Jack Beby
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John Victor Beby (23 August 1907 – 1976) was an English
footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...
who made 157 appearances in the Football League playing as a
goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...
for Gillingham,
Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...
,
Bristol Rovers Bristol Rovers Football Club are a professional football club in Bristol, England. They compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play home matches at the Memorial Stadium in Horfield, they have been ...
, Darlington and
Exeter City Exeter City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Exeter, Devon, England. The team play in , the third tier of the English football league system. Known as "the Grecians", the origin of their nickname is subject to ...
in the 1920s and 1930s. After his playing career ended, he took up coaching. As well as coaching amateur clubs in England, he was manager of Greek club AEK for three years.


Personal life

Beby was born in Gillingham, Kent, in 1907. As a youngster, he played football for local team Cuxton, and was on the books of
Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in ...
, before enlisting in the
Grenadier Guards "Shamed be whoever thinks ill of it." , colors = , colors_label = , march = Slow: " Scipio" , mascot = , equipment = , equipment ...
. Apart from his military duties, Beby represented his regiment in the shot put, and played
cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...
, primarily as a bowler, for his regiment and for the Household Brigade. By early 1931, Beby was married with a child. He died in Chatham, Kent, in 1976 at the age of 68.


Playing career

Beby returned to football with
Third Division South The Third Division South of The Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division North with clubs elected to the League or relegated from Division Two allocated to ...
club Gillingham in 1929. He made his debut in the
Third Division South The Third Division South of The Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division North with clubs elected to the League or relegated from Division Two allocated to ...
on 26 December 1929, against Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic, and the following April, after he had played just 20 league games, First Division club
Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...
paid a "substantial" transfer fee for his services. Beby began his Leicester career in their reserve team, but impressed when he came into the first team at the start of the new season. Against
Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...
, "it was only the fine work of Beby, the Leicester reserve goalkeeper, that kept them from making a draw, if not, indeed, even forcing a win", and at Manchester City, "it may be conceded that perhaps never again during the season will so many remarkable saves be made in one afternoon as were brought off by this reserve keeper", and when "a merciless assault was sustained on the Leicester goal. With the crowd behind him roaring and swaying like human breakers, one saw Beby leaping up, fisting out, diving down, most amazingly keeping the ball out of the net, most cleverly getting it away when surrounded by blue shirts." Despite such a successful start to his Leicester career, he asked for a transfer after less than a year with the club; according to the '' Daily Express'', "Beby
aid In international relations, aid (also known as international aid, overseas aid, foreign aid, economic aid or foreign assistance) is – from the perspective of governments – a voluntary transfer of resources from one country to another. Ai ...
the Leicester air idnot suit himself, his wife or his child". He remained a Leicester player until the 1932 close season, perhaps because the asking price was too high; in August, in response to an application by the player, the Football League reduced the fee, and Beby left the club. After a few weeks playing for Kent-based club Ashford Town, Beeby returned to the Football League in October with
Bristol Rovers Bristol Rovers Football Club are a professional football club in Bristol, England. They compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play home matches at the Memorial Stadium in Horfield, they have been ...
. After one season and 24 league matches, he moved on to
Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building ...
, also of the Third Division South. His only senior game for that club came in the Southern Section Cup. Palace were drawn to play away to
Exeter City Exeter City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Exeter, Devon, England. The team play in , the third tier of the English football league system. Known as "the Grecians", the origin of their nickname is subject to ...
on 24 January 1934, but were due to face Arsenal in the fourth round of the
FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...
three days later. While the first team had a week's training at Brighton in preparation for their FA Cup tie, Palace fielded their reserve team at Exeter, as was permitted by the competition rules, and lost by the unusual score of eleven goals to six. In March, after less than a year with Palace, Beby joined Third Division North club Darlington. He spent just short of two years at Darlington, playing regular first-team football, before finishing the 1935–36 season, and his Football League career, with Exeter City. His playing career wound down in non-league football with
Ashington Ashington is a town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, with a population of 27,864 at the 2011 Census. It was once a centre of the coal mining industry. The town is north of Newcastle upon Tyne, west of the A189 and bordered to the ...
, Vickers Aviation and Shorts Sports.


Coaching career

From 1948 to 1951, Beby was manager of Greek club
AEK Athens A.E.K ( el, AEK , formally Αθλητική Ένωσις Κωνσταντινουπόλεως; Athlitikí Énosis Konstantinoupόleos, ''Athletic Union of Constantinople''), known as A.E.K, is a major Greek multi-sport club based in Nea Filadel ...
. During his tenure he attempted to impose an element of professionalism on the team's approach to its work. He introduced shirt numbering, which had not previously been used in Greece, and set the team up to play in the
WM formation In association football, the formation of a team refers to the position players take in relation to each other on a pitch. As association football is a fluid and fast-moving game, a player's position (with the exception of the goalkeeper) in a ...
, the system then generally used in Britain. He led the team to consecutive victories in the
Greek Cup The Greek Football Cup ( el, Κύπελλο Ελλάδος Ποδοσφαίρου), commonly known as the Greek Cup or Kypello Elladas is a Greek football competition, run by the Hellenic Football Federation. The Greek Cup is the second most ...
, in 1949 and
1950 Events January * January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed. * January 5 – Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 crashes in a snowstorm. All 19 ...
, before leaving the club suddenly in 1951. He later told the '' Daily Express'' that AEK provided him with a furnished house and paid him £31 a week tax free. In August 1951, he was appointed coach of amateur club Ilford, then playing in the Isthmian League; he was the first professional to hold the position. By the start of the 1954–55 season, he was working as trainer and coach of Faversham Town; it was reported that "although his time at Salters Lane was relatively short, it was noted there were already signs of better football."


References


External links


Leicester City statistics
at foxestalk.co.uk {{DEFAULTSORT:Beby, Jack 1907 births 1976 deaths People from Gillingham, Kent English footballers Association football goalkeepers Charlton Athletic F.C. players Gillingham F.C. players Leicester City F.C. players Ashford United F.C. players Bristol Rovers F.C. players Crystal Palace F.C. players Darlington F.C. players Exeter City F.C. players Ashington A.F.C. players Shorts Sports F.C. players English Football League players English football managers AEK Athens F.C. managers English expatriate sportspeople in Greece Grenadier Guards soldiers 20th-century British Army personnel English expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Greece