Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Beckham didn’t talk to Twain for long since he had to go shoot the commercial, but Twain also learned about the ins and outs of this matter from their brief conversation.
As everyone knew, Beckham’s wife, Victoria Beckham, was a well-known fashionista who liked to be seen in fashionable places frequented by celebrities. It was also normal social activity for her to be invited to Milan to see a fashion show.
As the new international top model, Shania naturally became the target of the other party’s intentions to make their acquaintance.
As a result, Shania and Victoria became acquainted with each other, and then through Victoria, Shania had met David Beckham…
Their relationship came full circle.
Twain stood in the corner and watched Beckham and Shania, who were filming under the spotlight.
He had never thought he would make Beckham’s acquaintance like this. Although they had to have heard of each other’s names, they hadn’t had a deep connection before.
Had it not been for Shania, Twain and Beckham would have continued on their respective paths, and nothing would have changed.
Their respective paths…
Twain looked at Beckham, who was posing according to the photographer’s request, and repeated this remark in his head.
What would their respective paths look like?
His future was unknown. He wouldn’t even know what he was doing in a month, let alone further down his path.
As for David Beckham? Twain dared not say what he would do further in his future, but he could still guess for the near future.
The current year was 2006, and the new season, which was about to begin, was 2006-2007. During this season, Fabio Capello would take over the helm at stormy Real Madrid and bring the concept of Italian-style soccer, as well as an iron-fist style of coaching. Real Madrid would get rid of the star footballers of the “Galácticos” era with the unveiling of an official policy to clean up.
Ronaldo would become the first victim. He would be sold by Real Madrid during the winter transfer period to AC Milan. At the same time, Real Madrid would bring in a large number of young players and begin to build their futures. Young Argentinian players like Fernando Gago and Gonzalo Higuaín, and the Brazilian young player, Marcelo would be signed.
Beckham, who was steadily becoming the main player in Real Madrid, would also be severely challenged.
Capello wouldn’t like him and would want to clear him out.
As a result, the negotiations between the club and Beckham for a contract extension were slow-moving and even interrupted at one stage.
After Beckham was completely disappointed with Real Madrid, he finally announced his transfer during the winter transfer period to the LA Galaxy at the end of the season when his contract expired.
At the time, the news caused a sensation. Some people even thought it was an April Fool’s Day joke. David Beckham, a world-class star player, was far from being old enough to consider retiring and had unlimited commercial value. How was it possible that he would transfer to play in what was considered a second or third tier league in the world?
Did he not care about his career? Was he not concerned about his competitive form? Was he not worried about his reputation? Did he not care about… soccer?
The media then received confirmation that Beckham was indeed leaving the European football center and the heart of the world’s football to go to a “bush league” like Major League Soccer.
No one would think highly of him again… Everyone thought that this might be a sign that Beckham was going to switch his career to entertainment circles…
After this, Beckham suddenly broke out in the league. He returned to the team’s main line-up by regaining the trust of Manager Fabio Capello with his professional attitude, then helped the team catch up to Barcelona step by step, starting a classic reversal in late March. His biggest regret in joining Real Madrid in the previous four years had been failure to win an important championship trophy for the team. This was the main reason why many people had criticized him. He hoped to be able to help the team defeat Barcelona and win back the long-overdue UEFA Champions League trophy before he went, his only wish.
Twain didn’t know his story any further in the future. He had inexplicably transmigrated in the middle of April at that time, so he didn’t know whether Beckham’s wish had materialized, nor did he know what the fate of Real Madrid and Beckham would be after that.
Whether Beckham would really be engulfed in the barren land after he went to Los Angeles, and eventually be forgotten, or whether he would transform from a football star to a movie star… Twain knew none of these things.
However, he vividly recalled his feelings when he had learned of Beckham’s decision—powerless and angry.
The powerless feeling had been about Beckham’s decision, and the anger was directed at Real Madrid.
Letting Beckham go was bound to be the most significant and foolish blunder made during the career of Real Madrid’s president, Calderón.
Yes, that was what Twain had thought before Beckham led the team to fight back.
He wasn’t like most people. He had always thought that Beckham was an underrated player. The aura of a commercialized star was so dazzling that everyone forgot that he was also a brilliant player. When most people mentioned Beckham, they first thought of his image as a product spokesperson, not his hard-working figure on the field and during training. There were even some people who felt that Beckham’s hard-working image was brand packaging in itself…
That was silly.
Twain liked hard-working players. It didn’t matter whether the player was talented or not. If he wasn’t diligent, he absolutely did not want him.
