Football is full of sliding doors moments. What if Gareth Southgate hadn’t missed the penalty at Euro 96? What if David Beckham hadn’t been sent off against Argentina at France 98? Now Netflix’s new access-all-eras four-part documentary about Golden Balls poses a new one: would Becks have got the red card at all if Victoria hadn’t told him, the night before the match, that he was about to become a father?
“So you tell him right before the biggest game of his life? Did you think it would help him for the game?” asks director Fisher Stevens. “I don’t really know…” replies Victoria. In fairness, we can’t really lay the blame of 57 years of hurt (in the men’s game, that is) at the door of nepo baby/culinary genius Brooklyn Beckham. But the admission is one of the more extraordinary exchanges in this cosy but candid series, which is part love letter to a generational footballing talent and cultural icon, part dissection of the birth of the modern celebrity brand.
