FERGIE STARTS THE SEASON ON THE RIGHT FOOT

Last updated : 04 August 2002 By Editor

"Personally, I thought he shouldn't have gone to Dubai with England.

"He should have been back at our place training there under our control, but they wanted him out in Dubai and I think that was a mistake.

"I tried to make a stand on that because I felt it would have been in David's interests to regain his fitness with us - but they wanted him when I thought it would have been better if he had stayed with us.

"With him missing the last part of the season I thought Beckham's freshness might have helped England but instead it showed he needed games more than anything.''

I don't think David was on the ball enough in the World Cup. He didn't seem to be the dominant part of the team, but maybe that was because of the way they played, I don't know."