TBT talks to Michael Beauchamp | Thebigtip

Just a few short weeks into his tenure at the Melbourne Heart, I was lucky enough to get the opportunity to talk to Michael Beauchamp. Probably couldn’t have asked for a better person to speak to – open and honest, generous with his responses and made the conversation flow at all times.

I have to ask you this first – what’s the correct way to pronounce your surname?

It’s pronounced Bee-chum. It’s a question that gets asked pretty regularly because of the spelling, but yeah it’s definitely Bee-chum.

Starting with the NSL; you were playing right near the end. Could the players tell the league was on its last legs, or was that shielded from you?

For me, the last game was with the Parramatta Power in the Grand Final.  Not to get the win there was disappointing, but by that time we did know because a lot of the boys were looking for state leagues.

When you got the news that the NSL was dead, what happened?

Myself personally, I went across to Sydney Olympic after that, and played there for a few games before I got the offer to go to the Mariners for the first A-League season.

So with the Central Coast, you were approached by McKinna?

Yeah, well I’d heard rumours that they were looking for players and my name got mentioned.  I went down there, not long after I had a meeting with him. We went up to the Coast and they signed myself, Paul O’Grady and Andrew Clark on the same day.

Because it was a new league, how’d they go about marketing you guys as the new team on the Coast – basically the community team?

Well we did a lot of things. Every week we’d go and run a coaching clinic at a different club, and a lot of different work in and around the community. Laurie McKinna was great for the club. He really promoted the game and did a lot of work outside the hours, which really helped the Coast. Up there he’s really well liked for people because of that reason. It was a great time.

For the first season of a new league, it seemed like the quality was pretty decent right off the bat?

Yeah I think so, and there were really those rivalries there. A lot of players were still chomping at the bit because it was a new league and everyone wanted to impress. I think back then everyone had a point to prove and for me personally up on the Coast it was a great lifestyle. Throughout the season as we got better and better, the crowds started to pick up and it was a great time to be there.

So from the Mariners, you went to FC Nuremberg with Heffernan. How’d that come about?

We were playing with Andre Gumprecht at the time, and he had an agent over there who he went through. The agent said that they were looking for a couple of players, so myself and Heff went over there for a trial and after a week we both signed contracts. It was a bit of a crazy time as we were both having a good time in the A-League and going over to the Bundesliga was a big step and something that made us stronger as players I think.

Luckily enough when we got there Josh Kennedy was already at the club and the following season Spiranovic, Vidosic , and a couple of other boys from Brazil and Argentina came along who I got along well with.

Did those guys coming across make the transition between Australian and European football a lot easier?

I think so, because for us going there we still had the joking side of things off the pitch and on the field we’d still try and back each other up. If I went there by myself that early on, those early days of being away from home and trying to fight for my spot would have been made a lot harder, because over there it’s more of a dog-eat-dog world so personally I was lucky to have those boys there.

On the field, what struck you as the biggest difference between the Australian and European styles?

From the back basically, if you make one mistake you’re going to concede because you’re playing against quality strikers from all over Europe. The speed of the ball and also the accuracy of the passes have to be 100% every time otherwise you’re going to get punished for it. I found out that my passing became a lot better just because you have to pick yourself up to fight for your position at each training session – it was like a battle.

Because each training session was like that, does it make it harder to bond with the other guys in the squad just because there’s that level of competitiveness?

On the field you have to get stuck in whether it’s your mate or not. Off the field is a different story and I think most people feel that same way. Obviously there are those certain players that if you kick them at training they hold grudges for a while, but I’m definitely not one of those people and whatever happens on the field stays on the field.

Jumping to the Asian Cup – what happened there? Everyone thought we’d progress deep and possibly win, and then right from the start nothing seemed to click.

To point to one thing, I don’t know if you could do that. It was a lot of things; obviously we went there as favourites and a lot of teams thought about our game a lot more, so they seemed to be a bit more defensive. Then those first couple of games we didn’t really click and they weren’t the best performances. Hopefully in the future and at the next Asian Cup things can change around a little bit, but it was just one of those times where nothing went right.

So you went to Aalborg – that Champions League match against Celtic where you were given a red card when it wasn’t actually yours – how did it play out?

Basically it came from a long ball, I went up for the header and it went over my head. Myself and another player challenged for it and as I turned to chase it down, Michael Jacobsen had run behind me – he was about 15 metres behind me. He made the tackle and brought down the player so as I was running back the ref thought I had done it even though I was that far away. Fortunately enough for me it got taken away in the end and given to Jacobsen.

