By continuing to use the site, you agree to our use of cookies and to abide by our Terms and Conditions. We in turn value your personal details in accordance with our Privacy Policy.
Please log in or register. Registered visitors get fewer ads.
Should have been the cornerstone of England's defence for years had it not been for his chronic injury, mainly knee, problems. I know Revie didn't help himself whist England manager with his constant tinkering but he wasn't especially blessed with good luck having an at his peak Colin Bell, our own Gerry and Kevin Beattie all fall victim to bad, lengthy injuries (Bell's was ultimately career ending) at pretty much the same time.
Should have been the cornerstone of England's defence for years had it not been for his chronic injury, mainly knee, problems. I know Revie didn't help himself whist England manager with his constant tinkering but he wasn't especially blessed with good luck having an at his peak Colin Bell, our own Gerry and Kevin Beattie all fall victim to bad, lengthy injuries (Bell's was ultimately career ending) at pretty much the same time.
Beattie, Bell and Gerry (twice) all scored in that amazing 5-1 against Scotland in 1975. I couldn’t believe my eyes at the time.
4
RIP Kevin Beattie on 22:34 - Sep 16 with 3870 views
Beattie, Bell and Gerry (twice) all scored in that amazing 5-1 against Scotland in 1975. I couldn’t believe my eyes at the time.
Great match. I reckon Gerry's first goal was one of the most underrated goals scored for England at Wembley. Our own Dave Thomas came on as sub for Kevin Keegan.
RIP KB
[Post edited 16 Sep 2018 22:37]
1
RIP Kevin Beattie on 22:58 - Sep 16 with 3821 views
I will be away from a computer & all messageboards from tomorrow morning until next weekend, but I had to respond to the sad news about an old drinking partner of mine.
RIP Kevin. You were a very generous man with a heart of gold.
A year or so ago, I had an article printed in AKUTR's which detailed a story about Kevin from the season Ipswich won the UEFA Cup. I detail this below as a tribute:-
NEVER MEET YOUR HEROES?
Or a small Queens Park Rangers involvement in Ipswich Town winning the UEFA Cup in 1981! This subject came up after a friend told me about his meeting Mark Lazarus, Ian and Roger Morgan at the League Cup celebration dinner. There then followed my tale about a footballing hero, not mine, though he is to many, and a thoroughly nice bloke.
I have no idea how it came into being, but I suspect that my wife (Trish) had indicated that she would like us to go to St Etienne for the quarter final of the UEFA Cup. At the time Trish was a regular at Portman Road & a ST holder.
Anyhow, it came to pass that we were going to drive there along with two reprobates from the Belstead Arms, Ally & Neil. Ally was the brother of the landlady & a barman at the said establishment & Neil worked there when in the country. His “other job” was covered quite well in Auf Wiedershen Pet!
So it was decided that we were going. A leisurely drive through France & arriving the day prior to the match. All we now needed was the tickets, permission & insurance for the company car I drove, book the ferry & arranging time off work.
Now it just so happened that a regular at the pub was an Ipswich player whom we had got to know through the landlords. Not just any Ipswich player, but the man who was voted as their best ever! I don't know if I was present when Kevin Beattie became aware of our plans, but I do know that suddenly all we needed was time from work & to book the ferry. Kevin offered us his car (virtually demanded we take it) to drive to the game & said that he would supply the tickets & the insurance etc. He even threw in a full tank of petrol & his supply of cassettes. Leo Sayer to the fore! All this was under the guise of “the car needs a good run, it does less than 3,000 miles a year”.
The first night in France we stayed in Paris. Booked into a hotel & walked out of it one minute later! Then the night before the game, locals in the bar we were in nearly caused an international incident! Plenty of red wine & Ricard were purchased between us. Further details withheld to protect the innocent!!!
So to the day of the match. We were due to visit the team hotel in the afternoon to pick up our complimentary tickets. Such a simple task. That is, provided the manager hasn't thrown a strop & is refusing to hand out the tickets till the last moment, not to mention that the recipients were seriously hungover! Therefore, we had to sit in the lounge for what seemed like hours. Any player that appeared came over & talked to Ally. Any director that appeared came over & talked to me!
