Jermaine Beckford speaks out on back-to-back 2016 red cards against Sheffield Wednesday and Leeds United
It took place during PNE’s defeat at Hillsborough during the 2015/16 season
Jermaine Beckford will always be Preston North End’s Wembley hero but there was another unforgettable moment during his time at the club - for the wrong reasons.
The former Leeds United striker fired PNE to promotion from League One during the 2014/15 season. Beckford netted 18 goals from November onwards that campaign, scoring three goals across the play-off semi finals and then a hat-trick in the 4-0 victory over Swindon Town at Wembley.
For that, Beckford will always be held in the highest regard at Deepdale. That summer he joined the club permanently on a two year contract. He only made 10 appearances in Preston’s first year back in the Championship, before 18 the following season - adding three goals to his overall tally for the Lilywhites.
December 2016 proved to be a particular forgettable month for the front man. In back-to-back games, Beckford was shown straight red cards. The first came for fighting his own team mate, Eoin Doyle, at Sheffield Wednesday. In his first game back, a high boot against old club Leeds saw Beckford given his marching orders once again.
Reflecting on that time with Undr the Cosh, Beckford said: “I don’t know how it managed to get to that point (with Doyle). We were on the counter-attack, I think we were losing two-nil away from home. We were both on, chasing the game with 15/20 minutes left of the game.
“The ball has gone down the right hand side, to Doyler and there is a defender going towards him. I am clear, free in the middle of the pitch screaming, ‘Square it! Square it! I’m in! I’m in!’. I am like the edge of the 18 yard box, just for context. He has cut it back on to his left foot and skied it or something.
“I don’t remember exactly what it was but he has not looked to pass it to me, or cross it to me. He has gone for glory and naturally, I have kicked off... ‘What are you doing?! Just flipping square it!’. He has turned around and gone, ‘Come on then!’. And I’ve thought, what the hell is happening here?
“I am not going to back down because I am not that guy but, at the same time, I don’t understand what is happening here. We have just gone at each other, in each other’s faces, not scrapping, fighting or pushing. We are just there and I’m screaming at him, ‘You should’ve flipping squared it’.
“He is like, ‘Shut up! Who are you talking to?!’ and I’m like, ‘You, you frigging idiot!’. He is like, ‘You wait until we get inside!’ and I’m like, ‘Let’s fricking go now!’. The referee comes over and is like, ‘What are you doing, you idiots? I’ve got to send you off. I cannot have that on the pitch’.
“So, Doyler straight red card. He has gone, ‘Becks, I don’t want to do this but I’ve got no choice’. I said, ‘Mate, I am so sorry’. Neither one of us meant for it to be that. We were just in the heat of the moment, pumped up and ready to go to war. Unfortunately, we picked each other rather than the opposition.
“He has been sent off first so he’s in the changing room. I’ve gone in, booted the door. I am standing in the doorway looking at him; he’s looking at me. I went, ‘F---, what are we doing?’. He’s gone, ‘Mate, I don’t even know.’ We are looking at each other like, ‘This is so stupid’.
“Obviously, the boys came in, we had lost the game and everybody is fuming. The gaffer, Simon Grayson, has come in and he’s like, ‘Lads, you have fricking disappointed me, both of you’. Straight away we both stood up and said we were really sorry to the gaffer and to the boys; we knew we had cost them the game.
“That was the end of it until we left the stadium. We were walking on to the bus and one of the opposition fans was absolutely laying into Doyler for some reason - no idea why. I stood up for him and he went, ‘Oh, now you are friends are you?!’. That was the last thing I needed.”
Beckford on red card against Leeds
“Kyle Bartley sprinted up from 30 yards away,” said Beckford. “I’ve jumped up and he’s ran, jumped into me, knee out, straight in the back. I have fallen on the floor and I’ve just lashed out. I’ve put my foot up and caught him in the face, genuinely by accident.
“The referee has come over, four minutes in and bang, straight red. I was like, ‘What am I doing?’. I didn’t mean it. I promise you now, I am a man of my word, I didn’t mean it. I was just frustrated. It was so stupid, immature, disappointing.”