Kevin Beattie

Ipswich Town

Youth

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,…

Former Ipswich manager and then-England manager Alf Ramsey selected Beattie to represent the England under-23 team during the 1972–73 English domestic season. He made his debut in November 1972 against Wales under-23s at Vetch Field in Swansea, England winning 3–0. His final under-23 game also saw his only goal at that level, in a 2–0 victory, once again over Wales, this time at the Racecourse Ground in Wrexham. Beattie's senior England debut came under Don Revie, a starting role in a 5–0 victory over Cyprus at Wembley in April 1975, especially notable for Malcolm Macdonald scoring all five goals. Beattie managed to put the ball in the net, but the goal was disallowed for a foul on the goalkeeper; ultimately, the only goal he scored for his country was in May 1975, during a 5–1 victory over Scotland in the 1974–75 British Home Championship. Perry Groves, who played alongside Beattie at Colchester United, describes how Beattie, ostensibly playing at left-back, emerged to meet a cross from Kevin Keegan, beat two Scottish defenders and "looped a great header" into the goal, voted one of the top 50 goals England have scored. His final game for England was in October 1977 against Luxembourg in a qualification match for the 1978 FIFA World Cup. In total, he earned nine caps between 1975 and 1977, scoring once.

Beattie was renowned for his strength, the nickname "Beast" reflecting that, but also his quality on the ball (with the resultant other nickname of "Diamond"). Robson described him as "the quickest defender I ever saw ... with a left foot like a howitzer". Perry Groves noted that Beattie's only shortcoming appeared to be his inability to throw the ball far. When Beattie arrived at Colchester, "into his thirties" and with his knees "all shot", "he was still the quickest player at the club over ten yards by a long way." Groves recalls Robson's summary of Beattie's strengths as a player:

What a player the boy was ... He could climb higher than the crossbar and still head the ball down. He had the sweetest left foot I've ever seen and could hit 60-yard passes, without looking, that eliminated six opposition players from the game. He had the strength of a tank, was lightning quick and he could tackle. During his years with Ipswich, Beattie formed a central defensive partnership with Allan Hunter. Robson described them as 'Bacon and eggs'. Interviewed in 2018, Hunter talked about their partnership:

we just gelled and if I went and done things to attack the ball he was always behind me – and vice-versa. We didn't need to work at it because it was something that came naturally ... We were just a good partnership ... me and Beat would be sitting on the other side of a room from each other and we would know what the other was thinking because there were times I would, or he would,…

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…