Ex Files - Chris Beech

Midfielder Beech joined Dale in the Summer of 2002, becoming fledgling manager Paul Simpson's first signing. He came to Spotland on a free transfer from Huddersfield Town having spent four years with the McAlpine Stadium club. He was brought in to add strength to a midfield that had been seriously lacking since Gary Jones had departed to Barnsley, and looking back at Beech's career, he certainly seemed to be a player more than capable of fulfilling that role. Sadly it was not to be.

On paper, I don't think you could blame then manager Paul Simpson for signing the former Huddersfield player. Beech was a player who had played in Division One, and been an excellent goalscoring midfielder therein for a side who were pushing for Premiership football. Not only that, he had experience of playing in Division Three from his days at Hartlepool.

Reports from Huddersfield supporters were encouraging. They lamented Beech's departure, and told about what a great player, but each and every one seemed to contain the phrase "had it not been for his injuries". Beech had only played twenty matches in the previous two seasons. Of course, had Beech been a player who could play 46 games a season, scoring goals from midfield, then would we have been able to sign him in the first place? His signing was a gamble. Sometimes they pay off. This one didn't and was a massive, massive failure.

In terms of value for money, Beech must go down as one of the worst signings in the history of the club. His wages were reputed to be amongst the highest in the club, but throughout his two years at the club, all we had was a succession of injuries from the Blackpool born midfielder, and based around that, he could not command a regular first team place.

It might not have been too bad, had Beech's performances for the club when fit justified his selection. It was almost as if when fit, he was playing with one eye on avoiding injury. Perhaps understandable given his injury record, but frankly not good enough to warrant a place in the First Team. In his two years with the club, I can recall just one game where Chris Beech performed like the player that we thought that we had signed - a Tuesday night game at home to Exeter City, where perhaps typically he injured himself when scoring.

His final game for the club came in January of his second season, when he was an early substitute at Yeovil Town, and he was never seen again. It remained unclear whether this was due to continued injuries, or whether the club finally got fed up with his continual injuries.

Upon leaving Dale, his record showed that he had played just fifty five games in the previous four seasons in all competitions, taking his last two years at Huddersfield into account.

After leaving Dale, he had a couple of brief spells with Doncaster and Carlisle, and after retiring from the game, he moved into coaching where he had a successful spell running the Youth section at Bury FC.

His time with Shakers didn't go unnoticed, and Dale boss Keith Hill, who had come up against Beech during his own time in a similar position, was quick to take Beech to Spotland from Gigg Lane to become the club's new Youth Team Coach.

Interactive Ex Files