James Beattie (footballer)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| James Beattie | ||
| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full name | James Scott Beattie | |
| Date of birth | 27 February 1978 | |
| Place of birth | Lancaster, England | |
| Height | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) | |
| Playing position | Striker | |
| Club information | ||
| Current club | Sheffield United | |
| Number | 6 | |
| Youth clubs | ||
| 1995–1996 | Blackburn Rovers | |
| Senior clubs1 | ||
| Years | Club | App (Gls)* |
| 1995–1998 1998–2004 2005–2007 2007– |
Blackburn Rovers Southampton Everton Sheffield United |
4 (0) 204 (68) 76 (13) 39 (22) |
| National team2 | ||
2003 |
England U21 England |
5 (1) 5 (0) |
|
1 Senior club appearances and goals |
||
James Scott Beattie (born 27 February 1978 in Lancaster) is an English football player who currently plays for Sheffield United.
Contents |
[edit] Early career
James Beattie attended Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School, an independent school in Blackburn, Lancashire. He was a budding swimmer, rated second in the country at the 100 metres freestyle. A shoulder injury led him to drop swimming and take up football.
He went on to represent his school and play for Blackburn Schools, before joining Blackburn Rovers as a trainee in August 1995.
[edit] Playing career
[edit] Blackburn Rovers
He made his professional debut in a 2-0 home defeat against Arsenal on 12 October 1996.[1] He had only made seven appearances with no goals scored for the first team at Blackburn Rovers when he was transferred to Southampton in July 1998.
[edit] Southampton
Manager Dave Jones signed Beattie for a fee of £1,000,000 The Dell[2]. A series of injuries meant he struggled to make an impact at first with the Saints, but that all changed in November 2000 when he began a long goalscoring run. After 18 months without a goal, he scored ten in ten games, lifting Southampton into a comfortable position to secure their place in the Premiership for the next season. However, his poor form returned after that and he scored only two goals during the rest of the season.
Beattie went 17 games without scoring towards the end of the 2000-01 season and the start of the next campaign. However he was awarded a new four-year contract in March 2001.
Once again though, he found form, but in the match against Manchester United in January 2002, he suffered an ankle injury which kept him on the sidelines for two months. By the end of the season he had scored an impressive 14 goals.
In the 2002-03 season Beattie scored 23 league goals, making him the highest English goalscorer in the Premiership for that season.
His time at Southampton was marred by a conviction for drink driving in 2002.[3]
He joined Everton in January 2005 from Southampton for a fee of £6m.
[edit] Everton
Beattie's £6 million transfer to Everton was the largest transfer fee the Merseyside club had ever paid for a player at the time, breaking the record amount paid for Nick Barmby in 1996. This has since been broken by the £8.6 million capture of former Crystal Palace striker Andy Johnson, and the £12 million capture of former Middlesbrough goalscorer Yakubu Aiyegbeni. Initially Beattie found it difficult at Everton. A mixture of injuries and suspensions meant his contribution during the latter half of the 2004-05 season was limited, due to a mix of poor temperament, such as a red card for a head butt in an Everton-Chelsea fixture resulting in suspension, and subsequent injuries. The 2005-06 season saw an improvement. He was Everton's top scorer with 11 goals in the 2005-06 season.
During the 2006-07 season, Beattie found himself out of favour with the Everton boss. In July 2007, it was reported that, as well as interest from Blackburn, Sheffield United were prepared to offer a club record £4m for his services.
[edit] Sheffield United
On 4 August 2007, Beattie officially signed for Sheffield United in a deal worth £4 million potentially rising to £4.5 million[4], the most expensive transfer fee ever paid by Sheffield United.[5] On August 11, he scored on his Championship debut for the Blades against Colchester United. His second goal came against West Brom with a long range header. He scored 2 goals in the 3-1 win over Wolves. He completed another brace against Blackpool in a 2-2 draw.
