Peter Sidney Beagrie (born 28 November 1965 in Middlesbrough) is a former English footballer who played as a left-winger. He played for ten different clubs at professional level including Everton, Manchester City and Bradford City, ending his career in 2006, with a brief stint at Grimsby Town aged 40. He is well remembered for his somersault goal celebration.^[1][2][3]

[edit] Career

[edit] Early years

Beagrie started his professional footballing career as an apprentice at Middlesbrough in 1983. Beagrie fell out of favour with the fans at Middlesbrough for being one of only two players (the other was then club captain Don O'Riordan) to cut ties with the club during infamous liquidation in 1986.^[1]

[edit] Career peak and top-tier football

His next port of call was to sign on for Sheffield United for £35,000.^[1] He remained at Bramall Lane and after a two year spell with The Blades he made a £210,000 move to Stoke City.^[1] Beagrie remained with City for a season before moving on to sign for Everton in the summer of 1989.^[1] He also made two appearances for the England B team and also played twice for the England under-21 side.^[1]

Beagrie remained with the club through the forming of the Premier League.^[1] He remained with The Toffees until March 1994 when he transferred to Manchester City for £1.1 million. While in his time at Everton he spent time on loan with Sunderland in 1991. Beagrie played under Alan Ball and Brian Horton while at Maine Road but suffered relegation from the Premier League in the 1995–96 season.^[1] City struggled in the Football League at first and the club soon found itself embroiled in another relegation battle, and in the end Beagrie and The Blues only managed a lower half mid table finish. Beagrie was to leave the club at the end of the season and moved to City's First Division rivals Bradford City.^[1] He was sent out on loan to his former club Everton during his first season but returned to help the club win promotion to the Premier League in 1998–99.^[1]

[edit] Scunthorpe

Beagrie left Bradford at the end of the 2000–01 season when City lost their Premier League status; he would then drop down three leagues to join Scunthorpe United. He was a regular in the Scunthorpe team for the duration of his stay with the Iron.^[1] He moved on to the club's coaching staff aiding manager Brian Laws and his assistant Russ Wilcox. The club failed in their bid for promotion from the Third Division in the 2002–03 campaign after losing 6–3 on aggregate to rivals Lincoln City in the play-off semi final. The Iron and Beagrie gained promotion in the 2004–05 season and on his 40th birthday he made his 750th footballing appearance and scored his 100th goal for his ninth club playing for Scunthorpe in the 2005–06 season.^[4]

He was to make his final appearance for the Iron in a 1–1 away draw with Oldham Athletic on 6 May 2006. He was replaced in the 68th minute of the game by Steve Torpey and this would mark the end of an era for both player and club.

In 2005, he was named as one of Scunthorpe's 'cult heroes' in a poll conducted by BBC Sport.^[5]

[edit] Grimsby, retirement and media career

Beagrie left Scunthorpe United in June 2006, supposedly to concentrate on his media involvement with Sky Sports which had increased in latter years – but on 11 July 2006, he signed a one-year deal with Scunthorpe's local rivals, Grimsby Town in a player–coach capacity. His job was to aid new manager Graham Rodger and his new assistant Stuart Watkiss at Blundell Park. He made his first appearance for the club in a 1–0 friendly win over Gainsborough Trinity in a game in which he setup the only goal of the game for his former Bradford team mate Isaiah Rankin. His league debut for the club was in a 3–2 win over Boston United on the opening day of the season. Grimsby struggled to make ground in the early stages of the season, and Beagrie often found himself playing a cameo role in first team affairs. In October 2006, Beagrie's contract was cancelled by mutual consent. Following this his retirement from football was announced during the You're On Sky Sports programme on 30 October 2006.

[edit] After playing

A banner reads "Beagrie is Mint!"

He is now known for his media work for both Sky Sports and the ITV programme Soccer Night. He also appears on the football phone-in show You're On Sky Sports, usually on Monday nights. Beagrie has also made numerous appearances on the Sky Sports programme Soccer AM and every time he is mentioned on the show its presenters and other crew members rejoice with the phrase "Peter Beagrie is Mint".

He has a regular column on the Sky Sports website.^[6]

[edit] Personal life

He lives in Harrogate, North Yorkshire with his wife Lynn, son Sam and daughters, Rebecca and Charlotte.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Peter Beagrie career stats at Soccerbase