one this time.
And it's in!
Gillespie has given Newcastle United the lead.
What a return for Keith Gillespie!
Kevin Keegan's team have managed to hang on
with Keith Gillespie's first half goal
knowing that the championship race is still very much alive.
After a night game, I was one of them that struggled to sleep,
so I was lying on my bed and I was watching the rerun of the game.
And then I saw the rant.
I think you've got to send Alex Ferguson
a tape of this game, haven't you?
Isn't that what he asked for?
Well, I'm sure if he was watching it tonight, Kevin,
he could have no arguments about the way Leeds went about their job.
-They tested your team. -We're bigger than that.
[man] That's part and parcel of the psychological battle, isn't it?
No. That's... When you do that with footballers like he said about Leeds,
you can tell him now if you're watching it, we're still fighting for this title,
and he's got to go to Middlesbrough and get something.
And I'll tell you, honestly, I would love it if we beat them. Love it.
I remember picking up the phone probably about 1:00 in the morning
and I phoned Warren Barton, and I said,
"Have you just watched the TV?"
And he went, "No, I was sleeping."
I'm like, "Sorry, mate. Sorry to wake you up.
I just seen the manager having a rant on the TV."
And then we went into training the next day, and the truth is,
all the boys were taking the mickey, really.
And just saying, "I'd love it, I'd love it."
That became the next catch phrase: "I'd love it."
But no one ever saw that as Kevin Keegan having a meltdown.
You know, as players, we were like...
We knew that the manager wore his heart on his sleeve,
and as a player, that's what everybody wants to see--
you wear your heart on your sleeve and show your passion.
But as a manager, it was seen as a sign of weakness.
[narrator] Going into the last game of the season,
Newcastle still had a chance at finishing top.
They needed to win against Spurs
and for Middlesbrough to beat Manchester United.
[Hardy] For the first time since 1927,
Newcastle could win the English championship
on the final day of the season,
but it built to the point whereby you had the huge flag was outside,
the Three Bulls Heads near the stadium.
You had the expectation building.
In those days, you would follow the radio,
clinging onto this belief that it could still happen.
[commentator 1] Sixty-nine years and still waiting.
But today, is Tyneside's torment about to end?
[commentator 2] Welcome to Middlesbrough's Riverside Stadium.
It's just like last year. The title race has gone to the very last day.
Will it be Manchester United, or will it be Newcastle?
[commentator 1] Keith Gillespie starts a home game here for the first time in three months.
[commentator 2] Beckham's really taking the eye,
and many saying that he will shortly be an England player.
[commentator 1] Good positioning by Batty.
And the cross must be surely-- No!
[crowd groans]
Two players went for the same ball.
[commentator 2] Giggs.
David May! And that's in!
David May with the goal! A vital goal for Manchester United.
Man United scored, and that just deflated the whole stadium.
That was it. That was the moment when everybody went, "Right, it's gone."
[commentator 2] In the 14th minute, and that is absolutely priceless.
Beckham's up on the right.
Giggs shoots. That has settled it.
They've won the championship now without any doubt at all.
Ryan Giggs.
They can bring the trophy out now, really, can't they?
-[audience singing] -They are indeed champions.
-[commentator 1] He's collecting the ball. -[whistle blows]
And the season is over at St James' Park.
But it's not enough for Newcastle.
How marvellously they've entertained us all,
and runners-up after a thrilling championship race.
Whatever happens in Manchester can't be any more passionate and enjoyable
as what was happening here today.
It'd be frightening if we could bring back a trophy.
[Gillespie] I think everybody who was involved in that squad,
there'll always be that bitter disappointment
that we didn't, you know, get over the line.
You have a sort of long career in football,
and you always have a favourite place to play,
and for me it was... it was Newcastle.
You know, being part of that, being part of the Entertainers, almost winning the league.
You know, it was just a great... a great, you know, place to play football,
and such a vibrant place when things were going well.
Did the players feel when you were 12 points behind a few months ago
that you could still come back and win this title?
No, we thought it was all over, really. No, we kept plugging away,
and we always knew Newcastle would slip up,
and lucky enough...[laughter]
And lucky enough, they did, and we just kept plugging away.
As I said, I think we definitely deserved it. The young lads have come in
and been absolutely fantastic. It's good for the club.
Manchester United had a fantastic run in, didn't they?
One defeat in 22 games tell the story of the championship in the end, Alan.
Fantastic, really, and I think somebody in this programme early on said,
"You can't win anything with kids."Do you remember that?
I remember that very well.I seem to remember it too.
I got that completely wrong. Winning the championship
after what happened last season at West Ham,
selling three of his best players in the summer
then bringing five kids in that are home-grown,
it really is a marvellous achievement.
[Neville] To put in Gary Neville, Paul Scholes,
Nicky Butt, David Beckham, it looks like genius now.
It looks like the right thing to do. "Well, it's obvious."
It wasn't at the time.
[Beckham] I look back at my time in the Premiership,
um, and know that that was the moment where it made me as a player.
I think it was extra special. We'd all gone into the first team,
we'd all had our doubts around us as individuals and as a team,
and then all of a sudden, we won the Premiership.
Some players, it's sliding doors. It is sliding doors.
It's weird how it works. It's weird how it works.
I mean, talk about Keith Gillespie.
I mean, he's at Man United, and then he goes to Newcastle for Andy Cole.
If he stays there, who's to know he ain't gonna be
one of the best wingers we've seen?
In terms of off the pitch,
you know, I still have the gambling problems,
but, you know, I'm happy in terms of I've been there. I've sort of done it.
I've been lucky enough to play,
you know, professional football.
I've made mistakes over the years, but, you know,
it's how you react to those mistakes and get on with your life.
Okay, ready? And so to what's been the school for scandal in recent seasons,
comes the scholar, Arsène Wenger--
No, what has he got? A master's degree? A master's degree...
Travelling around the world, I had a knowledge and feel
that the game was going more international,
and that we had to move with the times.
Okay.
Oh, hi.Thank you.
And when I saw Arsène, I realized that he was one for the future.
[crowd cheering]
Arsène Wenger brought something different.
And I think that Sir Alex felt threatened, a little bit.
It's like a tug of war.
[Beckham] He knew that every time that we stepped onto that pitch,
it was about the fight.
[whistle blows]
I think that Arsenal team in '98, to this day,
was the best domestic football team that I ever played against.
Being a fan at that time was just fantastic.
It was just about focusing on the game
and not about all the shit that was going on off the pitch.
The media tycoon Rupert Murdoch
wants to buy Britain's biggest football club, Manchester United.
Rupert Murdoch needs Manchester United.
Manchester United do not need Rupert Murdoch.
We weren't just gonna have some corporate carpetbagger
come in and take the club over.
It's like, "Well, okay. All right, you've got a fight on your hands then."