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'Make my Day': Chris Beech
How I lost out on stardom - to this unknown called Beckham
AFTER years of being one of the deadliest attacking midfielders in football, with spells at Blackpool, Hartlepool and Huddersfield, Chris Beech is now passing on his wisdom to the next generation of wannabe stars at Bury FC. The Euxton resident talks about his career.
FOR 32-year-old Chris Beech football runs in his blood.
Chris was brought up on the terraces at Fleetwood Town watching his father, Steve, and his uncles do battle together in the North West Counties league - a battle Chris was to continue in the later stages of his career.
For the ex-Blackpool, Hartlepool and Huddersfield midfielder, life on the pitch started at an early age.
Chris said: "I was massively influenced by my dad, who played semi-professionally at Fleetwood Town.
"I played schoolboy football and signed for Blackpool when I was 12."
It was at Blackpool he was to come up against a young upstart who would later captain the England team.
Chris explained: "I won a competition to go to the Bobby Charlton Soccer School for a week.
"At the soccer school you would build up points for various things like passing shooting and the person with most points won a trip to Barcelona."
Chris was pipped to the post in the finals at Old Trafford by new starlet David Beckham. He joked: "He was obviously unknown then but it's a claim to fame at an early age."
After signing for Blackpool, in the days of the Youth Training Scheme, Chris would make the trip to training from Fleetwood to Blackpool on the tram each day.Chris said: "The days of the YTS were very different to now. If we got anything wrong it would mean a trip to the beach, where we would be made to go into the Irish Sea up to our necks, while our clothes would be taken back to the training ground, which would mean we would have to run in our boxer shorts back across Squires Gate.
"I don't think they would get away with that now!"
Despite the tough regime, it wasn't long before he caught the eye of Seasiders manager Billy Ayre.
Chris said: "I was 18 when I made my first team debut against Port Vale at home and I then signed a two-year contract under Billy. After my debut my dad took me to celebrate, but the next morning I was helping to move things into a skip. My dad said that until I had played at least 50 games I couldn't get above my station.
"It was that kind of thing that kept me grounded and I really appreciate it now."
When Billy Ayre left the club, Chris had the chance to play under current Bolton manager Sam Allardyce.
Chris has fond memories of 'Big Sam'.
He recalled: "He was very proactive when it came to managing the club, rather than being a reactive manager. His approach to training was very different to other managers.
"He was a massive influence on me and how I looked at the game."
Hartlepool was Chris's next destination and it was here that he cemented his reputation as a prolific scorer, he said: "My scoring ratio was a goal every three games, which isn't bad for a centre midfielder.
"I stayed there for two-and-a-half-years and really enjoyed my time there."
At the age of 24, Chris was one of the first players to go through a transfer tribunal under the Bosman ruling and at his hearing was sold to Huddersfield for 100,000.
He said: "It was here that I started to play what I would call proper football, no disrespect to any of my former clubs, but there were bigger crowds, bigger players and bigger occasions. One of my first games was against Derby in the fifth round of the FA Cup. I scored in the first game which finished 2-2 and then scored in the replay.
"Suddenly you are scoring on these big occasions and appearing on Match of the Day and in newspapers. It is an absolute joy, but it is also a bit of a shock."
One of Chris's finest moments was scoring against Manchester City to hand them their first home defeat of 1999.
Chris said: "They had Nicky Weaver in net, who was tipped to be the next England keeper and I scored a header past him. I've never seen so much hate in 36,000 people before!"
That season Chris missed out on his big chance to play Premiership football as Huddersfield narrowly missed out on the play-offs after a poor finish to the season.
"There was nothing we could do about it. We had a few big players out injured. I played the last three or four games, but we missed out.
"After that I threw myself into training straight away, determined to improve for next season, but I perhaps pushed myself too hard," said Chris. "The season restarted and I developed an achilles injury. I had a successful operation, but it affected me a lot as a player. I had to have special boots with the heel cut out."
After a while battling to regain fitness, Chris realised that his dream of top flight football was slipping away.
He said: "I knew I couldn't get to where I wanted to be and it hurt. It still hurts now, but not anywhere near as much."
When Lou Macari took over at the club Chris's contract was not renewed.
Chris joined Rochdale under Paul Simpson, but his luck on the injury front didn't improve - as he broke his foot and on his return from that injury broke his ulna bone in his arm.
Despite a number of lucrative offers from other clubs he decided to hang up his boots - save for a few appearances at Fleetwood Town after "a lot of arm twisting".
After struggling to make ends meet, Chris landed a job at Bury FC coaching the U12s and from there he progressed to youth team manager.
He said: "A lot of players think they can go into coaching and find it easy, but it is far from it.
"I look at it in the same way I looked at training when I was a player, I want to be the best."
Chris is keen to reach the heights as a manager that he was unable to reach as a player and is already on a the right path after completing his UEFA 'A' coaching badge and being accepted on an invitation-only course at Warwick University, alongside the likes of Paul Ince, who has just taken over at Macclesfield.
Chris said : "If I complete the course I will be the youngest person in the country to have done so. I want to do well in management and you only get out what you put in."
And if the team's success under Chris is anything to go by, he is putting in plenty to his role.
Chris said: "We have a good team and a good youth system that has produced the likes of David Nugent and Simon Whalley who are now at Preston."
So what does the future hold?
He said: "I enjoy what I do now. I want to keep learning. I see what I am doing now as a measure of myself and I want to be the best I possibly can."
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Weather for Chorley
Saturday 04 February 2012
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