David Beattie (born 1955) is a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

business executive who is currently Chief Executive of Enterprise Foods Ltd and chairman of

Scottish Championship The Scottish Championship, known as the cinch Championship for sponsorship reasons, is the second tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland Scotland (, ...

football club

Partick Thistle Partick Thistle Football Club are a professional association football, football club from Glasgow, Scotland. Despite their name, the club are based at Firhill Stadium in the Maryhill area of the city, and have not played in Partick since 1908. ...

Early life

Born in

Whiteinch Whiteinch ( gd, Innis Bhàn) is an area in the city of Glasgow, Scotland. It is situated directly north of the River Clyde, between the Partick and Scotstoun areas of the city. Whiteinch was at one stage part of the burgh of Partick, until that ...

in 1955, David's father (a

Partick Partick ( sco, Pairtick, Scottish Gaelic: ''Partaig'') is an area of Glasgow on the north bank of the River Clyde, just across from Govan. To the west lies Whiteinch, to the east Yorkhill and Kelvingrove Park (across the River Kelvin), and to t ...

born-man) was determined that his son would be the new striker for Thistle. However a footballing career never came into fruition. Educated in

Linwood Linwood may refer to: Places Many of the place names for Linwood come from the presence of linden trees. Australia *Linwood, South Australia *Linnwood, Guildford, 11-35 Byron Road, Guildford, New South Wales Canada * Linwood, Ontario *Linwood, N ...

, he achieved very little academically but has always harboured a determination to succeed at whatever he turned his hand to.

Career

In the course of the last 30 years, he started and sold a number of companies in the food & drink industry, most recently creating the Enterprise Food Group Ltd in 1995 from the basement of his house. He grew the company from a zero start to a position where it was employing over 500 people within the bakery sector, supplying supermarkets with cakes and related products and, in 2005, he sold the manufacturing arm of the company.

Partick Thistle

He was formally the chairman of his boyhood team

. As director, he helped the club see off a debt of around £3 million and, along with a managerial team of

Alan Archibald Alan Archibald (born 13 December 1977) is a Scottish football coach and former player. Archibald, who played as a defender, has been associated with Partick Thistle for most of his career. Beginning his professional career with the club as a te ...

and

Scott Paterson Scott Thomas Paterson (born 13 May 1972) is a Scottish professional football coach and former player who played as a defender. He was most recently assistant manager of Partick Thistle. He played for numerous clubs in Scotland and England, inc ...

, led Thistle into the 2013-14 Scottish Premiership. He also introduced the club's popular under-16s go free to

Firhill Firhill Stadium is a football and former rugby union, rugby league and greyhound racing stadium located in the Maryhill area of Glasgow, Scotland which has been the home of Partick Thistle since 1909. The stadium is commonly referred to as simp ...

scheme along with the then manager Ian McCall. In July 2019, Beattie returned to the club after the dismissal of the incumbent board led by Jacqui Low after a poor domestic season in the

and allegations of poor financial management. He will form a new executive board for the 2019–20 season.

Personal life

Following taking over as chairman of Thistle, Beattie was diagnosed with throat cancer. He stated that the club and the fans saw him through the cancer, which is now in remission. He is married and has 5 children. In 1991, Beattie was team captain on an episode of

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

's ''

The Crystal Maze ''The Crystal Maze'' is a British game show devised by Jacques Antoine, based upon his format for the French game show '' Fort Boyard'', and produced for Channel 4. The programme focuses on teams of contestants, a mixed group of men and women, ...

''.

References

Living people Chairmen and investors of football clubs in Scotland 1955 births People from Whiteinch Partick Thistle F.C. non-playing staff Businesspeople from Glasgow {{Scotland-footy-bio-stub