Death shock for Blues legend

IPSWICH Town legend Kevin Beattie today paid tribute to his younger brother after his sudden death shocked his family.

The 53-year-old former Blues and England defender was on a return trip to his home town of Carlisle when he was told of the tragedy.

Beattie said: “I was up in Carlisle doing a draw for Carlisle United at their game with Northampton. Afterwards two of my elder sisters had organised a bit of a party for me.

“Come about 11pm we were having a good time and the phone rang.”

Mark, son of one of Beattie's younger brothers, Tony, called from Morecambe to tell the family his father had died.

Beattie said Tony was 47-years-old and his death left everyone stunned.

He said: “Everybody was upset. It was a complete shock.

“One moment you are enjoying yourself and having a bit of a knees-up and all of a sudden the phone rings and you hear something like that.

“It's a shame, an absolute shame. He will be missed.

“He was a slim lad, just like my mum, and a cheeky little so and so. He was just a lovely, lovely lad.”

Beattie, who moved to Suffolk from Carlisle to join Ipswich Town when he was 15, said he had not seen Tony for around 20 to 25 years. However the pair were reunited when they attended their mother Mary's funeral last December.

Although the cause of Tony's death is still unclear, Beattie believes it is likely to be heart-related as the family has a history of heart problems.

He said: “It's absolutely unbelievable. There's a bit of a heart problem in the family. My dad, Thomas, died aged 52, another younger brother Keith has had three heart attacks and two of my sisters have angina.”

A cremation service for Tony was held in Carlisle on Friday last week.

Beattie said the father-of-two's ashes will be buried in the same plot as his mother's and father's during a ceremony next week.

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