Peter Beardsley

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Peter Beardsley
Personal information
Full name	Peter Andrew Beardsley
Date of birth	January 18, 1961 (age 46)
Place of birth	Newcastle upon Tyne, England
Nickname	"The Beard", "Beardo" , "pedro"
Playing position	Forward
Youth clubs
	Newcastle United Wallsend BC
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1979–82 1982 1982–83 1983 1983–87 1987–91 1991–93 1993–97 1997–98 1998 1998 1998–99 1999 1999	Carlisle United Vancouver Whitecaps Manchester United Vancouver Whitecaps Newcastle United Liverpool Everton Newcastle United Bolton Wanderers → Manchester City (loan) Fulham Hartlepool United Melbourne Knights Doncaster Rovers Total	104 0(22) 00? 00(?) 000 00(0) 00? 00(?) 147 0(61) 131 0(46) 081 0(25) 129 0(46) 017 00(2) 006 00(0) 021 00(4) 022 00(2) 002 00(0) 00? 00(?) 659 (210)
National team2
1986–96	England	059 00(9)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 17:00, 30 November 2006 (UTC). 2 National team caps and goals correct as of 17:00, 30 November 2006 (UTC). * Appearances (Goals)

Peter Andrew Beardsley MBE (born January 18, 1961, Newcastle upon Tyne) is a renowned English former footballer of the 1980s and 1990s, who once set a record transfer fee in the game and represented his country 59 times, on one occasion as captain.

Contents 1 Early career 2 Newcastle United 3 Liverpool 4 Everton 5 The Return to Newcastle 6 Later Career and Retirement 7 Trivia 8 Honours 9 Notes and references 10 External links

[edit] Early career

A product of the famous Wallsend Boys Club in Newcastle, Beardsley was released as a teenager by hometown club Newcastle United but found his way back there in 1983 after successful spells with Carlisle United (126 appearances scoring 26 goals) and Canadian NASL outfit Vancouver Whitecaps who he joined from Carlisle for £275,000 on the 1st April 1982. He stayed their for just over 5 months before Manchester United came looking to bring him back to England. They paid the Whitecaps £300,000 on the 9th September '82 for the Geordies services but, amazingly, only played him in one League Cup tie before making a huge mistake of letting him leave Old Trafford.

Beardsley rejoined Vancouver on a free transfer on the 1st March 1983 but, again, his stay was a short one. He was on the move once again on the 23rd September '83 this time to rejoin the club who let him go as a teenager, Newcastle.

[edit] Newcastle United

Newcastle were, somewhat, fortunate to be able to pick up Beardsley's signature for the bargain price of £150,000 seeing as they let him go when they could have signed him for nothing.

The pacey, incisive and skillful forward made his long awaited, for him, debut for the Magpies the day after he signed, the 24th, in the 1-1 2nd division draw with Barnsley at Oakwell. Beardsley was an instant hit with the passionate Toon Army, scoring and setting up spectacular goals as he went on the celebrate promotion with his team-mates, who were captained by Kevin Keegan in his final season as a player, they finished in the final promotion spot behind winners Chelsea and runners-up Sheffield Wednesday.

Beardsley scored his first goal for the Magpies on the 19th October '83 in their 2-0 victory over Cardiff City at Ninian Park. He will remember his first goals in front of the St James' Park faithful, they came in Newcastle's next fixture, against Manchester City, United thrashed City 5-1 and Beardsley scored his first ever hat-trick, veteran Keegan got in on the act and so did another blossoming youngster, a certain Chris Waddle.

In his first season in the 1st division Beardsley showed that he could live with the best of them as he scored a respectable 17 goals in 38 league games as Newcastle finished in 14th position. He, again, proved in could mix it with the best defences in the country during the following campaign as he played in all of Newcastle's 42 league matches scoring 19 goals.

Whilst at Newcastle, Beardsley became a regular in the England side and teamed with striker Gary Lineker, who described Beardsley as "the best partner I could ever have". Ironically, it was Lineker who made way for Peter when manager Bobby Robson gave him his debut as a sub on the 29th January 1986 in the 4-0 friendly victory over Egypt in Cairo. His first goal came in his 4th appearance on the 17th May '86 in the 3-0 friendly win over Mexico in Los Angeles.

