Luke Beckett

Luke Beckett

Personal information
Full name	Luke John Beckett
Height	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Position(s)	Striker
Team information
Current team	Gainsborough Trinity

Luke John Beckett (born 25 November 1976) is an English footballer who plays for Gainsborough Trinity in the Conference North as a striker.

Career

Beckett made his name as a prolific striker since making his Football League début for Chester City in a 2–0 defeat by Leyton Orient in August 1998. He had been signed on a free transfer from Barnsley and was to be a big hit in his two years with Chester, winning the club's player of the season award in 1999–2000. Unfortunately this season saw Chester relegated from the Football League and Beckett moved to Chesterfield.

Port Vale must have dreaded the League Cup first round coming around between 1998 and 2001 due to Beckett. In 1998–99 he scored twice as Chester completed a surprise 4–3 aggregate win in the first round, before bagging three the next year as Chester won 6–5 over the two legs. Almost inevitably Chesterfield were paired with Vale after Beckett joined them in 2000–01 and he duly scored twice as Chesterfield narrowly won 4–3 on aggregate. History looked like repeating itself in 2001–02 as Vale and Chesterfield were paired together yet again, but Beckett missed Vale's 2–1 win in a one-off tie as they finally escaped his curse.

Despite the Spireites suffering a points deduction for off-field matters, Beckett helped them win promotion from Division Three in 2000–01 and he would go on to be similarly prolific for Stockport County. This prompted a move to Sheffield United in November 2004 for £50,000.

However, he never scored for the Blades and spent most of the his two seasons as a United player out on loan at Oldham Athletic. £20,000 of his loan fee to Oldham was subsidised by Trust Oldham. He was also on loan at Huddersfield Town where his six goals in seven appearances in 2005 persuaded Terriers manager Peter Jackson to sign Beckett on 3 July 2006, for £85,000, on a three-year deal.[1]

On 5 January, 2008, Beckett scored the opening goal in a 2–1 defeat of Premier League side Birmingham City in the FA Cup third round. He scored in the following round as Huddersfield defeated Oldham Athletic 1–0. He was believed to be close to signing for League Two side Bradford City in May, and was later ready to sign for York City in the Conference National, but could not reach an agreement over the remainder of his contract with Huddersfield.

On 27 November, he joined Conference North side Gainsborough Trinity on a short-term contract after paying off the remainder of his contract with Huddersfield.. Beckett made his Trinity debut two days later; after setting up the first two goals, he scored the third goal in the club's 3–0 win over Harrogate Town. In January, he extended his stay with Gainsborough until the end of the 2008–09 season.

Personal life

A boyhood Manchester City fan, Beckett is married to Tracy and has three daughters, including twins.

External links

• Luke Beckett at Soccerbase