A tribute to James Beattie, a much-underrated Premier League cult hero

You probably know James Beattie scored a fair few goals in his career, but unless you support Southampton, Everton, Sheffield United or Stoke City, you probably don’t know just how good he was. 

James Beattie wanted to be a brain surgeon. Either that or a professional swimmer. He went to a grammar school and would swim 50 miles a week in the pool in pursuit of his dreams.

He received good grades and aged 14 was ranked second in the country for 100 metres freestyle. But a cartilage problem in his shoulder and talk of early-onset arthritis pushed him towards his third-choice career path: football.

Fans of Southampton, Everton, Sheffield United and Stoke City, you have a dodgy shoulder to thank for all the goals, good times and questionable haircuts.

However, despite being the Premier League’s 35th most prolific goal scorer with 91 goals, Beattie remains a somewhat underrated figure. He won just five caps for England, with Emile Heskey and Darius Vassell preferred by Sven Goren Eriksen for his Euro 2004 squad – and that was that.

“I don’t think I was really given a fair chance,” Beattie told the BBC in 2013. Upon reflection, his domestic career suggests he has a point.

@1jamesbeattie with a belter #GoalOfTheDay pic.twitter.com/p0HU5GwiAz

— Premier League (@premierleague) August 11, 2017

At his peak Beattie had it all as a striker. He was good in the air, had a strong right foot and was deadly from set-pieces. He was hard-working, intelligent and relatively quick. At Southampton he was the foreshadowing prototype of Rickie Lambert.

After coming through at boyhood club Blackburn, and being inspired first-hand by Alan Shearer, Beattie was brought to Saints by Dave Jones, who had been impressed after seeing him play alongside