It was on 17th August 1996 that a certain Mr David Beckham became a household name. A mere 22 years ago, the Manchester United midfielder scored the goal that propelled him towards superstardom and ensured that he would go on to become a legend at Old Trafford, and beyond.
It was on this day that Beckham, sporting the highlighted blonde hair of a 1990's boy band member, took to the field at Selhurst Park as United played Wimbledon in their opening game of the 1996/1997 season. Cruising at 2-0 up, Beckham spotted Neil Sullivan was dithering a long way off his line and struck the ball towards goal with arrow-like precision from the half-way line - a full 55 yards in proper money - to score one of the most amazing goals of the Premier League era.
Beckham turned to the cameras to lap up the applause and it was ever thus for a man who won six Premier League titles and one Champions League crown with United before departing to enjoy great success at Real Madrid, AC Milan, LA Galaxy and Paris Saint-Germain.
Beckham was first given his chance by Alex Ferguson at the back end of the 1994/95 season as he made his Premier League debut against Leeds, making four appearances in total as the Red Devils eventually finished runners up to Blackburn Rovers.
After losing the experienced Andrei Kanchelskis, Mark Hughes and Paul Ince during the summer of 1995, United had been linked with the signings of Marc Overmars and Roberto Baggio but Fergie opted to put his faith in kids, including Nicky Butt and Beckham, as well as Gary and Phil Neville.
'Fergie's Fledglings' suffered a humiliating 3-1 defeat at Aston Villa on the opening day of the 1995/96 season and they were widely lambasted, with pundit Alan Hansen uttering the immortal phrase, "you can't win anything with kids", during an episode of Match Of The Day.
United certainly could win something with kids though as they went on to famously overhaul Newcastle's ten-point advantage to be crowned champions in 1996.
Despite their heroics at club level, Beckham was overlooked by Terry Venables for England's Euro '96 campaign. The Manchester United midfielder would certainly make his mark the following season as he stole all of the headlines with that famous opening day strike against Wimbledon, albeit the Red Devils would eventually go on to finish second to Arsenal in the final table.
