The name of Joey Beauchamp still resonates deeply at Oxford United. For many he is the greatest player they have seen, a dashing winger with pace, balance, an eye for goal and a sense of adventure.
‘One of the best, if not the best, I don’t think anyone who saw him would disagree,’ says Des Buckingham who was a young fan at the Manor Ground long before he became head coach of his hometown club. ‘What he did here had a huge impact.’
Beauchamp loved Oxford in return. He left the club in 1994 only because they told him they would fold without the million pounds West Ham were willing to pay. His brother Luke came home from school to find him in floods of tears on the day he agreed to go.
Profound homesickness ruined his chances of making a mark in the Premier League. He was unhappy, unable to enjoy his football and didn’t play well.
Boss Billy Bonds called him a ‘wimp’ and he was sold Swindon Town without making a single competitive appearance for West Ham. Swindon was closer to home, but it did not go down well with Oxford fans who adored him to suddenly find him playing for their rivals.
Beauchamp returned to Manor Ground in 1995, however, won their hearts all over again and stayed until injuries hastened the end of his career. He scored his 80th goal for the club on his 428th and final appearance in 2002.
Oxford United great Joey Beauchamp took his own life in 2022 at the age of 50
For many Oxford supporters, Beauchamp, a dashing winger, is the greatest player they’ve seen
Most agreed he could have done more with his talent. That he could have and should have played for England, that he could have and should have earned a fortune in the Premier League.
But he was content playing for Oxford in front of modest crowds in the third tier, earning what they could afford to pay him. All of which forged a special relationship, a love which turned to grief when he took his own life in 2022 at the age of 50 after battling with alcohol, gambling and depression.
‘Joey had his demons,’ says his brother Luke, when we met at a mental health workshop run by Oxfordshire MIND at the Kassam Stadium to launch the club’s ‘Can We Talk’ campaign.
‘We tried to get support but ran into the same answer, “if he wants support, he’s got to ask for it”. We knew he wasn’t going to ask for it, but I’ve always thought if we’d got him in front of the right people it would have helped.’
Joey had been to see his GP two months before his suicide and spoken to a psychiatric nurse a month later, saying he didn’t want more counselling. ‘He was never much of a talker,’ says Luke. And, with a nod to the room packed with more than 200, adds, ‘he would have hated this.’
Mistakes were identified in Joey’s care at the inquest. Luke has since been told they use the case as a training module. And he shrugs as if he’s not sure what he was supposed to make of that.
Determined to forge a positive legacy from tragedy, he founded the Joey Beauchamp Foundation, a suicide prevention charity collaborating closely with Oxford United in the Community and MIND.
The club launched the ‘Can We Talk’ campaign last month, using football to challenge the stigma and confront the fact that three in four suicide deaths are men.
Floral tributes were placed outside the Kassam Stadium after Beauchamp’s passing
The Joey Beauchamp Foundation, a suicide prevention charity, works closely with Oxford
Will Vaulks is fronting the club’s ‘Can We Talk’ campaign, which was launched last month
It has been fronted by Will Vaulks, the U’s midfielder, Wales international and one of football’s great community ambassadors.
Vaulks was still at school when he lost both grandfathers to suicide in the space of 15 months. First Tom and then Hywel, who came to watch him play football one Sunday morning and took his own life next day.
‘Everybody wants to know why but there’s not always an obvious answer,’ says Vaulks. ‘Everybody thinks you must be a gambling addict or a drug addict or you’ve lost all your money, or you’ve had an affair and that it is the only answer but that’s not always the case, and that’s important for people to know.
‘With Hywel to this day we still don’t have a definite reason. At the time, it blew the family apart. They wouldn’t mind me saying that but we’re all good now. We talk about it, we’re fine about it and what’s clear is that they were both suffering massively with their mental health, and we need to move on from people suffering in silence and get people the help where it’s needed.’
More than a million people engaged with EFL community schemes last season, up 31 per cent on two years before, according to an impact report out this week.
This, the EFL estimate, generated £1.24billion of social value with £42.66m in mental health, reducing incidence of loneliness, depression and anxiety. Football has the power to reach people and does an awful lot of good.
FIVE THINGS I LEARNED THIS WEEK
1. Homegrown stars scarce at the top
Defining a homegrown player is tricky when clubs trawl the market signing the best teenagers. But safe to say they are scarce in the Premier League and with a trend for selling academy graduates to balance the books rapidly getting scarcer.
By my reckoning, only 16 of 220 players starting the last round of games came through the ranks at the clubs they represented.
This includes Tyrick Mitchell and Caoimhin Kelleher, both signed as first-year scholars at 16, but not Jarrad Branthwaite signed by Everton at 18 from Carlisle or Jack Stephens signed by Southampton at 17 from Plymouth.
Manchester City and Liverpool had three each. Nine clubs had none.
Only 16 of 220 players starting the last round of Premier League games came through the ranks at the clubs they represented (pictured: Liverpool goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher)
2. Sporting starlet catching the eye
Lots of talk about new Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim raiding his old club for Viktor Gyokeres but worth keeping an eye on his interest in Geovany Quenda, a 17-year-old wing back from Sporting who is tipped to make his senior debut for Portugal against Croatia on Monday.
He will be youngest to play for Portugal if he appears.
Sporting wing back Geovany Quenda could make his Portugal debut against Croatia
3. Postponements hurting lower league clubs
International breaks should be when lower league clubs bask in the spotlight, but the tangle of postponements is leaving some out of pocket.
Leyton Orient have had three Saturday home fixtures postponed this season due to international call-ups, most recently at the request of visitors Mansfield. It leaves them with another home game to rearrange in midweek – and midweek games bring in about £70,000 less for Orient than Saturday games.
Already more than £200,000 down, they are aware of some disgruntled fans say they won’t renew season tickets because hardly any games kick off on Saturday at 3pm.
4. Display of brotherly glove
Brotherly glove on display in the Bristol Street Motors Trophy. Taye Ashby-Hammond kept goal for Stevenage last week against Gillingham who had his younger brother Luca between the posts. Both came through the Fulham academy. Taye joined Stevenage in 2023. Luca is out on his sixth loan spell.
Taye Ashby-Hammond (pictured) kept goal for Stevenage against Gillingham, who had his brother Luca between the posts. Both players came through the academy system at Fulham
5. MK Dons benefit from Lindsay boost
Milton Keynes Dons were 19th in League Two in September when they lured Scott Lindsay from Crawley Town, the team he led to promotion against the odds playing fluent football last season. On Saturday, Lindsay’s MK went fifth, fighting back from two down to beat Cheltenham, a fifth win in a row. What an impact.
