Beckham: given ultimatum
Sports journalists gave England captain David Beckham a “one-out, allout” ultimatum when he tried to ban certain reporters from a pre-Euro 2004 press conference.
Beckham was angry over coverage of his alleged affairs with Rebecca Loos and Sarah Marbeck. And it became known that he wanted to bar the Daily Mail, News of the World, Sky News, Sky Sports and ITV from an England press conference in Sardinia on Tuesday.
Daily Mirror Beckham correspondent Stephen Moyes said: “He made it very clear a couple of hours before that he was not prepared for journalists from certain organisations to be in the press conference.
“When everyone else knew about this there was a point of principle and it was a case of everyone or no-one.
The FA was faced with what would have been an embarrassing PR disaster a couple of weeks ahead of Euro 2004 – they suggested it might be a good idea if he spoke to everybody.”
Beckham branded allegations of his affairs “an absolute disgrace” during the press conference and insisted “I’m a nice man and a loving husband”.
The News of the World broke the story of Beckham’s affair at the beginning of April.
Victoria Beckham this week denied that David had cheated on her in an interview with Marie Claire that was previewed in the Sunday papers.
In response, the News of the World leader column said on Sunday: “She knows where the law courts are and is welcome to sue us. But we’re not holding our breath.”
By Dominic Ponsford
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