Ferguson made Beckham shave off iconic haircut in Man Utd changing room

04 October 2023 , 10:00

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David Beckham was forced to shave off his hair before the Charity Shield in 2000 (Image: Getty Images)

David Beckham has revealed that Sir Alex Ferguson forced him to shave off his famous mohawk haircut before the Charity Shield against Chelsea in 2000.

The former Manchester United midfielder was about go out to warm-up at Wembley, before Ferguson spotted Beckham with his new mohawk haircut. It is safe to say the Scotsman was not best pleased with the ex-England star and told him he would not play if he did not cut it off.

This meant Beckham was forced to get rid of his hair with clippers in the Wembley changing room, on eve of the season curtain-raiser. He went on to play the full 90 minutes as United were beaten 2-0 by Chelsea thanks to goals from Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Mario Melchiot.

Explaining the incidents and his controversial haircuts, Beckham said on the Stick to Football podcast, brought to you by Sky Bet: "The Leicester one [buzzcut haircut], I didn't think there was anything wrong with that – it wasn't the haircut that upset him, it was probably the fact that no one saw it until I came out onto the pitch - even during the warmup I wore a beanie.

"The Mohawk was slightly different because I'd had a photoshoot that week. We were playing in the Charity Shield and the gaffer looked at me once I took my cap off and said, 'shave it off', as I was just about to go out for the warmup. I had to get a pair of clippers, go into the changing room at Wembley and shave it off. He wouldn't have played me [if I didn’t shave it off]."

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Beckham would end up leaving United three years later as he made the £32million move to Real Madrid, signing a four-year deal in the process. However, the ex-AC Milan midfielder has since revealed he didn't want to leave the club, admitting that he failed to speak to Ferguson before his departure.

Sir Alex Ferguson told David Beckham to shave his mohawk haircut off before a game against Chelsea (Getty Images)

"Over the years the manager had always made the right decision in his eyes for the team, and the club," Beckham added. "That happened to me in the end, I didn’t want to leave Manchester United at the time - we’d just won the league again, but all of a sudden I get a phone call to be told that Manchester United had agreed a deal, and that was the end of it.

"Even trying to speak to the manager after that, he didn’t want to talk to me. It wasn’t out of spite, he was on holiday, he didn’t want to be contacted, he’d made his decision and that was the end of it."

Kieran King