Your time at Al-Jazira – when I think of that area I think of oil tycoons throwing their money around looking for the most expensive player to bring over. Is there a lot of money in that area?

Yeah, there is a lot of money. But personally I didn’t go for the money and I wasn’t shown the money either. For me I left Aalborg for Al-Jazira because at that stage I wasn’t playing regularly and the opportunity came up to go to Al-Jazira and play. Unfortunately for me when I got there what I had been told wasn’t actually what happened in the sense of playing regularly but fortunately enough for me in the last six weeks when I was at the club I started playing regularly and that’s what got me into the first Socceroos camp for the World Cup.

So when Jazira signed you, did they give you any promises about playing time and where you’d fit?

When I was in Aalborg, it was a Friday night and I got a phonecall. They said I was going across there and that they needed a player for the Thursday game. I arrived there on Sunday and by Thursday I actually wasn’t even in the team. So that hit me pretty hard in the beginning, but in the end it all worked out and I was happy with the way it did.

At the World Cup, after Moore got his second yellow of the tournament all the reports were about how it was a battle between Milligan and yourself to replace him for the Serbia game. How did the battle for the spot play out between games?

Obviously we got on really well and understood what was going on, and it basically came down to each training session and hopefully I could do the job well enough to be given the nod. I’m sure if Milligan got the opportunity he would have done the job, but fortunately enough I got the spot the day before the game. You get the feeling during the week whether you’re going to be in the team or not, and I didn’t really want to believe until I saw my name on the board. So to see it there was a good feeling, and I was happy with the way I played in that game.

The transfer from Al-Jazira back here to the Heart – start to finish, how did that play out?

Basically like I said, I wasn’t playing too much and I wasn’t enjoying my football. So I heard that the new club was looking for players so I put my hand up to come back. I’d seen all the players that they’d already signed and I’d played with most of them, if not all of them at some time, so it made the decision a lot easier to come back here. I’m really happy with what I’ve chosen to do, and hopefully I can get some more regular game time here!

Was there any general interest for your services, or was your sole focus always to come back to the Heart?

In general if I’d pushed to look around the market I’m sure there would have been other interest, but for me personally it was a matter of coming back because I’ve always wanted to enjoy my football again, play regularly really, get games under my belt and see what happens from there.

Looking at the Heart and how they’ve started up (off the field); with the new team in Sydney next season they’ve got the whole Western area, and most other clubs have their identity already. What’s the Heart trying to be? Because at the moment all I can see is that they’re not the Victory.

Yeah well we’ve got our own thing, we do a lot more in the community now. We’re going out and coaching young kids – we’ve got our own base where a couple of coaches go out, train teams and take players along with them. Personally I’ve done a lot of sessions at different clubs and it’s something the club’s looking to do to build the base so when we get a few more wins under the belt we’ll be able to put our brand out there a lot better. Being a new club and having to go against the Victory who’ve been around for six years is always going to be tough, so that’s why we’re being a bit different and putting ourselves out there in the community a lot more.

What’s been the internal feeling to the first few weeks?

Yeah I think we’ve been getting better week by week, and I think the first half against Perth was the best first half we’ve played in a long time. Fortunately enough for them they got that penalty in the 93rd minute so that’s done and dusted so we’ll look forward to the next match. I’m sure if we keep doing what the coach wants us to do, in a few weeks time it’ll be jam-packed and we’ll be a force to be reckoned with.

One last thing that I’ve noticed recently when you’ve been on the field – you seem to slip over a lot – especially in the Adelaide game where the commentators gave you an absolute pasting!

It wasn’t fun, and I was even wearing the screw-in’s too! It was just one of those nights and on that pitch as well it probably wasn’t the best thing, but what can you do?

Now that you’ve come back home in Season 6 of the A-League, are there any main differences that you’ve picked up on since your time at Central Coast?

Personally, it’s almost similar in a way that it’s a new club and there’s still that excitement around it. There’s not too much pressure on us at the moment because we are still new, trying to get to know the new coach, learn his ways and things like that. Obviously the physicality is still there and it’s great to see. Also that rivalry each week – there’s no one team that’s going to run away with the league. Week in, week out the results are going to change so I think that’s a great thing that each year there’ll be that competitiveness every week.

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