Peter Beardsley
Peter Andrew Beardsley is an English football coach and former footballer who played as a forward or midfielder.
In 1987, he set a record transfer fee in the English game. He represented his country 59 times between 1986 and 1996, once as captain, taking part in two FIFA World Cups and UEFA Euro 1988. At club level, he played for Newcastle United, Liverpool and Everton resulting in over 200 Premier League appearances. Over the course of his career, he also had spells with Carlisle United, Manchester United, Vancouver Whitecaps, Bolton Wanderers, Manchester City, Fulham, Hartlepool United and the Melbourne Knights.
Between 2001 and 2018, he worked in various coaching roles at Newcastle United, varying from the first team to the youth academy. In 2010, he was briefly appointed as the caretaker manager.
Club career
Early career
As a youth player, Beardsley played for Wallsend Boys Club in North Tyneside before joining Newcastle United. In 1977, Beardsley joined fellow former Wallsend Boys Club player Steve Bruce for a trial with Third Division club Gillingham. Although Gillingham signed Bruce as an apprentice, they turned Beardsley away. He also had unsuccessful trials with Burnley and Cambridge United.Beardsley eventually began his professional career with Carlisle United in 1978. He managed 22 goals in 104 league games, helping them win promotion to the Second Division at the end of the 1981–82 season.
During 1981–83, he played three seasons in the North American Soccer League at Canadian club Vancouver Whitecaps then joined Manchester United, although his period at United was unsuccessful, making only one single appearance in a League Cup tie against AFC Bournemouth, and otherwise failing to break into the first team. Eventually in September 1983, he was signed back to Newcastle United.
Newcastle United
On 23 September 1983, Beardsley signed for Second Division Newcastle United for a fee of £150,000. He made his debut for the Magpies a day later in the 1–1 draw with Barnsley at Oakwell. Beardsley was an instant hit with the Newcastle supporters, scoring and setting up spectacular goals. He went on to celebrate promotion with his teammates, 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. He scored 20 league goals that season and formed an exciting strike partnership with former England striker Keegan, who had also won major honours with Liverpool. Beardsley scored his first goal for the Magpies on 19 October 1983 in their 2–0 victory over Cardiff City at Ninian Park. His first goals at St James' Park came in Newcastle's next fixture, against Manchester City. United beat City 5–0 and Beardsley scored his first ever hat-trick.In his first season in the First Division, Beardsley scored 17 goals in 38 league games as Newcastle finished in 14th position. These included a hat-trick on New Year's Day in a 3–1 home win over local rivals Sunderland, who finished the season relegated. During the following campaign, he played in all of Newcastle's 42 league matches, scoring 19 goals. In one fixture against West Ham United, Beardsley ended the game as a stand-in goalkeeper. The game ended in an 8–1 defeat for Newcastle, with Beardsley conceding the last three goals.
After returning from the 1986 FIFA World Cup, Beardsley helped a struggling Newcastle to avoid relegation in the 1986–87 season, eventually finishing 17th. He scored just five goals in 36 appearances that season, winning a further six caps for his country, before Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish made a national record £1.9 million offer to Newcastle for Beardsley's services. Manager Willie McFaul accepted the offer and Beardsley was on his way to Merseyside after four seasons on Tyneside which had brought a total of a 61 goals, his transfer completed on 14 July 1987.
12 years later, Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson revealed in his autobiography that he had made a £2 million bid for Beardsley, but McFaul had rejected the offer and told him that he wouldn't sell the player even if Ferguson offered £3 million.
Liverpool
Beardsley joined Liverpool at the same time as John Barnes, the Watford winger. They were added to John Aldridge, who had signed during the previous campaign, with the three playing against Arsenal on Beardsley's debut at Highbury on the opening day of the 1987–88 season, 15 August 1987. Aldridge scored after just nine minutes, Liverpool went on to win 2–1, and this shaped the rest of the season for the Reds. The new-look striker partnership of Beardsley and Aldridge took over from the long-standing partnership of Dalglish and Ian Rush, which was arguably the most successful partnership in English football during the 1980s. Rush had departed to Serie A club Juventus, while player-manager Dalglish had decided only to make occasional first-team appearances after the 1986-87 season, finally retiring as a player in August 1990.Beardsley's first goal for his new club came on 29 August 1987 in the 4–1 victory over Coventry City at Highfield Road, with Beardsley scoring in the 83rd minute. He helped Liverpool to a record-equalling 29-match unbeaten start to the league as Liverpool convincingly strolled to the League title with just two defeats to their name. However, there was disappointment at the end when Wimbledon denied them the 'double' with a shock 1–0 win in the 1988 FA Cup final, a game in which Beardsley found the net, 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. Wimbledon scored the only goal of the game from a looping header by Lawrie Sanchez. Aldridge missed a penalty for Liverpool in the second half. Beardsley scored 15 league goals in his first season for Liverpool, level with John Barnes as the club's second highest scorer, behind Aldridge.
