Jim Beglin

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Personal information
Jim Beglin
Full name	James Martin Beglin
Date of birth	July 29, 1963 (1963-07-29) (age 44)
Place of birth	Waterford, Republic of Ireland
Playing position	Left-back
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1980-1983 1983-1989 1989-1991 1989 1990	Shamrock Rovers Liverpool Leeds United → Plymouth Argyle (loan) → Blackburn Rovers (loan) Total	64 (2) 17 (0) 05 (0) 06 (0) 92 (2)
National team²
1982-1983 1990 1984-1987	Republic of Ireland U21 Republic of Ireland B Republic of Ireland	04 (0) 01 (0) 15 (0)
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 03:33, 30 January 2008 (UTC). ² National team caps and goals correct as of 03:33, 30 January 2008 (UTC). * Appearances (Goals)

James Martin Beglin (born July 29, 1963 in County Waterford) is a former Irish professional footballer.

His first senior club was Shamrock Rovers whom he joined in 1980. He went on to spend 3 years at Milltown, making 4 appearances in Europe and scoring one goal[1].

Beglin was the last signing made by legendary Liverpool manager Bob Paisley when he joined from Shamrock for just £20,000 in May 1983. He was gradually introduced to the first team picture over the next 18 months by Joe Fagan, before being given regular games in the left back slot by Kenny Dalglish as a replacement for Alan Kennedy. He made his debut in the left sided midfield position on 10 November 1984 in the 1-1 league draw with Southampton at Anfield. He scored his first goal for the club 5 months later on 10 April 1985 in the 4-0 European Cup Semi-final 1st leg victory over Greek side Panathinaikos at Anfield. Beglin's 85th minute strike put the tie out of reach for the Greek club. Liverpool won the second leg 1-0 to set up a showdown in the final with Italian giants Juventus at the Heysel Stadium in Belgium. Unfortunately, hooligans rioted before the beginning of the game causing a retaining wall to collapse which killed 39, mainly, Juventus supporters, in what came to be known as the Heysel Stadium Disaster.

In his first season, he established himself as a competent and confident, forward-thinking full back. Liverpool won the League championship and FA Cup, pipping Merseyside rivals Everton to both, with Beglin picking up medals for each. He also began playing for the Republic of Ireland, picking up the first of 15 caps.

Then it all went horribly wrong for Beglin. In a derby League Cup tie against Everton in early 1987, he went into a fairly straightforward 50-50 tackle with full back Gary Stevens and suffered a horrific leg break. Though the injury was very serious, nobody - including Beglin himself - blamed Stevens, with the watching football world accepting that the tackle was fair and without malice and Beglin was just extremely unlucky. However, at the time, Liverpool's Alan Hansen described the tackle as "a foot high and an hour late".

Liverpool reached the final of that competition - they lost 2-1 to Arsenal - but Beglin could do no more than watch as he tried to recuperate from the injury. Dalglish had reshuffled his defence to cater for his absence, moving Steve Nicol across to the left flank and introducing new signing Barry Venison. As Beglin hoped to make progress the next season, local lad Gary Ablett came through the ranks to take the left back slot. Beglin tried to make a comeback in the Liverpool reserve team but only succeeded in damaging cartilage in his knee. His days at Anfield were over.

In June 1989, after 98 appearances for the Reds, he joined Leeds United but his form and fitness, not to mention the health of his leg, was never quite the same and he quit playing at the age of 27.

Beglin is now a media pundit. He currently works for RTÉ on coverage of F.A. Premier League, UEFA Champions League matches and Republic of Ireland internationals. He also works for ITV television in the U.K. He has also been employed by Liverpool as a voice-over artist for the club's official DVD and video releases.