I’VE REALLY HIT THE BULLS-EYE!
IT’S NOT that long ago Peter Beadle was enjoying unprecedented success in the dug-out with Hereford FC, leading the reformed club from Step 5 to National League North with a hat-trick of promotions.
We caught up with the 48-year-old on his career in football, his biggest achievements and his hopes to return to the dug-out soon.
YOUR PLAYING CAREER BEGAN AT GILLINGHAM. WHAT DO YOU REMEMBER FROM BACK THEN?
I made my debut when I was 16 against Cardiff City at home, coming off the bench for about 20 minutes. On the following Tuesday we were at Molineux against Wolves who had players like Andy Mutch and Derek Mountfield. I started on the left wing – we got beat 6-1!
I played in the reserves for a bit but the following season I started well in the youth team and then went on loan to Margate. I came back and in the second year of my apprenticeship I was mainly with the first team. I built up a reputation and it went from there and then there was a lot of talk in the local paper about scouts coming down to watch.
HOW DID YOUR MOVE TO TOTTENHAM COME ABOUT?
I was injured and I got back to the ground after lunch. The manager (Damien Richardson) said, ‘Where have you been, we need to get on a train’. I was probably 18 at the time, in shorts and t-shirt. We got the train to London, got the tube to Hyde Park, walked around the corner into a hotel. The manager went to the reception desk and they pointed around the corner. We went around the corner and Terry Venables was sat there. I had no idea. You probably wouldn’t get away with it nowadays. We sat and negotiated a deal and that was that and I moved at the end of the season. I had two-and-a-half years there before I moved on to Watford.
HOW DID YOU GET YOUR FIRST BREAK IN MANAGEMENT?
It got to that point where I was like, ‘Why am I doing it to myself?’. I couldn’t get out of the car after training without being in pain. I spoke to my mate Andy Tillson, who was at TeamBath, with Ged Roddy and Paul Tisdale. I went in as a player-coach to help out. I did that for a season and then Barry Bradshaw, a director at Bristol Rovers who owned Clevedon, gave me a job there as commercial/assistant-manager.
Later, the Taunton Town job came up and I rang Tom Harris, a lovely man who was chairman and is now the president. He agreed to take me on. It was just me and the physio. We had a good start.
I was on my way to watch Torquay when Martin Allen rang me and said, ‘The Newport job is available, that would be great for you’. I applied and fortunately got the job. When I took over they’d lost seven on the bounce and been knocked out of the FA Cup. We had some work to do. I really enjoyed it there.
WHO INFLUENCED YOUR MANAGEMENT?
I played under some top quality managers. Keith Burkinshaw at Gillingham, Venables and Ossie Ardiles at Spurs – with Chris Hughton and Pat Holland as my reserve team coaches there – Glenn Roeder, Peter Taylor on loan at Southend, Tony Pulis at Bournemouth and Bristol City, Sam Allardyce with Notts County and Martin
Allen at Barnet.
Some well-renowned managers and you pick and choose bits from everyone.
The manager who motivated me to be the type of manager
I wanted to be is John Ward.
I only had six months with him at Bristol
Rovers. We had a winger called Worrell Sterling. He wasn’t always a fans’ favourite but, as a centre forward, I loved Worrell because he was an outstanding winger who put crosses in from all different angles.
I learnt from John to have faith in your players. You can’t play well every game. Sometimes Worrell might be starved of the ball or, when he did get it, nothing came off for him and supporters would get on his back. But John played him every week and that faith was paid back. Seven games out of ten he would be supplying great crosses for me and Marcus Stewart that we would thrive on. It’s easy to haul players out or drag them off when they’re not playing well. That unspoken faith stands out to me.
WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR BIGGEST ACHIEVEMENT IN MANAGEMENT?
Obviously keeping Hereford United in the Conference on the last day having taken over with eight games to go when the players weren’t being paid. I can’t speak highly enough of that group.
Then winning three consecutive promotions on the bounce with the new club, Hereford FC, will always be very special. Leading the team out at Wembley was fantastic, too.
But my biggest personal achievement is watching the young players myself and Steve Jenkins have helped develop. Matt Green at Newport who we sold to Cardiff. Max Harris who went to Oxford United, Owen Evans who went from Hereford to Wigan and has been on loan at Cheltenham. And of course Jarrod Bowen, who is now at West Ham in the Premier League.
It’s a small hand, but you’ve had a hand in helping achieve his dream. That stands out. I still see the baby-faced player we signed as an apprentice at Hereford. From what I’ve seen, he hasn’t been daunted by playing in the Premier League.
Although I was coached when I was their age, I wasn’t really educated on the game of football. There’s a difference in coaching and understanding the game. As coaches, that’s what we’ve always done to help players to learn what they need to be successful on the pitch. When I was U16s coach at Cheltenham, nine became scholars and six played in the Football League.
LOWEST MOMENT?
I learned a lot from a difficult day at Newport County when
played Swansea in the FA Cup in 2006. I got overawed by the occasion. When I look back at the video, I cringe. I thought we’d had the rough edge of some decisions and I was on at the fourth official - as the referee had said before, ‘Talk to us’. I wasn’t being out of order but he called over the referee and, without letting me speak, sent me off.
I reacted badly. I had the walk of shame around the pitch. I took all the attention from the players and that wasn’t fair. The players did well but it was marred by my sending off and then the fourth official was hit by a coin from the crowd and he had to be taken off on a stretcher. It was a massive learning curve.
HOW READY ARE YOU FOR A RETURN TO THE DUGOUT?
The ups have far outweighed the downs and I’d love to get back. I’ve interviewed at a couple of clubs since leaving Hereford but, for whatever reason, it hasn’t been quite right.
I’m sure there will be someone out there looking for someone like me.
As long as there is a project, we’d grasp it with both hands. I feel our track record says a lot – saved clubs from relegation, won promotions, developed young players.