From The Times:
The book by Ellis Cashmore, professor of culture, media and sport at Staffordshire University is usual mix of pomposity and stating the bleeding obvious.
‘David Beckham is a product of our time. His skill as a footballer would have been valuable in any team, in any age, but he could have achieved his standing as an international icon and marketing commodity only in the present era.
A series of fortunate coincidences have combined to take him to the status he now enjoys. During the 1980s, with the disasters of Bradford, Heysel and Hillsborough, football lacked the acceptable social cachet it enjoys today. At Manchester United, Beckham has also been a prominent member of a team that has enjoyed unprecedented domestic dominance during a time when there was increasing exposure for the game on television.
There has therefore been a unique opportunity to promote Beckham. His appeal is that he is universally appreciated by both sexes and all ages. He even enjoys a gay following, something that he has himself admitted, saying that he is not embarrassed by it.’