Peter Beardsley scored his first goal for the club in a 2-0 win at Cardiff City on 19th October 1983.
He followed this up with a hat-trick in the following game as Manchester City were thrashed 5-0 at St James Park.
Also on the scoresheet that day were Kevin Keegan and Chris Waddle. The three forwards were in unstoppable
form for United during the 1983/84 campaign, notching no less than 65 league goals between them.
Peter moved on to Liverpool in July 1989 for a fee of 1.9 million but, happily for United fans,
it was not the last they would see of one of their favourite sons. Peter is pictured above during the 2-0
defeat against Liverpool on 18th November 1984.
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| Carlisle: |
1979-1980 |
Played |
39 |
Scored |
8 |
goals |
(Division 3) |
| |
1980-1981 |
Played |
43 |
Scored |
10 |
goals |
(Division 3) |
| |
1981-1982 |
Played |
22 |
Scored |
4 |
goals |
(Division 3) |
| |
| Transferred from Vancouver Whitecaps on 9/9/1982 for £300,000 |
| |
| Man. Utd.: |
1982-1983 |
Played |
0 |
Scored |
0 |
goals |
(Division 1) |
| |
| Transferred on 23/9/1983 for £150,000 |
| |
| Newcastle Utd.: |
1983-1984 |
Played |
35 |
Scored |
20 |
goals |
Division 2 |
| |
1984-1985 |
Played |
38 |
Scored |
17 |
goals |
Division ) |
| |
1985-1986 |
Played |
42 |
Scored |
19 |
goals |
Division 1
|
| |
1986-1987 |
Played |
32 |
Scored |
5 |
goals |
Division 1 |
| |
| Transferred to Liverpool on 24/7/1987 for £1, 900, 000 |
| |
| |
.
The photograph of Peter Beardsley above playing for Newcastle United was taken on 11th. August 1996
by Stuart Franklin. © G.H.
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When Kevin Keegan brought one of Newcastle's favourite sons Peter
Beardsley back to St. James' Park in the summer of 1993 eyebrows were
raised in some quarters at the size of the fee. £1,500, 000 was an awful lot of money to pay for a
32 year-old with his best days behind him, so the critics thought.
Beardsley was to prove those doubters wrong in spectacular fashion. He formed a formidable partnership with
Andy Cole which produced the remarkable return of fifty-five goals in
fourty-two League games. Peter's contribution was the splendid effort of twenty-one goals as
the Geordies enjoyed a fine return to the top-flight with a third place
finish.
The impish striker lost his partner Cole midway through the following season but still manged to
top the Newcastle scoring charts with twelve goals. Les Ferdinand
arrived from Queen's Park Rangers prior to the start of the 1995-96 season and he and Beardsley formed
a fine partnership, although not quite as prolific as the
Cole-Beardsley double act. Peter weighed in with eight goals whilst Ferdinand bagged twenty-five goals in his first
season on Tyneside, becoming another in the long line of strikers to
profit from Beardsley's superb vision and sliderule passes.
Newcastle seemed certain to capture the Premiership
in that 95-96 season, after a start which saw them win nineteen of the
first twenty-five games, but they slipped away towards the end of the campaign and missed out to
Manchester United. That was to be the nearest Peter came to the title
during his two spells at St. James' but at least he could console himself with the thought that he had
played such a leading role in those glorious Keegan years of the mid
1990s. The arrival of Kenny Dalglish during the 1996-97 season saw his chances limited and he moved on to Bolton Wanderers in August 1997. (David Scranage)
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