8 Childhood Newcastle United Fans Who (Eventually) Signed As Players
2. Peter Beardsley
One of the most technically gifted players to ever emerge from the North East, Hexham-born Peter Beardsley is a Newcastle United legend. He actually joined NUFC as a teenager in the 1970s, but couldn't make the breakthrough, and eventually made his professional debut for Carlisle United in 1979.
Beardsley signed for Vancouver Whitecaps in 1982, and spent the next year flip-flopping between the Canadian side and Manchester United, before eventually returning to Tyneside in September 1983. There, Beardsley forged his reputation as a skillful, incisive forward, scoring and setting up spectacular goals seemingly on a weekly basis, with his tremendous form eventually prompting his international debut in 1986.
He left for Liverpool in 1987, but Beardsley returned to NUFC six years later, and picked up right where he left off with 21 goals in Newcastle's debut Premier League season. The diminutive striker had long since become a Tyneside folk hero by the time he left for Bolton in 1997, having scored 119 goals in 324 NUFC appearances across his two spells. His place in history assured, Beardsley returned to Newcastle as a reserve team coach in 2001, and remains with the club today.