Editing Jim Beglin (section)

== Playing career ==

=== Shamrock Rovers ===
Beglin played schoolboy football in his native city with Bolton and Waterford Bohs before joining [[Shamrock Rovers F.C.|Shamrock Rovers]] in 1980. He went on to spend three years at [[Glenmalure Park|Milltown]], making four appearances in Europe and scoring one goal.<ref>[http://www.shamrockrovers.ie/history/european-results#1982] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120625194032/http://www.shamrockrovers.ie/history/european-results |date=25 June 2012 }}</ref>

In 1982 Beglin was part of the [[League of Ireland XI]] that toured New Zealand where they played the [[New Zealand men's national football team]].

=== Liverpool ===
Beglin was the last signing made by [[Liverpool F.C.|Liverpool]] manager [[Bob Paisley]] when he joined from [[Shamrock Rovers]] for {{£|20,000}} in May 1983.<ref>[http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/archive/1983/0517/Pg016.html#Ar01603 Tuesday, 17 May 1983 – Page 016]. The Irish Times (17 May 1983). Retrieved 2 May 2012.</ref> He was gradually brought into the first team over the next 18 months by [[Joe Fagan]], before being given regular games in the left back slot by new player-manager [[Kenny Dalglish]] as a replacement for [[Alan Kennedy]] in the [[1985–86 in English football|1985–86 season]]. He made his debut in the left sided midfield position on 10 November 1984 in the 1–1 league draw with [[Southampton F.C.|Southampton]] at [[Anfield]]. He scored his first goal for the club 5 months later on 10 April 1985 in the 4–0 [[UEFA Champions League|European Cup]] Semi-final first leg victory over [[Greece|Greek]] side [[Panathinaikos F.C.|Panathinaikos]] at Anfield. Beglin's 85th-minute strike put the tie out of reach for the Greek club. Liverpool won the second leg 1–0 to set up a showdown in the final with Italian giants [[Juventus FC|Juventus]] at the [[King Baudouin Stadium|Heysel Stadium]] in Belgium however a retaining wall collapsed during a riot at the "neutral" end, and 39 Juventus supporters died, in what came to be known as the [[Heysel Stadium Disaster]]. Liverpool also lost the final.

Liverpool won the [[Football League First Division|League championship]] and [[FA Cup]], pipping [[Merseyside]] rivals [[Everton F.C.|Everton]] to both, with Beglin picking up medals for each. He also began playing for the [[Republic of Ireland national football team|Republic of Ireland]], picking up the first of 15 [[cap (football)|caps]].

Seven months after lifting the league and cup double, his leg was badly broken following a mistimed tackle from Everton's Gary Stevens in the [[1986–87 Football League Cup|League Cup fifth round]] game in January 1987. Former manager Bob Paisley said that it was one of the worst leg breaks he had ever seen, joking that he would break his own leg to prove a point to the FA. Furthermore, Liverpool defender Alan Hansen stated that the tackle was "a mile high and an hour late".<ref>{{cite news | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/4938438.stm | title=Alan Hansen's column |publisher=BBC Sport | date=24 April 2006 | access-date=7 August 2011 | author=Hansen, Alan}}</ref> Recovering from the break, Beglin sustained a knee cartilage injury playing for Liverpool's reserves in October 1988 which effectively finished his time at Anfield.

=== Leeds United ===
In June 1989, he joined [[Leeds United F.C.|Leeds United]], where he helped the club to become Second Division champions and spent periods on loan with both [[Plymouth Argyle F.C.|Plymouth Argyle]] and [[Blackburn Rovers]] before a recurrence of his knee injury forced him into an early retirement in 1991, when still only 27.