Exclusive:David Beckham request and Sir Alex Ferguson's message to the Preston North End chairman
PNE famously signed David Beckham on loan from Manchester United
Former Preston North End chairman Bryan Gray has recalled his exchange with Sir Alex Ferguson after David Beckham’s famous loan spell.
Before going on to become a superstar, Beckham had a five-game stint with the Lilywhites when he was just 19-years-old. The Manchester United winger scored twice in his five PNE appearances - one of those directly from a corner, with the other a trademark free-kick. As part of his recent, exclusive interview with the Lancashire Post, Gray reflected on bringing Beckham to Deepdale.
“Alex wanted young David Beckham to be toughened up so a two month loan spell, here he comes...” Gray told the Lancashire Post. “Gary (Peters) said to me, ‘Chairman, this young lad's going to play and he's going to take all the dead balls’.
“I just said Gary, ‘Are you sure about this?’ - because the players in the third division at that stage were big strong men and young, weedy David stood out! But of course, at the end of that loan spell - which ended shorter than it was due to because he performed well - I said to Alex, ‘Alex, can we buy this young man because he's the kind of player we need?’
“And Alex said, ‘You can't afford to buy this player, Bryan, he's going to be a world-class player’. That was an interesting insight of Alex - fantastic judgment of course - and David went back to Manchester, he went into the first team and the rest, as they say, is history.
“The end of that story, really, was that as a result of that our relationship with Manchester United grew, and we later acquired (Michael) Appleton, (Jon) Macken and (Colin) Murdock from United.
“And ultimately, they did a great job for us here and we sold them for a large profit, the three of them. So, they helped us on that journey and it wouldn't have been possible had we not had David Beckham.”
On how Beckham was back then, Gray added: “Yeah, shy. Players are sort of in awe of the chairman which is odd really, because you think, ‘Well, we're all just people’. But you are called chairman, and Gary and David always called me chairman which is slightly formal.
“But I think there was a sense in that formality, because you've got to have that balance of formality and respect, but also recognise we're all people and need support, and we've all got our jobs to do. I think getting that balance right is the secret of management.”
‘United didn’t back Moyes’
Gray oversaw a positive period of transformation while at the PNE. A key part of that was his working relationship with David Moyes.
The decision to appoint Moyes, in 1998, was met with some backlash from supporters but it was a succession plan, and Gray had absolute conviction in the appointment.
He is delighted to see him still operating in the Premier League but believes the Scot didn’t get a fair crack at the Manchester United job, after being picked to replace Sir Alex Ferguson.
“I always regretted that Manchester United didn't back David Moyes,” said Gray. “They should have and I think they made a big mistake, one which I spoke to Alex Ferguson and Bobby Charlton about. I think they wanted David to be supported.
“That's just an example of how the short term pressures can force the wrong decisions. I think you've got to start with a manager and you've got to be prepared to stick with that manager, provided you've made the right decision.”