Having only made his debut in the January of '86, Beardsley's performances for England won him a call-up for the 1986 World Cup finals in Mexico, England scored seven goals in the tournament, of which Lineker scored six (winning the Golden Boot for doing so), the other goal came from Beardsley in a 3-0 victory over Paraguay in the second round. England failed to score a goal in the World Cup, before Beardsley was played from the start in the 3rd match, which was against Poland (3-0 win). Beardsley contributed in that match with a spectacular cross to Steve Hodge, which allowed Hodge to make England's second goal for Lineker.

Upon returning from the World Cup, Beardsley helped Newcastle to another mid-table finish (11th), scoring 11 goals in 27 appearances, and won a further 6 caps for his country before Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish sought Beardsley signature. The offer was too good to refuse with Liverpool having just won the double, so after 164 appearances scoring 61 goals (all league) Beardo swapped the black and white stripes of Newcastle for the red of Liverpool.

[edit] Liverpool

Liverpool paid an English record transfer fee of £1.9 million to bring Beardsley to Anfield on the 14th July '87, he was brought in along with John Barnes to form, probably, the most exciting attacking lines in Liverpool's illustrious history. They were added to John Aldridge, who had signed during the previous campaign, with the three tearing Arsenal apart on Beardsley and Barnes' debut at Highbury for Aldo to score after just 9 minutes of the opening day of the 1987/88 season, the 15th August '87. Liverpool went on to win 2-1 and this would shape the rest of the season for the Reds.

Beardo's first goal for his new club came on the 29th August '87 in the 4-1 thrashing of Coventry City at Highfield Road, Beardsley's 83rd minute strike rounded off a fantastic day for the reds after Steve Nicol had hit a brace (20th & 49th} and Aldridge had slotted home a 52nd minute penalty.

Beardsley helped Liverpool to a record equalling 29 league matches undefeated as Liverpool convincingly strolled to the League title. Beardsley became a darling of the Kop, scoring goals and making plenty more as the side suffered only two League defeats all season. However, there was disappointment at the end when Wimbledon denied them the 'double' with a shock 1-0 win in the FA Cup final, a game in which Beardsley scored only for it to be ruled out by the referee who awarded Liverpool a free-kick for an earlier foul instead of allowing play to continue.

Liverpool returned to Wembley and won the FA Cup the following year, but lost their League championship with virtually the last kick of the last game of the season against Arsenal. They did win the championship again in 1990, but Dalglish quit soon after, and Beardsley found himself out of favour with new manager Graeme Souness, even though he maintained his place in the England team and featured in both Euro 88 and the 1990 World Cup. He was also given the honour of captaining England on the 17th February '88 in a 0-0 draw with Israel.

During Beardo's Anfield career in played in 175 matches and scored 59 goals, but it was his vision, guile and all action style of play that endeared him to the Anfield faithful, so much so he was voted in at a more than respectable 19th position in the 2006 poll 100 Players Who Shook The Kop conducted by the official Liverpool Football Club web site, over 110,000 supporters worldwide voted for their 10 favourite players of all time.

[edit] Everton

Liverpool's derby rivals, Everton succeeded in gaining Beardsley's signature when he joined them on the 5th August 1991 for a £1 million. He made his debut on the 17th August in a 2-1 defeat to Nottingham Forest at the City Ground he was now aged 30.

Beardsley crossed the city to join Everton, a move which would normally incur the antipathy of the Liverpool supporters. However, he was forgiven because the fans were unhappy that Beardsley had not been retained and blamed the club, rather than the player. He played well and scored freely for the blue half of Merseyside, though ultimately he won nothing.

The one thing all Evertonians agree is that they never had Beardsley in their side long enough and wished he had joined them sooner. He finished as the club's top scorer by the end of his first season at Goodison Park and again showed his dynamic quality during his second season, but off the field Everton were suffering financial difficulties and when former club Newcastle offered Everton 1.5 million for Peter it was a sum they couldn't turn down.

After just 95 matches for Everton, scoring 32 goals, he was on his way back to his home town club Newcastle.

