David Beckham has long been thought of as a sir in waiting given his services to football, but his wait for the gong goes on after the New Year’s Honours list was revealed
David Beckham has long been thought of as a sir in waiting given his services to football, but his wait for the gong goes on after the New Year’s Honours list was revealed David Beckham has long been thought of as a sir in waiting given his services to football, but his wait for the gong goes on after the New Year’s Honours list was revealed
David Beckham has missed out on a knighthood once again as New Year’s honours list was revealed – more than seven years after he savaged the committee for excluding him in a leaked email.
Beckham is one of the most recognisable names and faces in British sport, having captained the England team and enjoying a superb career that has seen him play for Manchester United, Real Madrid, AC Milan and PSG, winning major trophies across the continent – including the Premier League, La Liga and the Champions League.
He has gone on to become the founder and owner of MLS side Inter Miami and given his notable services to sport, many fans have called him a “sir in waiting”.
The 49-year-old, however, has been kept waiting in his bid to earn a knighthood, after failing to add to the OBE award he was given back in 2003.
It comes more than seven years after shocking emails were leaked in 2017, which may have set him back in his goal to receive a knighthood in the near future.
He is said to have branded the honours committee “unappreciative c***s” and added that he “didn’t care about being knighted” – though the ex-midfielder has claimed some of the leaked emails had been doctored. The leaked emails claim Beckham said: “I expected nothing less. It’s a disgrace to be honest and if I was American I would of got something like this 10 years ago.”
He is also reported to have slammed opera star Katherine Jenkins after she was given an OBE. “Katherine Jenkins OBE for what? Singing at the rugby and going to see the troops. F***ing joke.”
Beckham has also done a lot of work for charity UNICEF, which many felt would help his cause towards a knighthood, but more leaked emails appeared to show him refuse to donate $1m to the organisation.
The leaks show Beckham giving a frosty reply to a PR representative for the charity asking him to spend $1m (£800,000) on a prize-giving dinner in Shanghai. “I don’t want to put my personal money into this cause,” he is claimed to have said. “To pour this million into the fund, is like putting my own money in. If there was no fund, the money would be for me. This f***ing money is mine.”
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A close friend of Beckham exclusively told The Mirror in 2017 : “He is very calm at the moment because he knows the great work that he has done for UNICEF.
“But he is just saddened that people would question all of that work. Genuinely, he wasn’t as vitriolic as that, but you do say some things in private and in the heat of the moment.
“To be honest, he does feel that he has given so much to his country. And sometimes you say things in private that anyone would say and you don’t really mean it.
“While he was frustrated in those emails, he was over it the moment he sent them. Getting the knighthood is not what his work is about. He doesn’t care if he gets a knighthood or not.”
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