In Howard Kendall's book he talks briefly about Beardsley and says he was amazing in his first season, scored more than 20 goals, but in his second season he spent so much time focussing in trying to create the chances, take the corners, take the throw ins. Tackling back, he only got 2 of 3 goals and the side suffered. At the time Newcastle paid us £1.5m for a 32 year old player and we were desperate for the cash and snatched their hands off. I think he actually played till he was about 38, but not many players did that in them days, so people at the time probably thought the deal made sense, considering he wasn't scoring and we had paid £1m for him.
I think he was a great player, but needed to be played behind a main striker, like with Andy Cole when he was at Newcastle, who Beardsley provided with loads if chances