Andy Beattie *

1963-1964

Scottish international Andy Beattie was caretaker manager of Plymouth Argyle for most of the 1963-1964 season.

Beattie, a skilful, strong left back, was born in Aberdeen in 1913. He signed for Preston North End in March 1935 and played in two FA Cup finals for them, losing to Sunderland in 1937 and beating Huddersfield Town in 1938. He also played for Preston in the War Cup Final of 1941, shortly after featuring as a guest for Arsenal against Millwall in the London Cup.

Before the war forced a pause in his career, Beattie was capped seven times for Scotland, making his debut in a Home International in which Scotland beat England 3-1. The crowd at Glasgow's Hampden Park was 149,547, still the all time highest attendance at an international match in Europe. He then played in friendlies with Austria and Czechoslovakia, and in Home Internationals against England, Northern Ireland and Wales. His last cap was in a friendly against Hungary in December 1938.

During the Second World War, when he served in the RAF, Beattie also appeared in five Wartime Internationals, all against England. After the war, he returned to Preston North End and played for them until 1947, when he retired from the professional game having made just 125 appearances for Preston in his twelve years at Deepdale.

Beattie started his managerial career with Barrow, then spent three years at Stockport County before joining Huddersfield Town in 1952. In 1956, he was sacked, to be replaced by his old friend, assistant and Scotland team mate Bill Shankly, and moved to Carlisle United. Before that, though, he had his first spell as an international manager.

Beattie was the first ever manager of the Scottish national side: before 1954, the squad was run by the Scottish Football Association Selection Committee. His reign, however, was a short one, encompassing just six matches between April and June 1954, of which Scotland won two, drew one and lost three. The last defeat was a humiliating 7-0 against Uruguay in the first stage of the 1954 World Cup finals. Scotland came bottom of their group, Beattie resigned and the SFA reverted to management by committee.

Following another reversal, Andy Beattie was appointed Scotland manager for a second time in April 1959, succeeding Matt Busby. This time, he held the reins for eighteen months, during which Scotland won three, drew three and lost five. In October 1960, he resigned to concentrate on managing his new club, Nottingham Forest, where he stayed until 1963.

Beattie arrived at Home Park in October 1963 as caretaker: he did not want a permanent job, but had the sole objective of saving the Pilgrims from relegation to the Third Division. When he arrived, the team had not won a single game in the first eleven. By the end of the season, Argyle had won eight and drawn sixteen; they finished in 20th with a goal average just 0.05% better than Grimsby, who were relegated.

Having kept his promise at Home Park, Beattie left for Wolverhampton Wanderers in 1964. At the end of his first season there, Wolves were relegated, and he resigned from his last managerial position. He then became general manager of Notts County, and later worked as a coach and scout with Sheffield United, Brentford, Wolves again, Walsall and Liverpool.

Having given his whole life to football, Andy Beattie died in 1983.

[Kindly supplied by Peggy Prior, author of The Gaffer Tapes, a series on Argyle's managers that first appeared in matchday programmes in 2007-08]