Rush rejoined the club in the 1988 close season and 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. Although Rush missed 14 games due to injury, when all three of Liverpool's strikers were fit, Dalglish played with a 4–3–3 formation that allowed Beardsley, Aldridge and Rush to play alongside each other when possible. Beardsley scored 11 league goals that season.
In April 1989, after the Hillsborough disaster claimed the lives of 96 Liverpool fans, Beardsley was among many Liverpool stars left distraught by the tragedy, attending several funerals and visiting the injured in hospital. He was part of the team that won the FA Cup that season with a 3–2 win over neighbours Everton at Wembley Stadium, though the league title slipped away on the final day of the season when Liverpool conceded a last minute goal to champions Arsenal at Anfield.
With the departure of Aldridge a few weeks into the 1989–90 season, Dalglish reverted to a 4–4–2 formation with Beardsley and Rush as his main strikers, with Beardsley scoring 10 goals in 29 games. Liverpool won the championship again that season, but the arrival of Israeli international striker Ronny Rosenthal saw his first-team opportunities limited in the title run-in, in which Liverpool overcame a strong challenge by Aston Villa to finish champions by a nine-point margin. Despite UEFA lifting the ban on English clubs in European competitions for the 1990–91 season, Liverpool were unable to compete in the European Cup as they had to serve an extra year of the ban before being allowed to play in European competitions again.
Beardsley suffered another blow to his first team chances in January 1991 when Kenny Dalglish signed David Speedie. Dalglish stepped down the following month and was replaced a few weeks later by former Liverpool player Graeme Souness, after Ronnie Moran spent two months in charge on an interim basis. Beardsley managed 27 games that campaign and scored 11 goals – three of them in a 4–0 league win over Manchester United on 16 September 1990, and a further two in the Merseyside derby against Everton a week later.
Beardsley's final league goal for the Reds came on 17 November 1990, when he scored the only goal in a 1–0 win at Coventry City. By this relatively early stage of the season he had scored an impressive 11 times in the league, but a failure to add any more goals over the Christmas period may have played a part in Dalglish's decision to sign another striker in the new year. His final competitive goals for Liverpool came in a dramatic fifth round FA Cup first replay against Everton at Goodison Park on 20 February 1991, which ended in a 4–4 draw and was the club's last game before the sudden resignation of manager Dalglish, who by the end of the season had been succeeded by Graeme Souness.
Liverpool were top of the league at this stage, but in the new year were overhauled by Arsenal and the title went to Highbury at the end of the season. And with the arrival of Dean Saunders for a national record fee of £2.9 million after the end of the season, Beardsley's days at Anfield were looking even more numbered, despite the sale of Speedie. During Beardsley's Anfield career he played in 175 matches and scored 59 goals, winning two league titles and an FA Cup, 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 19th position in the 2006 poll 100 Players Who Shook The Kop, conducted by the Liverpool Football Club web site; over 110,000 supporters worldwide voted for their 10 favourite players of all time.
Everton
Liverpool's derby rivals, Everton succeeded in gaining 30-year-old Beardsley's signature when he joined them on 5 August 1991 for a fee of £1 million. He made his debut on 17 August in a 2–1 defeat to Nottingham Forest at the City Ground. Beardsley scored 25 goals in 81 appearances for the blue half of Merseyside, though Everton did not achieve anything greater than a mid table finish in the league during his time there, and failed to make an impact in the cup competitions.While at Everton he became – along with David Johnson – one of only two players to have scored for both sides in Merseyside derbies. 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 United offered Everton £1.5 million for Beardsley, it was a sum they could not turn down for a 32-year-old player. In all competitions, Beardsley scored 32 goals in 95 appearances for Everton.