At the time I worked for Tolly Cobbold, a brewery owned by the Cobbold & Tollemache families & for years afterwards Mr. Patrick insisted that I attended a party in his bedroom that afternoon & I repeatedly replied that I didn't & was awaiting for Robson to hand over our tickets for the match! An aside here. Unlike most people, I didn't like Robson. I met him twice & he pissed me off twice!
Anyhow, we eventually were handed our tickets & went to the game. I think it was Platini who opened the scoring, but then Ipswich took over! Brazil & Gates were magnificent, as were Muhren & Thijssen. Then there was an absolute colossus at the back. Kevin was fit, so Butcher had to be moved to left back. It was a masterclass on how to defend! That night happened to possibly be the best performance in the history of Ipswich Town (certainly the best I've seen) & IMO was the game of Beattie's life.
The downside of this was that we were still in France when half of the team were celebrating in the Belstead the following day!
No free tickets or car for the second leg of the final in Amsterdam. Just the three of us travelling & we met Neil (back on the building sites of West Germany) at the team hotel on the morning of the game.
Why there? Kevin had broken his arm in the FA Cup semi final so couldn't play. However, he was more than fit enough to go out drinking with us all day! We were also joined by another Carlisle boy in Robin Turner, and enjoyed a sing song with the locals. Robin stayed with us until he had to return to the hotel (no alcohol for him) mid afternoon as he was a substitute that evening.
When we met Kevin & started walking towards our first drinks of the day, we came across an older looking man dressed in a suit but looking the worse for wear. “Kevin, where's the hotel/” he inquired. That was Mr.John returning from his night out!
All went well & we got Kevin back at his appointed time & we then went to the ground & celebrated a well deserved cup win!
Footnote
At the time I played on a Sunday morning for the Belstead Arms & was meant to go training on a Monday night. So what did Trish do while I was going through the motions awaiting the more important item of returning to the pub & my first pint? She went to the dogs with Kevin! Kevin, Trish & Roy Stephenson (ex Ipswich & Blackburn player who was part of the Ipswich championship team of 1962) went to Ipswich dog track before joining us in the pub.
The following year our first son Iain was born & carries the middle name of Kevin. I wonder who that was named after? Three years later, after Kevin had retired professionally due to injury, I played alongside him in a Sunday cup final for Belstead Arms. Lost 5-0!
For those who think it could only happen at QPR. Beattie missed the final games of the 1977 season with one of the most ridiculous injuries ever - he burned his faced thanks to an ill-advised attempt to stoke up a garden bonfire with petrol. Ipswich narrowly missed out on the title.
Beattie, Bell and Gerry (twice) all scored in that amazing 5-1 against Scotland in 1975. I couldn’t believe my eyes at the time.
Dunno if you or any others on here were there, but it was a day / weekend that me and my mates will never forget. Back then, I used to get offered (for free), a couple of tickets for everything at Wembley through a mate of my dads who was a foreman for the Wolfson Companies. I attended a lot of events at both the Stadium and the Pool, even if I had no real interest, just for something to do. For this fixture I had a couple of terrace tickets and myself and my mate Terry (good QPR man), were looking forward to the game as at that time Home Internationals were a 'big thing' in British sport. If I remember rightly, there was industrial action on the railways at that time, so , combined with the then' exodus jolly' the Scots liked to plan for England away, they really got them geared up for this one and we in Wembley experienced hundreds / thousands of kilted types camping on side road roundabouts and every open space in the locality, (some neighbours woke up to find tents in their front gardens), from Wednesday , but in big numbers from the Thursday prior to the game. We were slightly overwhelmed. Thursday evening, we'd had a few beers up the Green Man, walked down the hill and bumped into a few of the Village Inn lads who were pretty pissed off about the pub being swamped by Jocks. We were headed over to the Captains Table and Kentucky for the usual after beer feed and were hanging about outside when a big mob of Scots came walking down the road headed toward the Stadium. Now kids we were and all stupid to the core, so we decided to front 'em....unbelievably, they folded in a heartbeat, the boys, all football following various teams, didn't need any instruction and mayhem continued until the Triangle, where they dispersed ....not a copper to be seen! Friday was a nightmare. Saturday, met up with a few lads in the Norfolk Arms, very iffy, though outnumbered a successful skirmish at the top of St Johns Rd and the the High Rd, when the jocks underestimated the bottle of a bunch of kids, but tough going all the way to the ground after that. The game, my recollection is more Scotland than England fans, certainly they had 70% of the terraces, we were in a lower tier and had beer, coins and piss showered down on us for 90 minutes. Both sides had great teams, all legends in my book, but their keeper was a joke on the day.
