Djpekingman he was the prefect example of the 'right person at the right time', and bland enough as not to do anything fucking stupid.
Gascoigne in '90 & '91 had changed the dynamic of football celebrity from the dull patch of the 80's. Sky start sticking in serious money, PL kicked off in '92 with a increasingly global audience, and Adidas was eager to shift football boots in a new direction. Beckham pings one in from the half way line in '96, starts dating VB in '97 and the rest is history. Iain Dowie, Peter Beardsley and Steven Ogrizovic couldn't sell doughnuts to diabetics, but Beckham could.
He's now worth £500m, and fronts adverts during all the major continental and international tournaments like he's the mester, despite having never properly 'done it' at either a continental or international level. As an all round midfielder there were better players, and individual skill-wise there were better. He boils the piss in my pipes.