The son of Scotland’s first ever national football manager has said his dad would be “really pleased” but a “bit embarrassed” to have a north-east street named after him.
Andy Beattie coached the dark blues at the 1954 World Cup and was also the man who gave Denis Law his big break.
But before he cemented his place in the footballing history books, he was born and brought up in humble surroundings in Kintore.
This week Aberdeenshire Council’s Garioch area committee agreed to name a new road Andy Beattie Way, which is in the Midmill Business Park, Kintore.
His son Andrew, 75, said the family were delighted to learn that their father was to be immortalised with his own street name.
Speaking from his home in Derbyshire he said: “My dad just loved going back up to Scotland and stopping in Kintore and Inverurie, where my mum was from.
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“Any chance he got he would be straight up there to visit, so he would be really pleased but I’m sure a bit embarrassed too because he was modest.
“I have a cousin who still lives in the town, and actually lives close to where the new road will be, so he’s going to keep me up to date and I will go and see it when it’s finished.
“I’m the oldest in the family and I didn’t see him play, by the time I was old enough he was managing, so I’m sure there can’t be many people around that remember him playing.
“So it’s nice that future generations might be able to learn more about him.”
Born in the village in 1913, the future international worked at the Inverurie Loco Works before going on to play for the associated football club.
The fullback was signed up for Preston North End, where he played alongside the likes of future Liverpool manager Bill Shankly in the famous side of the 1940s.
He was capped for Scotland six times before becoming a successful manager with the national side, Huddersfield Town and Nottingham Forest, among others.
Arguably his greatest legacy was plucking Denis Law from schoolboy football in Aberdeen and signing him up for Huddersfield, which would be the beginning of the Ballon D’Or winner’s glittering career.
His brother Archie, who still lived in the north-east, had spotted the teenager’s talents and recommended him.
Mr Beattie jun added: “Denis was still only 15 so my dad was sort of responsible for him in a way and he sometimes brought him round to the house with him.”