Dunno if you or any others on here were there, but it was a day / weekend that me and my mates will never forget. Back then, I used to get offered (for free), a couple of tickets for everything at Wembley through a mate of my dads who was a foreman for the Wolfson Companies. I attended a lot of events at both the Stadium and the Pool, even if I had no real interest, just for something to do. For this fixture I had a couple of terrace tickets and myself and my mate Terry (good QPR man), were looking forward to the game as at that time Home Internationals were a 'big thing' in British sport. If I remember rightly, there was industrial action on the railways at that time, so , combined with the then' exodus jolly' the Scots liked to plan for England away, they really got them geared up for this one and we in Wembley experienced hundreds / thousands of kilted types camping on side road roundabouts and every open space in the locality, (some neighbours woke up to find tents in their front gardens), from Wednesday , but in big numbers from the Thursday prior to the game. We were slightly overwhelmed. Thursday evening, we'd had a few beers up the Green Man, walked down the hill and bumped into a few of the Village Inn lads who were pretty pissed off about the pub being swamped by Jocks. We were headed over to the Captains Table and Kentucky for the usual after beer feed and were hanging about outside when a big mob of Scots came walking down the road headed toward the Stadium. Now kids we were and all stupid to the core, so we decided to front 'em....unbelievably, they folded in a heartbeat, the boys, all football following various teams, didn't need any instruction and mayhem continued until the Triangle, where they dispersed ....not a copper to be seen! Friday was a nightmare. Saturday, met up with a few lads in the Norfolk Arms, very iffy, though outnumbered a successful skirmish at the top of St Johns Rd and the the High Rd, when the jocks underestimated the bottle of a bunch of kids, but tough going all the way to the ground after that. The game, my recollection is more Scotland than England fans, certainly they had 70% of the terraces, we were in a lower tier and had beer, coins and piss showered down on us for 90 minutes. Both sides had great teams, all legends in my book, but their keeper was a joke on the day.
I was only 11! My bravado was limited to standing behind the railings that ran alongside the platforms at Willesden Green station on a matchday, jeering at whatever set of fans we could see when a Wembley train opened its doors.
I can’t remember what year, but a tube worker was stabbed to death by Scots fans, so ever after they wouldn’t run a train past Baker Street when the Scots were playing. I was on the last train on the Friday night one year and it was packed with pssd Jocks going up to camp at the stadium. One had a couple of crates and a giant bottle of Bells with the label upside down.
0
RIP Kevin Beattie on 09:52 - Sep 17 with 3419 views
I was only 11! My bravado was limited to standing behind the railings that ran alongside the platforms at Willesden Green station on a matchday, jeering at whatever set of fans we could see when a Wembley train opened its doors.
I can’t remember what year, but a tube worker was stabbed to death by Scots fans, so ever after they wouldn’t run a train past Baker Street when the Scots were playing. I was on the last train on the Friday night one year and it was packed with pssd Jocks going up to camp at the stadium. One had a couple of crates and a giant bottle of Bells with the label upside down.
I used to get a train from kings cross to Newcastle every Monday afternoon and the week of the Wembley fixture for the jocks saw loads of them getting off trains with just a kilt,t-shirt on and a case of beer over their shoulder. Their baths were normally taken in the fountains in Trafalgar Square. RIP to Kevin Beattie.
[Post edited 17 Sep 2018 9:53]
0
RIP Kevin Beattie on 10:41 - Sep 17 with 3378 views
One of the best players I had the good fortune to see play, I was also at the England V Scotland game, (they were absolutely nutcase fixtures, must be world records for alcohol consumption) and particularly remember getting a right hander when Gerry scored, a wonderful goal!.
If I remember, Kevin Beattie could pretty much play in any position, midfield, central defender, did he ever play centre forward?
Sad loss of a truly great player.
0
RIP Kevin Beattie on 14:16 - Sep 17 with 3219 views
That Ipswich team of 78-80 was akin to us 75-76. Pure football from a bunch of super talented mavericks - Mariner, Wark, Beattie, Whymark etc all held together by Mick Mills. Great stuff. Always liked that club and their supporters.
By continuing to use the site, you agree to our use of cookies and to abide by our Terms and Conditions.
