Blend it Like Beckham
	England's captain on keeping his life in balance: "Never say never"
	By JENNIE JAMES | Alderly Edge

	GETTY NEWS

At times you've had a very difficult relationship with the England fans — especially after you were sent off against Argentina. But all that seems to have changed. How do you and the fans feel about each other now? It's better now than it's ever been through my whole career. My relationship with the Manchester United fans has always been good — whether there's been ups or downs, they've always stuck by me. When I first came into the England squad, most of the fans that used to come and watch us at Wembley were of London-based teams — Arsenal, Tottenham, West Ham. The Manchester United players always got a certain amount of stick. We got used to that but obviously it's not nice — you're playing in the England shirt, you want the support of everyone. It was hard to start off with, and then came the sending off in 1998. I had a difficult time after that which went on for a couple of years — getting booed every time I touched the ball or my name was mentioned. I could have reacted in two ways. I could have just got on with my football. Or I could have gone under and not wanted to be out there. Sometimes in games I reacted when I was getting booed and jeered. But I wanted to work hard and I wanted to play football. What turned most of the fans around was when I was made England captain. There were a certain number of fans that were starting to turn toward me anyway, because I was starting to perform a little bit better and scoring a goal or two. And then once I was given the captaincy the rest of the fans seemed more supportive. It helped that I scored a couple of vital goals at vital times [such as the last-minute equalizer against Greece that secured England's automatic qualification for World Cup 2002.] The England fans are brilliant toward me now. This country likes to see a young person do well, then get knocked down, then pick themselves up again.

	Sometimes in games I reacted when I was getting booed and jeered. But I wanted to work hard and I wanted to play football

Have you changed since you've had the England captaincy? I've had to, really. I just usually get on with the game and make sure I'm playing well for the team. But when you're captain, you have to think about different things — where players should be or what they should be doing or what they're feeling. I never had that sort of responsibility in football. I've had to grow up on the pitch as well as off it.

You've won almost everything there is to win at club level with Manchester United. How do you keep yourself motivated? I've always been a driven person. I don't sit back. And I'm stubborn. The year after we won the Treble [1999, the year Manchester United won the Premiership, the FA Cup and the European Cup] I wanted to do it again. Every game I go into I treat like a final. I like playing in big games. Usually I rise to them — that's part and parcel of being a footballer. I'd rather play in front of one hundred thousand people than two thousand people. When you're playing teams like Real Madrid, Barcelona, Juventus — they're big games that any footballer would want to play in.

What is your driving ambition at the moment? I'd like to win something big with England. There's no reason why we can't win Euro 2004, we've got the players. The win over Turkey [the April 2 Euro 2004 qualifier] was probably one of the most satisfying wins I've had in an England shirt, besides the World Cup 2002 game against Argentina. Because of what was said — the doubts raised by the press about the players' passion and the manager's passion — we were totally hyped up for that game. I knew we were going to win it. We all realize what a great chance we had at World Cup 2002. We had a 1-0 lead over Brazil, and if we had made it to half-time it might have been a different story. But you can never rest on a 1-0 lead against players like that and a team like that. With two minutes to go [in the first half] I thought the ball was going out and I jumped to let it go out and they broke off and scored. But you've got to move on. If you worried about what's gone on in the past you'd never get anywhere. We've got to look forward and believe we can win something. Our fans deserve it and our country deserves it. People have got to have a little more faith.

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