Football: Three finals and a wedding

FA Cup final: United's best man is grooming himself for greatness as endeavour works wonders; Beckham's ability to bear the burden of fame has spiced the season.

THE LOVE Story Of Our Time! A recent edit-ion of OK magazine invites us to open its pages, before adding gushingly: "Victoria and David proudly invite you inside to share their beautiful home." It made you wonder whether, one day, a proud David Beckham will be able to invite everyone to appreciate his contribution to the beautiful game, too.

Not for a while, it would appear. If the Manchester United midfielder had started out determined to incur the sneering envy of the iconoclasts among rival supporters he could not have gone about it in a more flagrant manner.

Not only does he have the temerity to have added a pinch of Spice to his already exalted existence, but he and the Posh one celebrate it with a huge portrait of them kissing in their entrance hall. Not since Steve Ovett used to write his affection for his partner in the air as he breasted the tape has a sportsman's love life been more public or, in Beckham's case, more the subject of revile. That red card in St Etienne merely heightened the ill-will. Or at least became an excuse to inflict it further.

Presumably, it is similar warped minds that used to inflict torment at bear-baiting who now indulge in Beckham-riling, its modern equivalent. It will inevitably be the same against Newcastle next Saturday at Wembley where the FA's trophy is the middle of three "cup finals" which stand between Beckham's team and the treble. There are still pockets of vitriol, like those emptied over him at every corner during Wednesday's contest at Ewood Park after minor contretemps with Callum Davidson and Lee Carsley.

Yet, slowly the mood is changing. The fact that a majority of Sky TV viewers voted for him as Man of the Match may not have said much about their judgement on a night when, by his own imperious standards, Beckham too often hit shots towards sand rather than his typical drives towards the flag. But it conveys a considerable amount about how he is now being perceived in more appreciative fashion by other than Manchester United supporters.

Even the most myopic, bigoted fanatic who harbours suspicions about anyone blessed with pure talent - unless it is George Best, who possessed the presumably mitigating features of being a womaniser and boozer - will be silenced by a player whose skills are supplemented by endeavour. And in Beckham, they don't come any more industrious. So much so, you wonder if some European commission on employees' rights has not intervened, claiming he is consistently breaching work-rate legislation. Beckham has effectively quashed the prejudice that being a class act will inevitably mean an irritating tendency towards insouciance when the ball needs winning and graft is required.

Alex Ferguson's No 2, Steve McLaren, detailed to analyse United's games, estimates that Beckham covered over 14km in the home game against Juventus. "I learn a lot about the players that way," he says. "We register how far a player has run in a game, and factors like how many sprints he has made. Of the 22 players on the park at the start, David had run the most by a long way, and also delivered the most passes. His contribution was enormous."

No wonder that towards the end of an interview with Eamonn Holmes on GMTV on Friday, the first priority of Mrs David Beckham-to-be was to get home and cook her man a meal, "full of protein and carbohydrates". He will need every bit of sustenance he can digest over the next 11 days, culminating with the Champions' League final in Barcelona. Four days before that, Wembley's acreage will still be capable of sapping the most sinewy of young limbs. Yet, the East Londoner should flourish in the space it affords his fleetness of foot and his almost intuitive recognition of his team-mates' search for space off the ball.

McLaren insists there is still more to extract from his charge. "If I'd looked at David a year ago, I'd have said, `Yes, he's a great crosser, but he can improve'. I think that he has become a more complete player, emotionally. In fact, the control of his emotions has been remarkable, considering what he went through in the summer. He's come through that and he's stronger mentally to deal with any adverse pressure that might come his way. Because of that he's a far better player now and he can get better still."

It is clear that a sense of contentment runs deep, not just en famille Beckham, but within his extended family at Old Trafford. The more you talk to those around him at Old Trafford, the more you comprehend that neither his France 98 dismissal nor the vile abuse heaped on him because of his high-profile relationship was ever likely to diminish his appetite for the game in general, or Manchester United in particular.