[edit] The Return to Newcastle

On the 16th July 1993 Beardsley went back to Newcastle after his old team-mate and strike partner Kevin Keegan became manager. He was recalled to the England team and ultimately ended his international career in 1996 after gaining 59 caps scoring 9 goals. He played a magnificent swansong of four years at his favourite club, almost captaining them to the FA Premier League title in 1996, though ultimately they just missed out to former club Manchester United.

During his second spell at St James' Park his racked up 157 appearances and scored 56 goals bringing his overall total after 2 spells with the club to 321 appearances in which he banged in 117 goals, a goal every 2¾ matches, a decent ratio for a player who was seen by many as a provider rather than a goalscorer.

[edit] Later Career and Retirement

He left Newcastle on 18th August 1997 for £45,000 joining Bolton Wanderers where he made 21 appearances, he then went on loan to Manchester City where he played 6 times, Fulham where he made 28 appearances in 2 separate loan spells, eventually signing for them. He then went to Hartlepool United who he joined on a free and played 22 times. Doncaster Rovers were his last English side playing for them 22 times before leaving them on the 30th November 1999. He finally ended his career at the age of 38 when he played twice for the Melbourne Knights in Australia.

[edit] Trivia

• In 1995, he was awarded the MBE for services to the game.
• He has captained England just once in his entire career.
• He is now on the coaching staff in the Academy at Newcastle United.
• He is married with a daughter and a son.
• He once claimed in a matchday programme interview that if he could be invisible for a day, he would stand at a pelican crossing all day, pressing the button.
• He once starred in an American infomercial on NBC for Adidas.
• He once scored four goals for England against Aylesbury United. These did not count towards his international tally, however, as this was not an official international match.
• Steve Davis once played a frame of snooker with Peter for Comic Relief that raised £1,000.
• He was terrified of swimming until he recently overcame his fear.
• He once played in goal for Newcastle against West Ham United in 1986 because there were no substitute goalkeepers and the no.1 was injured during the game. The game ended in an 8-1 defeat for Newcastle, but without Beardsley having conceded any of the goals.
• In the episode Camille from the fourth series of the UK sitcom Red Dwarf, Beardsley is briefly mentioned as the star of the (fictional) remake version of the film Casablanca.
• He is a total abstainer of alcohol because, as he said in an interview, he doesn't like the taste of it.
• It has been rumoured that Peter enjoys ice cream, and plans to open a shop in the suburbs of Tamworth.
• He has an Intelligence Quota of 145 and is currently a member of MENSA.
• During a match between Melbourne Knights and Springvale White Eagles, Peter played the whole match with his shorts on backwards, only to be noticed in injury time by the referree who subsequently issued a yellow card.

[edit] Honours

• 1987/88 Football League First Division (Level 1)
• 1988/89 Charity Shield
• 1988/89 FA Cup
• 1989/90 Charity Shield
• 1989/90 Football League First Division (Level 1)
• 1990/91 Charity Shield
• 1998/99 Football League Second Division (Level 3)

[edit] Notes and references

[edit] External links

• Peter Beardsley career stats at Soccerbase
• Official Liverpool FC profile
• Profile at LFCHistory.net
• Peter Beardsley index at Sporting-heroes.net

	England squad - 1986 FIFA World Cup Quarter-finalists
1 Shilton | 2 Gary Stevens | 3 Sansom | 4 Hoddle | 5 Martin | 6 Butcher | 7 Bryan Robson | 8 Wilkins | 9 Hateley | 10 Lineker | 11 Waddle | 12 Anderson | 13 Woods | 14 Fenwick | 15 Gary A. Stevens | 16 Reid | 17 Steven | 18 Hodge | 19 Barnes | 20 Beardsley | 21 Dixon | 22 Bailey | Coach: Bobby Robson

	England squad - 1990 FIFA World Cup Fourth Place
1 Shilton | 2 Stevens | 3 Pearce | 4 Webb | 5 Walker | 6 Butcher | 7 Bryan Robson | 8 Waddle | 9 Beardsley | 10 Lineker | 11 Barnes | 12 Parker | 13 Woods | 14 Wright | 15 Dorigo | 16 McMahon | 17 Platt | 18 Hodge | 19 Gascoigne | 20 Steven | 21 Bull | 22 Beasant | Coach: Bobby Robson