Richard Beale (footballer)

Richard Beale (born 22 May 1979) is an English football manager and former player who is the manager of West Bromwich Albion's under-21 team. He has worked for the youth teams of Birmingham City, Aston Villa and West Bromwich Albion, and was caretaker manager at Birmingham and West Brom.

Career

Born in Solihull, Beale was an apprentice at Port Vale and later played non-League football for Solihull Borough, Redditch and Stafford Rangers.

A UEFA Pro Licence holder since 2016, Beale has a sports science degree from Coventry University. He worked in Birmingham City's academy from 2003. In November 2010, he was appointed in charge of the club's reserve team after holding the position on a caretaker basis. Players whom he worked with included Nathan Redmond, Demarai Gray, Jack Butland and Jordon Mutch.

In October 2014, Birmingham City sacked Lee Clark and put Beale and head scout Malcolm Crosby in caretaker charge. The duo lost their two Championship games, including a record 8–0 home loss to AFC Bournemouth, before Gary Rowett was hired.

In July 2019, after helping Birmingham City's under-23 team to second place in their league and a playoff final defeat on penalties to Leeds United, Beale moved to become under-18 manager at rivals Aston Villa. He left seven months later for his hometown club Solihull Moors in the National League, as assistant to Jimmy Shan.

Beale arrived at West Bromwich Albion in July 2021 to lead their under-23 team, before it was changed to under-21 across England in his second year. In October 2022, he was put in interim charge of the first team in the Championship after the sacking of Steve Bruce. He won on his debut away to Reading and lost his two other games before Carlos Corberán was appointed.