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I hear Beardsley is a racist now

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Rosco

Worse than Brendan
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The Guardian goes with the bland version

Newcastle United’s Peter Beardsley has taken an “agreed period of leave” as the club investigates allegations of bullying by the under-23 coach.

“After discussions with Peter Beardsley this morning it has been agreed he will take a period of leave, to commence immediately, whilst the club conducts its investigation into allegations made against him,” read a statement on the club’s website on Tuesday.

Beardsley had been summoned to St James’ Park for a meeting with the managing director, Lee Charnley, and the head of safeguarding, Steve Swinyard, on Monday.

It emerged at the weekend the 22-year-old winger Yasin Ben El-Mhanni had made a formal complaint, backed by statements from team-mates and the investigation has broadened.

Beardsley and former academy director Kenny Wharton were cleared of bullying by a Premier League inquiry in 2003.

But:

Mirror Sport has learned some of the detail of the claims put to the 56-year-old.

One incident is said to have taken place at an adventure activity complex, Go Ape, in Newcastle Upon Tyne.

Watching two African players struggling with a climbing frame, Beardsley allegedly quipped: “Why are you taking so long? Your lot should be good at this.”


African players have also given statements suggesting Beardsley regularly accused them of being they are older than they purported to be
 
Sad if true. Beardo doesn't strike me as a natural bully, so that side of it seems very surprising to me, but he's one of those players who grew up not thinking about anything but football, so who knows about the race aspect.

I remember Craig Johnston express his growing exasperation about having to share rooms with Beardsley when they were at LFC. Craig, with that almost manic curiosity of his, was already dealing with loads of things apart from football, including writing a film script and designing various inventions, whereas Beardo would just lay on his bed and watch football matches. After a while, Johnston said, 'Pete, mate, are you interested in anything other than watching football on TV?' Beardo said, 'Oh aye, man, of course - I like to watch Match of the Day, Football Focus, Match of the Week...'

'What about movies?' Beardsley nodded. 'Oh aye - Escape to Victory, Yesterday's Hero...'

Johnston, getting agitated, asked if he had any interest other than TV or movies. Beardo replied, 'Of course I do! I like to read, too'. Delighted to hear this, Johnston asked him what he liked to read. 'Oh, loads of things,' replied Beardo: 'Shoot, Goal, Match of the Day magazine, Match Weekly...' At which point Johnston slammed the door and went off in search of a bar.
 
Surprised someone with a jaw like that and who must have gotten a fair whack of abuse growing up would do the same to others.
 
Didn't he start at Man U? That's where he'll have learned this kinda thing.
 
You can't do an authentic Beardo impersonation unless you say 'To be fair' every ten seconds. In fact, if he did racially abuse players, the recording should contain lines like: 'To be fair, you look quite young, like, fer black lads, to be fair' and 'To be fair, you can gan doon there an' be swinging from all them trees, like, to be fair, all natural like, pet'. That sort of thing.
 
I'm a bit bemused. I never got that sense of him at all, and not to toot my own non-metaphorical horn, but I usually do, but if most of the accounts are right he's been a real shithead. Really sad.
 
I'm a bit bemused. I never got that sense of him at all, and not to toot my own non-metaphorical horn, but I usually do, but if most of the accounts are right he's been a real shithead. Really sad.
I could forgive him and sympathize if it was just the case of him being the old school grumpy fuck coach whi didn’t give the youngster any peace, but if he was racist and actually being a sly bastard talking behind backs like has been reported, it’s not on and I too am quite shocked.
 
I could forgive him and sympathize if it was just the case of him being the old school grumpy fuck coach whi didn’t give the youngster any peace, but if he was racist and actually being a sly bastard talking behind backs like has been reported, it’s not on and I too am quite shocked.

