Boy From Brazil Bradford City Hall of Fame

Inductee August 2001

Peter Beagrie

On being the first addition to the Boy From Brazil Bradford City Hall of Fame Peter Beagrie is recognised as one of the finest players in the history of the club.

For the uninitiated Beagrie as a left winger who terrified the best right backs in the land, who's courage to perform was second to none and who's attitude, despite coming to Valley Parade with a cloud of bad temperament rumours around him, was second to none.

The height of Beagrie's career away from Valley Parade was his time at Everton. Beagrie delighted the Goodison faithful with traditional, 'proper' wing ply. His sale to Manchester City was rued. Manchester City, the club Beagrie left to join the Bantams, was a revolving door of managers and mismanagement.

If the two season between 1998 and 2000 were a golden age for City it was in no small part down to Beagrie. Challenged to knuckle down in the summer of 1998 after a disappointing first season which ended with the player farmed out on loan to Everton Beagrie delivered. Stuart McCall was the thrust cajoled and dragged City but Beagrie was the direction. "Being brave on the football field," Beagrie commented in May 99, "is about more than going in where it hurts for me, it's about doing something for the twelfth time when it has not worked for the past eleven".

Peter Beagrie played a key role in promotion and a key role in staying in the Premiership. Manager Paul Jewell's sides lacked creativity without Beagrie, with him, on occasion, City matched illustrious opponents. It was at those times, where Beagrie ghosted past the likes of Gary Neville or Alber Ferrer, that you wondered why the man had never played for England. Surely the post John Barnes England that saw John Salako and Lee Sharpe get caps had room for him. The English Euro 2000 team, so ill equipped on the left hand side, could have done worse.

Two changes in manager in the 2000-2001 season robbed Beagrie of the momentum that he thrived on. Jim Jefferies 532/433 had no room for Beagrie's width on a regular basis. Keeping Peter Beagrie on the bench is like keeping a Hopper or Liechtenstein in your basement.

At 35 Beagrie wanted first team football, he deserved it, and left for Steve Bruce's Wigan Athletic's. Bruce left and Beagrie followed for a player/coach role at Scunthorpe three months later.

The great moments of Bantam Beagrie

Lest we forget

The Hall of Fame | Nominations