22 Facts About Kevin Beattie

1. Kevin Beattie's playing career took him from rags to riches, but according to The Daily Telegraph he was "cursed by being both injury and accident prone".

2. Thomas Kevin Beattie was born in Carlisle on 18 December 1953.

3. Kevin Beattie supported his local football team, Carlisle United, and idolised players like Hughie McIlmoyle.

4. Kevin Beattie began playing for Blackfriars, a local youth team managed by Raffety, and, from the age of 14, for a pub team, alongside his father.

5. Kevin Beattie travelled to Liverpool and impressed manager Bill Shankly sufficiently for him to be invited back to sign for the club.

6. The poverty Kevin 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.

7. Now earning a wage, Kevin Beattie tried to help support his family, sending money home each week.

8. Kevin Beattie appeared in all 42 league games for Ipswich that season, made 15 other appearances in cup competitions, and was presented with the inaugural Professional Footballers' Association's (PFA) Young Player of the Year award.

9. Kevin Beattie was voted his club's Player of the Year.

10. Kevin Beattie played in 34 games for Ipswich that season, scoring 5 goals, and was selected for the PFA Team of the Year for the third time in a row, along with teammates Mick Mills and Brian Talbot.

11. Robson disagreed, and Kevin Beattie was left out of the side for the game; Ipswich were knocked out on penalties.

12. Kevin Beattie was finally awarded a medal by UEFA president Michel Platini at the 2008 UEFA Cup Final between Rangers and Zenit Saint Petersburg.

13. Dropping into non-League football, Kevin Beattie signed for Barry Fry's Barnet, joining another ex-England international, Steve Whitworth.

14. Kevin Beattie signed for Norwegian second division club Nybergsund IL-Trysil in 1988, making five appearances for them before moving back to England.

15. Kevin Beattie assisted Mike Walker and Duncan Forbes at Norwich City as a scout during Walker's time as manager and performed a similar role for Alan Ball Jr.

16. When Kevin 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.

17. Kevin Beattie was unemployed on several occasions after finishing his playing career.

18. Nonetheless, Kevin Beattie became impoverished, and despite receiving £50,000 from a testimonial match organised by Ipswich Town, he depended on financial help from the PFA.

19. Kevin Beattie met his future wife Margaret Boldy, known as Maggie, in the late 1960s or early 1970s in a youth club near to his apprentice accommodation, Kevin Beattie describing it as "love at first sight".

20. Former Ipswich and England player Terry Butcher paid tribute to Kevin Beattie, calling him "the complete footballer" and describing his left-footed shot as an "Exocet".

21. Kevin Beattie was once described by Bobby Robson as the best England player he had seen, and that he could have rivalled Duncan Edwards.

22. Kevin Beattie was inducted into the Ipswich Town Hall of Fame in 2008, was voted numerous times as Ipswich Town's "best ever player", and features as one of Perry Groves' 20 "Football Heroes" in a book published in 2009.