I’m not exactly sure what compelled me to get this book. I suppose I just wanted a light read, and figured that this would be a pretty decent story, aI’m not exactly sure what compelled me to get this book. I suppose I just wanted a light read, and figured that this would be a pretty decent story, as I’d enjoyed Bower’s previous book Revenge, covering the real story behind the headlines/mess that is Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.
After reading this, my conclusion? He should stick with investigative work regarding the Royal Family. I didn’t have a particularly strong opinion of the Beckhams leaning in a negative or a positive direction upon picking this up. It’s very much neutral. I have seen the Beckhams in the way they have apparently worked their asses off to maintain how they want the public to see them: an attractive power couple, dedicated to one another, and to their family.
Has Tom Bower managed to change my mind with this work? No, not quite. The reason being is that the book truly seems, as one reviewer said, to be some kind of smear campaign against the couple. I say that with no great love for them nor particular dislike. But the way Bower attacks them is rather ruthless and at some point you start to wonder if he was personally victimized by Posh or Becks.
His undisguised hatred and contempt is perhaps the most “shocking” part of this entire narrative.
You could literally sum it up like this: David and Victoria Beckham are very mediocre at best. David was okay at football until he decided to pursue fame. Victoria lacked any creativity or talent to make her own path for herself outside of being “David’s wife.”
David was repeatedly unfaithful to Victoria. Every time a new affair/allegations surfaced, they went into damage control mode: he by simply ignoring the allegations, her by shopping, feeling miserable, and staging photo ops and interviews to showcase how in love they were and that people made up stories because they were jealous of their love and their lives. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.
David and Victoria’s incomes and seemingly legal tax evasion tactics (especially David’s) were discussed in mind numbingly painful detail in pretty much every single chapter. To the point that the chapter offers little information on what it’s intended to be about. For instance, in the chapter dedicated to their eldest son Brooklyn’s marriage to billionaire heiress Nicola Peltz - this is among the very first few paragraphs:
After stating that Nicola’s father Nelson Peltz had little in common with the Beckhams and that he was not a football fan and “didn’t admire losers”, it then launches into this:
”One headline was particularly embarrassing. The MLS announced a $2 million fine on the club for failing to report the excessive payments to five players and for concealing Blaise Matuidi’s high salary. Jorge Mas was personally fined $250,000. He blamed McDonough outright…
The MLS’s sanction included a compulsory cut of the club’s budget by 25% for two years. That limited the purchase of any new player until 2023. Many talented players were forced to leave the club…”
Then the next page, after saying again the Beckhams had little in common with the Peltzes, we once again are subjected to an exhausting litany about finances:
”But at least the improved cost-controls had reduced the company’s annual losses from £15.6 million in 2019 and £10.5 million in 2020 to £5.9 million losses in 2021. Despite that improvement, for the first time, the auditors issued a statutory warning – a ‘material uncertainty’ — amounting to a question whether her company could continue operating.
Their stark message had been prompted by HSBC’s demand that she repay a £10 million loan. Beckham and the other shareholders had been forced to lend her a further £9.2 million. Her clothing company now owed £53.9 million to Beckham, although his company accounts showed debts of just £ 29 million…”
Then the chapter’s last page does not conclude with any mention of Brooklyn and Nicola’s wedding, but rather:
”Beckham still hoped to secure a knighthood. The honour was deserved, not least because he had also given £50 million to charity, supported the Sun’s Poppy campaign, visited the Chelsea pensioners (once), was a massive royalist, and three years earlier had paid £12.7 million in tax.”
To say that 75% of the book is spent discussing what brands they wear/promote and how much money they have, spend, report to have - is probably a conservative estimate.
It’s also very strange the way Bower repeatedly asserts that Victoria is “no one without David”, yet fails to acknowledge that his own description of David’s success (a gorgeous, seemingly relatable, down to earth family man who loved his wife and children) is wholly dependent on Victoria’s willingness to stay with HIM.
Yet never does he say “David Beckham would be no one if Victoria left him” or at the least, “David might still have been universally loved for his good looks and decent football skills early on, but undoubtedly his popularity wouldn’t have been as great without the image of him as a devoted family man to accompany these traits. Moreover, it would have eroded entirely after he grew older and quit professional football.”
Oddly enough, after all of this repetition throughout the book about Victoria’s fate being tied to his, only in the end does he state that,
”His status and survival would have been washed away without Victoria’s determination to maintain the illusion of a happy family. Suffering his adultery and absences she steadfastly protected the brand. In return he continued to finance her vanity business. Her tiny fashion house is unlikely to be genuinely profitable, but her supporters fully approve her steely ambition, regardless of the monotonous repetition and promotional interviews.”
Damn. Still not letting up with the constant jabs against Victoria: “her tiny fashion house” “unlikely to be profitable” and “monotonous repetition.”
I cannot recommend strongly enough against reading this book, unless you hate the Beckhams with a passion and just want to feel that hatred again. It’s doubtful you’ll learn anything new. Maybe it may interest someone in accounting who wants to take a stab at figuring out the Beckhams’s complicated financial situation, but that likely wouldn’t work as not all pertinent information is provided.
Not to mention there are a ton of typos and Bower regularly prints “MLS” as “MSL.” Just a complete mess of a book. Don’t waste your time. Trust me on this one....more
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