It might be exactly that though. There's an interesting article about all this in the "Grauniad" this morning. Apparently Beardsley was always a bit of an odd man out socially, even as a player, and this isn't the first run-in he's had with the club hierarchy at Newcastle during his time on the coaching staff. The player who's made the complaint is appaz of Moroccan origin but, as far as I could tell from the article, none of the previous ructions had anything racist about them. The overall impression I got was that Beardsley's basically a bit of an oddball socially, and there may not be anything more to it than that. Let's hope so.
 
It gets me thinking about the old Beardsley/Dalglish controversy, when Kenny suddenly seemed not to rate him after previously playing him as a regular. The decision seemed so odd that, inevitably, the rumours started, all of them I found pretty absurd. Maybe there was another issue there.
 
It gets me thinking about the old Beardsley/Dalglish controversy, when Kenny suddenly seemed not to rate him after previously playing him as a regular. The decision seemed so odd that, inevitably, the rumours started, all of them I found pretty absurd. Maybe there was another issue there.

I'm sure I remember one about Beardo having an affair with Marina.

Which seems as likely as him leaving Liverpool to pursue a career as a Levi's model.
 
From the article in The Guardian it sounds more like the young pampered superstars didn't react well to being told they were shit on a regular basis.

The poor lambs.
 
I don't really want to think Beardo is some kind of horrible person. He was (and is) always a big favourite of mine, and always seemed a humble, normal, decent person who also happened to be a wonderful footballer with a wonky face.
 
There's a few dudes of similar age and older who drink in my local who come out with casual racism quite a lot. I always pull them up and they always look at me like it's me who's got the issue and it's just a turn of phrase or I'm only having a laugh or I mean no harm.

I'm not saying it's just an age thing at all, it's just cultural norms change and some people genuinely don't think they've been offensive when they really have.

Maybe he's just a bit thick. Seems it.
 
There's a few dudes of similar age and older who drink in my local who come out with casual racism quite a lot. I always pull them up and they always look at me like it's me who's got the issue and it's just a turn of phrase or I'm only having a laugh or I mean no harm.

I'm not saying it's just an age thing at all, it's just cultural norms change and some people genuinely don't think they've been offensive when they really have.

Maybe he's just a bit thick. Seems it.

I think there's an obvious correlation between advancing age and shifting cultural norms (which you don't catch up with/ care about/ understand)

As the great Bill Burr said: sometimes you just outstay your welcome.

Either way, it won't besmirch my memories of him as a Liverpool player. Christ, he's actually played for Liverpool and fucking Everton, and that's done him no harm whatsoever in the affections of Reds (or Blues), so accusation of casual racism is hardly going to leave a mark.

And he also scored one of my favourite goals ever, that little dink over the keeper in the Arsenal game, which also saw the brilliant McMahon at his best in helping Beardsley set up Aldo for the first. What a team that was.

 
Isn't the whole alleged racist comment about some of the black kids struggling on a climbing frame and Beardsley saying "you lot should be good at this", which he maintains is a reference to the whole group of young, fit players that should have been capable of doing the climb.

I mean - it's entirely possible that it was a harmless, non racial comment.

I've heard people say much worse with zero intention to cause offence that people have taken completely out of context and been offended.
 
Isn't the whole alleged racist comment about some of the black kids struggling on a climbing frame and Beardsley saying "you lot should be good at this", which he maintains is a reference to the whole group of young, fit players that should have been capable of doing the climb.

I mean - it's entirely possible that it was a harmless, non racial comment.

I've heard people say much worse with zero intention to cause offence that people have taken completely out of context and been offended.
Like calling someone "a son of a bitch" in Portuguese?
 
Isn't the whole alleged racist comment about some of the black kids struggling on a climbing frame and Beardsley saying "you lot should be good at this", which he maintains is a reference to the whole group of young, fit players that should have been capable of doing the climb.

I mean - it's entirely possible that it was a harmless, non racial comment.

I've heard people say much worse with zero intention to cause offence that people have taken completely out of context and been offended.
Pretty sure it was 'your lot' rather than 'you lot'. Big difference
 
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