Beckham, four part documentary series available on Netflix

“David,” he told the 21-year old, “you get on the bus and you don’t say a word. No interviews.”

Was this the act of a man who did not want a glorious moment dulled by words, or a boss once again driving home the message that no player was bigger than the team?

The relationship between Beckham and Sir Alex runs like steel rope through Beckham, a four-part documentary series now on Netflix. It was a bond thought to be unbreakable but it snapped on contact with a singer from a girl band. Beckham had fallen for Victoria Adams, as she then was, aka Posh Spice from the Spice Girls.

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“I remember it being quite obvious that he wasn’t keen on me,” says the now Victoria Beckham of Sir Alex. “At the time I didn’t understand why.”

Beckham’s best friend and United team mate Gary Neville says Sir Alex did not like the “noise” around “Posh and Becks”.

“He thought the distraction was going to jeopardise David’s career.

Sir Alex signed the young Londoner as a teenager. “He came to us as a small, skinny little boy, but when you see potential it sticks out at you,” he tells the series’ director, Fisher Stevens.

Beckham played his first game with the big team when he was 17. From the start his exceptional talent shone through.

Eric Cantona, a teammate, compares him to “an artist in front of his canvas, he can put the ball anywhere”.

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After the “goal of the century” against Wimbledon in 1996, Beckham’s star began to rise. The Beckham brand was in its infancy, but already he was thinking about life after playing. Sponsors showered him with cash and he spent it - on watches, cars, clothes, even a fancy pen, recalls a still bemused Roy Keane, another interviewee.

“It definitely didn’t change me,” Beckham says of the whirlwind.

“He changed,” says Sir Alex. “No doubt about it. Getting David to keep his feet on the ground became more difficult.”

The arguments began, one of them over Beckham’s choice of agent. “He went absolutely mental at me. To the point where he wanted nothing to do with me. He wouldn’t even talk to me.”

It was to be a pattern that repeated itself during Beckham’s time at Manchester United.

But it was the man from Govan who rushed to Beckham’s defence when the player became a hate figure in England after kicking Argentina’s Diego Simeone in a World Cup match.

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“The Boss called me,” a tearful Beckham recalls. “He said ‘David, how are you doing son?’”

Sir Alex and his team put the word out - you take one on, you take us all on.

Meanwhile, the Posh and Becks circus rolled on, leading to more fights between player and manager over everything from haircuts to time off. Then came the now infamous incident in the team dressing room.

United had lost. A fuming Sir Alex was shouting at Beckham. The player argued back.

“And then I swore,” says Beckham. “I said the F-word and I saw him change. I was like ‘s***. I shouldn’t have said that’.”

Sir Alex kicked a pile of clothes in Beckham’s direction, a boot flew out and hit the player on the head.

“I mean honestly,” says Sir Alex, “it was an absolute freak”.

Beckham was later photographed with stitches above his eye. Sir Alex refuses to talk about that in the film but adds, “The only thing I will say is that I think that was stage-managed. It wasn’t even worth a stitch.”

Regardless, time was running out on the relationship between the two men. Beckham found out that a deal had been done to sell him to Barcelona (he eventually went to Real Madrid).

He phoned United but Sir Alex would not speak to him. “I’d have pleaded not to go,” says Beckham.

According to Sir Alex, matters had reached a stalemate so there was no point in talking.

“He could have stayed if he wanted,” he tells Stevens, “but I think he knew it was time.”

Beckham disagrees. “Did I ever want to leave Man United? Of course not. Never. It was my home. My relationship with the boss was always special. We had our moments but I still loved him.”

A pal says Beckham never got over the split.

For Sir Alex it was strictly business, football business. “You are never going to be in love with players all your life. Never. It’s never going to be that way because you are picking a player because of his performance on the football field, not because of your relationship with him off the field.”

The Beckham story moved on and went global, with spells in Spain and America, where he is now the co-owner of Inter Miami FC.

Sir Alex says if the midfielder had asked for his advice on moving to America it would have been ‘Not on your life’.”

Still arguing, right to the end.

Beckham is now available on Netflix