Beer, Alan

Birth Date

11th March 1950

Birthplace

Swansea

Occupation

Forward

Biographical Text

Alan Beer signed for Exeter City from Weymouth in 1974 after earlier playing fifteen league games for his hometown club Swansea who he had belatedly joined at the age of twenty. Scoring 52 times for the Grecians in 114 league games he formed a 40-goal partnership with Tony Kellow when City were promoted in 1977. Alan’s career finished prematurely after an injury sustained a few months after the promotion success.

A former Wales amateur international, he had played in local football in the Swansea area for Tower United and West End, before he signed professional forms for Swansea City in February 1971. He scored 3 goals in 15 league appearances for the Swans. He dropped out of the Football League though when signing for Weymouth in August 1972, where his goal scoring ability was noted by Exeter City who duly paid a fee of £8,000 for him in November 1974.

He made his Grecians debut at Rochdale the same month and scored in the 1-1 draw, the first of many goals for City. He was the club’s top scorer in 1975-76 with 20 league goals in 46 appearances, and the following season played a prominent part, alongside Tony Kellow, in scoring the goals that took Exeter to promotion to the Third Division (21 goals in 38 league outings). Alan was picked as one of the 24 players in the Welsh squad for the home internationals in the summer of 1977, but didn’t get a call up into the team.

Had it not been for a knee injury, sustained in only the third league match of the 1977-78 season at Shrewsbury Town (when he had already scored twice that season), the career of Alan Beer could have been very different. On the verge of a £70,000 move to Leicester City, and winning a full international cap for Wales, he was forced to retire on medical advice August 1978.

In December 1978 he had a testimonial match played on his behalf between Exeter City and West Bromwich Albion. He returned to the Swansea area and later worked for Bassetts Honda. Alan was living in Swansea in 2010. He returned to St James Park for the former players reunions in 2017 and 2019.