Member Article

North East businesses flock to see footy legend Beardsley

A host of North East businesses flocked to see football legend Peter Beardsley at a corporate event in the region at the weekend.

The former Newcastle, Liverpool, Everton and England star was the guest speaker at Northern League club Spennymoor Town’s first of two ‘Night on the Town’ events this season at the Ramside Hall Hotel near Durham.

More than 320 guests attended the event on Friday night, with support from a number of firms including Motif8, Great Annual Savings, Ascarii, LLR, Great Energy Management, AKV, Javeline Construction, Jackson’s Law, Chreative, Signtime, SWD Consulting, Thomas Cook, Inner Glass, Coors, LKL, Crimzon, The Electric Centre, NAS, Tyre World and SJP.

Beardsley, now a coach with United, revealed several enlightening and humorous stories about a colourful career which spanned 20 years in the game and 12 clubs in three countries, 59 England caps and two league championship medals.

Spennymoor chairman Brad Groves said: “We sold more than 30 tables for what was a top-end corporate event, not just a football talk-in, as we also had a top-class blues band on show, so in the current climate we’re delighted with that.

“We set our stall out at the start of the season to ramp up our off-field events to support the football club and what we’re trying to achieve on a commercial level, and that includes two major corporate events, one in September and another in March.

“This first one was a huge success, not least because it made us a decent amount of money, but also because everyone who was there thoroughly enjoyed it.”

Hexham-born Beardsley began his career with Carlisle and had spells with Vancouver Whitecaps and Manchester United before first signing for Newcastle in 1983.

He joined Liverpool for £1.9m in 1987 and spent four seasons at Anfield, winning two league championships and an FA Cup, before joining Merseysie rivals Everton for £1m in 1991.

Beardsley spent two years with the Toffees before returning to Newcastle when Kevin Keegan took him back to St James’ Park in 1993, playing a major role under United’s revival and era as the so-called ‘Entertainers’.

He later had spells with Bolton, Manchester City, Fulham, Hartlepool and Melbourne Knights in Australia before retiring in 1999.

Top compere Howard Nicholson hosted Spennymoor’s event, with entertainment also provided by the Bernadette Wilde Band.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Martin Walker .