Andy Beattie

Andrew Beattie (11 August 1913 – 20 September 1983) was a Scottish professional football player and manager. He was the first manager of the Scotland national team.

Beattie was born in Kintore, Aberdeenshire and was employed when young as a quarry-man at the Inverurie Locomotive Works. He was soon to join the Inverurie Loco Works FC where he established himself as an accomplished full-back before attracting the interest of English First Division club Preston North End. They paid £135 for him in March 1935, but World War II was to sadly interrupt his career and he made just 125 Football League appearances for the Lilywhites, scoring five goals, before retiring from his only professional club in March 1947.

The war also curtailed a promising international career which saw him awarded seven Scotland caps between April 1937 and December 1938. In spite of spending part of his military service abroad Beattie was also to gain a further five unofficial caps for Scotland during wartime internationals and appear as a 'guest' player for several clubs. Most notably though he helped his own side Preston North End secure the 1940–41 double of the North Regional League Championship and the Wartime League Cup, which they won by beating Arsenal 2–1 after a 1–1 draw.

After the war, and with his playing days now behind him, Beattie accepted the position of secretary-manager with Barrow, then a mid-table club in the old English regional Third Division North, after leaving Preston in March 1947. Barrow had long been 'also-rans' and in the 25 years since joining the Football League had already been forced to seek re-election five times – but Beattie's arrival was to change all that. The 1946–47 season saw them finish 9th but Beattie was to create a local sensation by having his players report back for pre-season training a whole month before the new season's start. The new team spirit he fostered paid rich dividends and, after beating Halifax Town 2–1 on Boxing Day, his Barrow team topped the table for the first time ever.

Beattie's Barrow 'Bluebirds' would at last finish a creditable seventh and also experienced some FA Cup success along the way. A club record gate of 14,081 saw their 3–2 'derby' victory over Carlisle United in the first round before a 1–0 success at non-League Runcorn set up an away tie at Chelsea in round three. Some 44,336 crammed into Stamford Bridge to see Beattie's team lose 0–5, but the attendance is still the largest Barrow have ever played before. Finally a third club record gate was achieved on Good Friday when 11,644 watched a 1–1 draw with Wrexham, their biggest ever crowd for a home league fixture.

Beattie then shocked Barrow when, only two weeks before the 1948–49 season was due to begin, he handed in his resignation following a dispute with the club chairman. After the board refused to accept this, the chairman and another director resigned and Beattie carried on, but his team began to slip down the table and attendances fell.

By the end of March 1949 he at last left the troubled Bluebirds to join Stockport County, also a Third Division North club, whom he transformed from a mid-table side into promotion challengers in late 1951–52. It was then that top-flight Huddersfield Town approached Beattie and asked him to become their manager.

The Yorkshire club offered Beattie a reported salary of around £2,500 but despite his efforts to save the club from the drop he was simply too late. Huddersfield were relegated to Division Two for the first time in their history but Beattie, then one of the youngest managers in the Football League, and who had now nailed two lucky horseshoes to his office wall, was already planning ahead. During the summer months he was to make three crucial signings. Full-back Ron Staniforth and utility player Tommy Cavanagh followed him across the Pennines from Stockport County, whilst inside forward Jimmy Watson came down from Motherwell to pep up the attack.