Their respective paths…
Twain had experienced many things since he had appeared in this world. Some things had happened exactly the same as he knew without any changes; some things were completely different from what he knew, and some of these completely different things were due to his direct interference, such as Van der Vaart’s transfer from Ajax to Nottingham Forest instead of Hamburger SV, or Van Nistelrooy’s transfer from Manchester United to Nottingham Forest. Other things were due to indirect changes, such as Capello bringing along one more player when he went to Real Madrid—David Trezeguet.
In that case, would his presence change Beckham’s future trajectory?
In the new season, he had won Capello’s trust and affection, and dedicated every assist and goal to the fans as part of the starting lineup throughout the season. With his good performance, he had won a new contract with the club and stayed at Real Madrid until his retirement.
Or it could be… that nothing had changed. Capello didn’t like him, the club wanted to dump him, the media vilified him, and Hollywood beckoned to his wife and cast a spell on his choice for the future. And then everything would be irrevocable… as he went to America.
Apart from these two endings, would there be a third?
※※※
Lost in his thoughts, Twain did not notice that the two people had finished their shoot and gathered around him to observe his expression curiously.
“Mr. Twain?” Perhaps since he felt it was a little rude to do so, Beckham finally piped up.
“Ah!” Twain was startled to see the two of them suddenly appear in front of him. “You guys… what are you doing here? Don’t you have to continue…” He pointed to the center of the studio and discovered that at this time, the staff were busy dismantling the lights, removing the reflector boards, and getting ready to wrap up for the day.
“Finished your shoot?” He asked, puzzled.
“Oh, yes.” Shania spread her hands and asked, “What were you thinking about, Uncle Tony?”
“The shoot with Shania went well.” Beckham looked at Shania and smiled.
Shania stuck her tongue at him and put her arms around Twain, “Let’s have lunch together. We’ve already made plans with David.”
“Oh… Uh, where’s your wife, David?”
“Victoria is in Spain, looking after the children. She’s not comfortable leaving Cruz.”
Cruz was Beckham and Victoria’s third son, born on February 20th, 2005. He was the Beckhams’ new favorite.
“My flight back to Madrid is in the afternoon. I think I’d like to ask my new friends to have lunch with me before I go.” Beckham extended his hand to invite Twain.
How could there be any possibility of rejecting such a thing?
Twain also held out his hand, “But I think I should be the one treating.”
Beckham laughed, “Don’t forget that I’m British too, Tony.”
Twain felt a little embarrassed by his laugh. He had really treated Beckham as a Spaniard…
“Uh, all right. If you have the opportunity to come to Nottingham in the future, it will be my treat. That’s my home ground.” He winked at Beckham.
※※※
Lunch was at an upscale London restaurant, Beckham’s favorite restaurant. They could tell from the private room that he had reserved for the long term.
Without the paparazzi’s interruption, the three of them could chat about anything they wanted.
Together with Beckham, Shania gave Twain a lesson on fashion. As a fearless and individualistic manager, Twain behaved like a schoolboy in front of this serious young girl.
Beckham was fortunate enough to see the other side of Tony Twain that was unknown to others. He had a good time laughing.
“You mustn’t say anything about this to the others,” Twain specifically told Beckham when Shania went to the bathroom.
“Don’t worry, Tony, but I don’t think you have any need for concern. Even if the media really knew about this matter, they wouldn’t believe it. If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn’t believe it, either… Haha!”
Twain shrugged helplessly as Beckham guffawed.
“Would you mind telling me how you met Shania?” Beckham was curious. Beckham did have good reason to be curious about how a soccer manager had such a good relationship with a world-famous model and such a laissez-faire attitude towards her acting like a spoiled child.
“It sounds a lot like a movie script.” Twain slightly recounted, “It’s like this…”
※※※
After listening to the story, Beckham chewed over it and said, “No wonder she keeps calling you ‘Uncle Tony.’”
“In my eyes, she’s not some world-famous model. She’s just a girl who will never grow up.” Twain sipped his red wine.
“I understand.” Beckham nodded.
“What are you guys talking about?” Shania asked curiously as she heard the last remark when she pushed open the door on her way back from the bathroom.
“Your Uncle Tony told me the story of how you met, which was very interesting.” Beckham said and smiled.
Shania cleared her throat and returned to her seat. She suddenly felt a little shy.
At this point, Twain wanted to talk to Beckham about his career.
He had considered that question for a long time, but he didn’t know where to start. Should he tell him directly that he would be dumped by the club in six months? That would be too shocking. David Beckham certainly wouldn’t believe it.