On 2 October Beattie was named Coca Cola Championship player of the month.[6] .[7] He scored his first own goal for Sheffield United in a 0-3 home defeat to Stoke. In March, 2008 Aston Villa F.C. revealed interest in him.[8]
Beattie got his first Sheffield United hat-trick against Leicester City in a 3-nil win, scoring from close range, a 25-yard free-kick, and a header, all inside 8 minutes. This made him the first Sheffield United player to score a hat-trick since Paul Peschisolido in 2004. On April 8th 2008, he scored in his first Steel City Derby, netting an immaculate 30-yard free-kick which sailed into the top corner; his 20th of the season. Four days later, he scored another stunning free kick at Burnley as The Blades won 2-1. He is the first ever player to score three free kicks in three straight games for The Blades. As expected, he was named as the Blades Player of the Year at the end of the season. He scored his 22nd goal of the season with a penalty against Hull.[9]
[edit] International career
Beattie earned his first senior England cap against Australia in February 2003 after a prolific period during the 2002-03 season. The game was not a success, with England losing 3-1, which caused a controversy over the management of Sven-Göran Eriksson. Beattie scored 24 goals that season, with 23 in the Premiership and one in the FA Cup, with Saints losing in the final to Arsenal.
However, Beattie was not selected for Euro 2004 with Emile Heskey preferred as the "traditional" centre forward by Eriksson despite scoring far fewer goals than Beattie the previous season. Since this snub Beattie's international career has gone downhill, not being selected for the England squad again.
[edit] Career statistics
| Club | Season | Domestic League | Domestic Cup1 | European Competition | Total | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| App | Goals | App | Goals | App | Goals | App | Goals | ||
| Blackburn | 1996-97 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | - | - | 2 | 0 |
| 1997-98 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | - | - | 5 | 0 | |
| Total | 4 | 0 | 3 | 0 | - | - | 7 | 0 | |
| Southampton | 1998-99 | 35 | 5 | 4 | 1 | - | - | 39 | 6 |
| 1999-00 | 18 | 0 | 4 | 0 | - | - | 22 | 0 | |
| 2000-01 | 37 | 11 | 6 | 1 | - | - | 43 | 12 | |
| 2001-02 | 28 | 12 | 3 | 2 | - | - | 31 | 14 | |
| 2002-03 | 38 | 23 | 9 | 1 | - | - | 47 | 24 | |
| 2003-04 | 37 | 14 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 42 | 17 | |
| 2004-05 | 11 | 3 | 0 | 0 | - | - | 11 | 3 | |
| Total | 204 | 68 | 29 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 235 | 76 | |
| Everton | 2004-05 | 11 | 1 | 2 | 1 | - | - | 13 | 2 |
| 2005-06 | 32 | 10 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 38 | 11 | |
| 2006-07 | 33 | 2 | 2 | 0 | - | - | 35 | 2 | |
| Total | 76 | 13 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 86 | 15 | |
| Sheffield United | 2007-08 | 39 | 22 | 2 | - | - | - | 41 | 22 |
| Total | 39 | 22 | 2 | - | - | - | 41 | 22 | |
| Career Totals | 321 | 101 | 42 | 9 | 4 | 1 | 366 | 111 | |
1 Includes all Domestic Cup competitions
[edit] Personal life
Beattie married his fiancee Sarah Rendle in Manchester in May 2006. They had a baby son, James Samuel, on September 6, 2006.[10]
[edit] Honours
- FA Cup finalist 2003
[edit] References
- ^ Blackburn 0 - 2 Arsenal. soccerbase.com.
- ^ Beattie commits to Saints. BBC Sport.
- ^ Footballer banned from driving. BBC News.
- ^ Sheff Utd land Beattie and Carney. BBC Sport.
- ^ United records. SUFC.co.uk. Retrieved on 16 October 2007.
- ^ Beattie is top dog. SUFC. Retrieved on 05 October 2007.
- ^ The Coca-Cola Football League Championship Top Scorers. BBC Sport. Retrieved on 04 December 2007.
- ^ Sheff Utd 0-3 Stoke. BBC Sport. Retrieved on 04 December 2007.
- ^ "Supporters Club Award Winners", SUFC.co.uk, 2008-04-21. Retrieved on 2008-04-21.
- ^ www.jamesbeattie.net
[edit] External links
| Awards | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Paul Jones |
Southampton F.C. player of the season 1998-99 |
Succeeded by Dean Richards |
| Preceded by Chris Marsden |
Southampton F.C. player of the season 2002-03 |
Succeeded by Antti Niemi |
| Preceded by Phil Jagielka |
Sheffield United Player of the Year 2007-08 |
Succeeded by TBA(2009) |
|
|||||