"What he had to go through last summer was nothing short of scandalous," says Gary Neville, his closest friend off the pitch, and a formidable ally on it down the right flank. "Why he had to go through that, I don't know. I can't understand it. People can say what they want about you off the pitch, but he's answered everybody with his performances on the pitch where nobody can touch him. His ability, talent and hard work will always shine through.

"David's performances this year have been brilliant, along with the character he has shown to come back from what was a horrendous slating. There was never any danger of him caving in. He's had too good a schooling at this club for that."

The tutelage at this unique seat of learning also includes magnanimity when not selected in the first eleven. When was the last time you heard that Old Trafford was riven with dissention by its celebrated names languishing on the bench? The FA Cup final is an excellent case in point. The zenith of most players' careers, there are those like Nicky Butt who are unlikely to figure. Ferguson cannot afford to risk him in a game which understandably takes third priority behind the championship and the Champions' League. Deprived of the suspended Paul Scholes and captain Roy Keane against Bayern Munich, Ferguson is unlikely to take a chance at Wembley with his other custom-made central midfielder as United pursue a 10th FA Cup triumph.

When questioned about his Wembley line-up, he declares: "It depends on how we get on against Tottenham. If we win on Sunday, I may play myself!" The manager adds, in rather more serious vein: "If we've already won the championship, the place will be on such a high. There will be a lot of confidence without us being complacent, whereas Barcelona will be a different type of situation because we've not been there before."

Butt, who played in the 1995 defeat by Everton and the victory over Liverpool the following year, accepts the probability of his omission without demur. "Obviously I'd love to play, but I understand it if I didn't," he says. "I hope Paul and Roy play because they deserve to; they've been so important in getting the club to where it is this season."

Where else would you get that reaction from a player, an England one at that? It tells you that the spirit is strong at Old Trafford. With Wembley their 61st game of the season, would that the flesh is strong too.

WEMBLEY HEAD TO HEAD

Manchester United

Peter Schmeichel

Gary Neville

Jaap Stam

Ronny Johnsen

Phillip Neville

David Beckham

Roy Keane or Nicky Butt

Paul Scholes

Ryan Giggs

Dwight Yorke

Andy Cole

Manager: Alex Ferguson

Route to the final

3rd rd: Middlesbrough (H) 3-1 (Cole, Irwin, Giggs)

4th rd: Liverpool (H) 2-1 (Yorke, Solskjaer)

5th rd: Fulham (H) 1-0 (Cole)

6th rd: Chelsea (H) 0-0

6th rd Replay: Chelsea (A) 2-0 (Yorke 2)

Semi-final: Arsenal 0-0 (at Villa Park)

Semi-final replay: Arsenal 2-1(aet) (Beckham, Giggs)(at Villa Park)

Newcastle United

Shay Given

Laurent Charvet

Nikos Dabizas

Steve Howey

Didier Domi

Nolberto Solano

Dietmar Hamann

Robert Lee

Gary Speed

Alan Shearer

Duncan Ferguson

Manager: Ruud Gullit

Route to the final

3rd rd: Crystal Palace (H) 2-1 (Speed, Shearer)

4th rd: Bradford (H) 3-0 (Hamann, Shearer, Ketsbaia)

5th rd: Blackburn (H) 0-0

5th rd replay: Blackburn (A) 1-0 (Saha)

6th rd: Everton (H) 4-1 (Ketsbaia 2, Georgiadis, Shearer)

Semi-final: Tottenham 2-0 (aet) (Shearer 2) (at Old Trafford)

The Uniteds have met before in the FA Cup only twice

18 Feb 1990 5th rd: Manchester Utd 3 (Robins, D Wallace, McClair) Newcastle Utd 2 (McGhee pen, Scott)

27 March 1909 semi-final: Manchester Utd 1 (Halse) Newcastle Utd 0

(at Bramwell Lane, Sheffield)