“Uh, David, you’ve worked with the new manager for some time now. What kind of person do you think he is?”
All in all, soccer was a common subject between the two men. When the conversation turned to this, the relaxed look on Beckham’s face disappeared. Twain made a keen mental note of this.
“Well… He is a very tough coach, different from the team’s previous managers. Everyone has to adapt once again…” Beckham shrugged and shook his head, “I may have to train harder than before to impress him.”
“Real Madrid is a powerful club and haven’t had a championship title for several years in a row. Everyone is under a lot of pressure. Maybe it’s better to be a little tougher…” Twain encouraged, “David, have you ever thought about coming back here to play soccer?” he asked, seemingly by chance, and pointed at his feet at the same time.
“Back to the English Premier League?” Beckham smiled and shook his head, “No.”
“Because of Manchester United?” Twain continued to ask tentatively.
“There’s a reason for that. You know I played for Manchester United for years, and I can’t imagine myself facing Manchester United wearing another team’s jersey…” Beckham shook his head. He really couldn’t imagine it.
He had said this once before in 2006 when he had returned to his country to promote his new autobiography. When asked if he was likely to return to the English Premier League, he had replied to the reporter the same way.
Now on a private occasion, he had stated it again.
When Twain heard this, he could only sigh on the inside.
If there was no change in the next six months, then Twain only hoped that by the time Beckham was at the end of the line, he would be able to give up this idea.
It was with some regret that lunch was over, and Twain and Shania said goodbye to Beckham. He had to rush back to join the team’s training the next day, while Twain would go shopping with Shania in London.
“Good luck, David,” said Twain as he held Beckham’s hand when they said goodbye at the airport,. But he didn’t say the next half of his sentence, “You will need some luck in the future…”
※※※
After they had sent David Beckham off, Twain asked Shania in the car on the way back to London, “Where are we going?”
“To go shopping and buy stuff!” Shania declared excitedly.
“Ok… I got it.” Twain thought that all women were like this.
“Don’t think I’m shopping for myself.” Shania, however, saw through his thoughts. “I’m shopping for you. You need to make some changes in your image, can’t look like this all the time…”
Her agent, Fasal, who was driving in the front continued to say, “Shania is right, Mr. Twain. Even a man should have more than one set of clothes to wear on different occasions.”
Twain somehow thought of George Wood’s agent. The man hadn’t come by to harass him for a while, yet he was very good at dressing him. He had a different look every time he appeared in front of him.
“I always felt that men who have makeovers were sissies…”
“Hey, Uncle Tony!” Shania was a little angry.
“All right, all right, I’ll take your advice. Anyway, I don’t need to worry with a fashion insider like you around.” Twain raised his hands in surrender. It wasn’t easy for them to meet up, so he didn’t want to part on bad terms.
Therefore, guided by Shania, the three of them headed straight to London’s most famous shopping street—Oxford Street. There, Twain was brought in and out of the upscale clothing stores, constantly entering and leaving fitting rooms, showing the new clothes he tried on to Shania and her agent. When the two people nodded, Fasal pulled out his credit card to pay the bill and picked up the shopping bag with the selected clothes packed in it. The three people would then go to the next store.
Twain hadn’t experienced such crazy shopping in his life. Whether it was in China or here, he had never taken great pains to buy clothes.
He always felt that this scene should happen for a woman, and that he would be the one who used his credit card to pay the bill. He didn’t expect a complete reversal of roles at this time.
But…
Twain struck what he thought was a dashing pose in front of the mirror in the fitting room. The man who appeared in the mirror was almost unrecognizable to him.
You don’t say. After being made to suffer by Shania, I do look a bit like a star on a fashion magazine cover.
“Are you all set, Uncle Tony?” Shania cried outside.
“Oh… Ah, okay, okay, I’ll be right out.” Twain looked at himself in the mirror again, then turned to open the door.
Finally, back at the hotel room, Shania looked at her “work” with satisfaction—a brand new Tony Twain.
“What do you think, Mr. Twain?” Shania asked Twain as she took a fashion magazine from the bedside, rolled it up to serve as a microphone, and acted like a reporter.
Twain looked at himself in the mirror and turned around. “Think? Pretty good. Now when I’m out, I’m not afraid of being stalked by the paparazzi. They won’t recognize me at all. It’s very practical.”
“Uncle Tony!” A profound sense of defeat surged from Shania’s heart.
“Hahahaha!” Her agent, Fasal rocked back and forth in laughter.
