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| Peter Beadle Pictured At Fleetwood |
Peter Beadle's first crack at the big time ended rather abruptly when the young striker was summoned into the office at Tottenham by their manager Ossie Ardiles.
'He
called me in and asked if I thought I deserved the money I was
earning,' recalls Beadle, now in charge of Hereford FC, who go into
Thursday's FA Cup second round replay against Fleetwood as the last non-league team left in the competition.
'It
made a change for Ossie because usually he wouldn't speak to me at all.
But that was the end of me at Spurs. Watford showed an interest and I
knew I should go there to play.'
Beadle was on £500-a-week at the time, a
grand sum for his part-time players at Hereford, who play in the
seventh-tier Southern Premier League, but a fraction for Jamie Vardy and
his team-mates who might be up next at Edgar Street.
Forty-five
years after Hereford's legendary win against Newcastle, Ronnie Radford
and all that, the club are back on the cup trail.
For
Beadle, the attention on the club is a flashback to the time he was
briefly in the limelight as a 20-year-old striker, signed by Tottenham
chief executive Terry Venables for £300,000 from Gillingham.
Beadle
recalls: 'I was told to jump on a train with my manager Damien
Richardson without having a clue where we were going. We got into
London, tube to Hyde Park, and disappeared into one of those posh
hotels. Damien went to reception and we were ushered around the corner,
there sitting on a sofa at the bar was Terry Venables.
'I was 6ft 2in, had a decent touch and supplied goals as well as scored them, a bit like Teddy Sheringham.
'Once the deal had been done, Gillingam allowed me to train with Spurs before I joined them officially (in the summer of 1992).
'My
first session was a practice game so that Paul Gascoigne could show the
Lazio physios who had flown over that he'd recovered from his knee
surgery. We played a one-two that Gazza scored from, and he gave me a
high-five as we ran back to the centre circle.'
Unfortunately, that was about as good as
it got for Beadle at White Hart Lane. He made the first-team squad but
never played, while reserve team pals Sol Campbell and Nick Barmby did
make the jump.
He also felt isolated in
the big-club atmosphere. 'I was a shy kid then and found it a bit
cliquey. I got on with everyone but there was no support. That's the way
it was back then, the attitude was sink or swim.'
Beadle,
now 45, did eventually learn to swim, playing for nine different clubs
including Bristol City and Bristol Rovers, where he developed good
strike partnerships with Marcus Stewart and Barry Hayles.
He
now reflects on Spurs as a tough but valuable learning experience and
has learned the dos and dont's of management from those he's worked
under until his retirement in 2003.
'Sam
Allardyce and John Ward were the two who had the biggest influence,' he
says. 'Sam was my manager at Notts County, he was very strict but fair
with it, and forward-thinking.
'He liked to have a good camaraderie with the players. But you knew not to cross him.
'I
also remember him setting up a trip to play games in Dubai and Bangkok.
I'm not a great flyer, and they put me next to a lad called Kevin
Rapley who was also pretty nervous.
'When
we came down to land between two mountains with the plane swinging from
side to side, Kevin and myself were pretty much hugging each other with
fear until we touched down.'
Less inspirational was his ex-Rovers
manager Ian Holloway. 'I'd like the career he's had so hats off to him,
but his motivational management style can be a bit juvenile after a
while. I know some players who have cringed at what he's said after
matches.'
Beadle's managerial career
has been a slow burner, three successful years at non-League level with
Newport County marred by a touchline ban for confronting the fourth
official in an FA Cup tie against Swansea.
Hereford
FC, the club that has replaced the extinct Hereford United, seems to be
a good fit. He has won two consecutive promotions and taken them to
Wembley for an FA Vase final.
'You see some league managers fail and fail and still get more chances. I am having to work from the bottom up,' he says.
'We
have long trips for Tuesday night games to places like Kings Lynn which
means players either have to take time off work or we have to do
without them.'
Beadle worked as a
landscape gardener for four years but the birth of his fifth child,
Poppy, 19 months ago has seen him become a stay-at-home Dad while his
wife works full-time as a sales director.
'It's
always been my philosophy to leave the football at the front door. I
get everything out of my system in the hour's drive back home after
matches,' he says.
Neutrals would love
to see Hereford reach the third round. Having 2016 Premier League
champions Leicester visit Edgar Street would bring back so many memories
of '72 when Radford and Ricky George led The Bulls to a 2-1 victory
against Malcolm Macdonald's Newcastle, also proving the turning point
for the career of a young broadcaster called John Motson.
Volunteers
have been working round the clock to shovel snow off the pitch so the
replay with Fleetwood can go ahead. And Beadle doesn't hide away from
the old stories about the club.
'I
think history plays a big part in every club and more so with us,' he
says. 'If we hadn't had that FA Cup day in 1972, we wouldn't be as well
known as we are. We have that team to thank for that.
'Ronnie
comes to the games fairly frequently, so does Ricky. We want to see
them keep coming. I have pictures of that match in my office, there are
reminders in the foyer of the ground.
'They are a reminder of what Hereford can achieve with endeavour, motivation and togetherness.'
Beadle
may not have achieved Harry Kane-like status at Spurs as a centre
forward. But he might just write some history as a manager of Hereford.