Name: James Beattie
Position: Forward
Date of Birth: 27/2/1978
Nationality: English
Place of Birth: Lancaster
Squad Number: 9
Nickname: Beats, BT
Former Clubs: Blackburn, Southampton, Everton, Sheffield United
Joined Stoke: 2009 (£2.5 million)
A supreme goalscorer throughout his career, with well over a hundred goals to his name, Beattie is arguably the best signing ever made for Stoke by Tony Pulis. When he joined from Sheffield United in January, many people saw it as a gamble, he would be 31 the next month and had struggled in his last spell in the Premier League with Everton, but he soon began to prove his doubters wrong. The Stoke side at the time had lacked focus in recent matches, and was struggling for goals. Beattie revitalised it, netting five times in his first seven matches, then twice more to finish the season with an impressive nineteen goals in total, twelve for the Blades and seven for Stoke, though he did manage to score an embarrassing own goal on the final day of the season at Arsenal.
His robust style and cool finishing have earned him plaudits from the media, with some even calling for him to make a return to the England side, for which he appeared seven times in 2003. Though this looks unlikely after he was involved in a confrontation with Pulis over the players’ Christmas party in December 2009. He has only been used sparingly since and rumours were rife that he would leave the Potteries the following month, though no deal for him to move away from the club went through.
He is a very popular figure in the dressing room, with rumours circulating that he and Liam Lawrence are to tie the knot later this year.
Jamies Beattie Gallery
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