Kevin Beattie

Thomas Kevin Beattie (18 December 1953 – 16 September 2018) was an English footballer.

Born into poverty, he played at both professional and international levels, mostly as a centre-half.

He spent the majority of his playing career at Ipswich Town, the club with which he won both the FA Cup and the UEFA Cup.

Thomas Kevin Beattie was born in Carlisle on 18 December 1953.

His family lived in the Botcherby estate and he was one of nine children: five boys and four girls.

He became known by his middle name, as his father was also named Thomas Beattie.

Beattie's mother was a cleaner at a Lipton tea shop, whilst his father worked for the National Coal Board, delivering coal.

The elder Thomas played amateur football as a goalkeeper and once had a trial with Aston Villa, but turned down an offer to join the club as he could earn more working for the Coal Board.

After he was forced to give up work due to a back problem, the family suffered financially and were often short of food, leading to the young Beattie taking fruit and vegetables from local allotments.

In later life, he recalled, "There was often only food on the table when Dad had backed a winning horse, or else won a game of darts, or dominoes down at his local pub."

Beattie supported his local football team, Carlisle United, and idolised players like Hughie McIlmoyle.

He recalled being "devastated" when McIlmoyle was too busy to sign an autograph outside the club, resolving never to turn down such requests.

Beattie attended St Cuthbert's Roman Catholic junior school, where he began playing football for the school team, initially as a goalkeeper.

His family were unable to afford the football boots he needed, but a teacher named Mr Raffety bought a pair for him.

Beattie soon became a forward and modelled himself on Chelsea's Peter Osgood.

Although Beattie passed his eleven-plus exams, his family could not afford the grammar school uniform, so he moved to St Patrick's Roman Catholic senior school.

He began playing for Blackfriars, a local youth team managed by Raffety, and also, from the age of 14, for a pub team, alongside his father.

Raffety recommended him to Carlisle United, but the club did not have a youth team.

Beattie was also told that Celtic had shown an interest in him, but the club had been wrongly told that he was not a Catholic, the traditional religion of the majority of the club's fanbase.

He left school aged 14, and subsequently worked as a machine fitter and delivery boy in factories, a warehouse, a dry cleaner and then a furniture company.

At the age of 15, Beattie was playing for Blackfriars on Sunday and for a club called St Augustine on Saturdays, when he was spotted by a football scout and offered a trial with Liverpool.

Beattie travelled to Liverpool and impressed manager Bill Shankly sufficiently for him to be invited back to sign for the club.

Beattie returned to Liverpool on his own, but nobody from the club arrived to meet him at Lime Street station.

After waiting an hour and assuming they had lost interest, and with nothing but his boots and train ticket, he returned home to Carlisle.

Shankly would later describe missing out on signing the youngster as one of his biggest mistakes.

Soon after this, Beattie joined Ipswich Town as an apprentice.

Ipswich manager Bobby Robson made sure that he was met at Euston station in London, played in a youth match at Fulham, and was accompanied all the way to Ipswich's Portman Road ground by the club's chief scout, Ron Gray.

Robson told Gray, "If you miss him, you've lost your job".

The poverty Beattie came from was evident when he arrived in Ipswich wearing his father's shoes, so when Ipswich signed him, the club immediately bought him some clothes.

As a youth he had played as a striker, but Robson converted him into a defender, usually a centre-half; the player said in later life that the move suited him well, as it meant he could see all the play in front of him.

Now earning a wage, Beattie tried to help support his family, sending money home each week.

He also stepped in to prevent domestic violence between his parents: "I became extremely upset when I found out that Dad was spending the money that I had been sending home on drink and Mum was going without. Not only that but I also found out that his drinking had got worse and he had started knocking Mum around."

He was also named the inaugural Professional Footballers' Association Young Player of the Year at the end of the 1972–73 season, and featured in the film Escape to Victory alongside many of his Ipswich teammates.

Beattie's playing career took him from rags to riches, but according to The Daily Telegraph he was "cursed by being both injury and accident prone".

His playing career included some controversy, notably when he went missing after being selected for England's under-23 team.

After retiring from playing he descended into unemployment and alcohol abuse, and contemplated suicide, before finding purpose once more and a new career in later life, as a football commentator on television and radio.

Beattie has been called Ipswich Town's best ever player by many pundits and polls.

Ipswich (and later England) manager Bobby Robson called him the best England player he had seen.

Beattie was given his first-team debut aged 18 against Manchester United in the opening match of the 1972–73 season in England's top division.

Ipswich won the game 2–1, and afterwards he asked United's Bobby Charlton for his autograph; Charlton told Beattie that his play reminded him of Duncan Edwards and that, in years to come, he would be the one signing autographs.