BEAGRIE A BLUE

Thursday 24 July 2008, 13:38
by Adam Clark

Journeyman winger Peter Beagrie has told evertonTV he considers Everton his club.

The player-turned-pundit continued his professional career into his forties, taking in 10 different teams along the way.

Nonetheless he cherishes the memories of his days at Goodison, rating them among his best.

He told evertonTV: “My time at Everton was great and Everton is my Club. We had a great team spirit with plenty of camaraderie.

“The Club was going through a transitional period at the time I joined because all the greats of the early '80s had gone and we were trying to change it around. Whatever the situation though we never compromised the way we wanted to play football, which was ball on the floor.

“I moved from Middlesbrough and with the docks, the working class lifestyle and the humour it reminded me of home. As a result my family settled there and it was a great part of my career and my life.”

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Peter joined Everton from Stoke City in 1989 but a year later found Colin Harvey, the man who signed him, replaced by Howard Kendall.

The winger had to force his way back into the reckoning but eventually won Kendall over and went on to make over 100 appearances for the Club.

Although it was a barren period in terms of silverware Beagrie believes he played alongside some of the most talented names to have pulled on the famous Royal Blue jersey.

“Probably the most skilful player I played with was Peter Beardsley,” he said. “He was an absolute genius with a great zest for football. He was also a great help to me.

“We had some other tremendous characters too, like Neville Southall and Dave Watson, who was a great captain – he wasn’t a shouter and a bawler but he led by example and stuck his head in at both ends of the pitch.

“They were amazing times but Everton signed Anders Limpar and I knew [manager] Mike Walker would come to a situation where he’d have to justify his signings - and that would mean playing Anders. I had to make a big decision [to join Manchester City] and I was sad to leave.”

evertonTV subscribers can now watch the full interview with Beagrie in which he talks more about his career, his team-mates and his time at Goodison.

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