Simon Jordan shared that he was sad to hear that Peter Beardsley was no longer employed by Newcastle United.
The Magpies released a short statement via their official website on Wednesday confirming the behind-the-scene development and revealed they were grateful for the 58-year-old’s contributions as a coach, player and ambassador.
Jordan shared that he knew Beardsley personally and believed the Magpies had lost a great resource by confirming his exit but admitted the accusations towards the coach had troubled him.
“I’m very sad to hear that, I mean I have pretty regular contact with Peter every now and again and I think he is a super bloke,” said Jordan on talkSPORT (12:43, Wednesday March 6th).
“As a footballer I thought he was outstanding, whatever has gone on there, there was some accusations made and I was troubled by them and conflicted by them as they don’t accord with what I know about him and unfortunately it seems they’ve gone to a different level now and they’ve lost a great resource and one of the great minds in youth development.”
OPINION
While Jordan may be sad over Beardsley leaving the Magpies have acted correctly in parting company with him. The U-23s coach had been on leave since an investigation was launched into racism and bullying allegations, as stated by BBC Sport, and while Beardsley has denied such claims, the club have to take a no-nonsense approach. While the Magpies are still yet to announce their findings from the investigation and didn’t even reference the claims in their official statement, it’s hard to truly judge the decision to let Beardsley go. If the Magpies have found enough evidence to believe he has acted in a poor way then they had no choice, but it seems odd that they haven’t publicly stated why Beardsley has exited. While Jordan clearly wants to defend his friend, perhaps he shouldn’t have questioned the decision to part company with him, while accusations still swirl and haven’t been proven one way or another.