Family to continue legacy of Buckley man dedicated to football

Carol and Nikki Beech are to step in to the shoes of North East Wales Football League (NEWFL) secretary Michael Beech after the former Chester City FC employee’s sudden death.

Mr Beech, of Tan y Bryn, Buckley, died at Wrexham Maelor Hospital on Saturday after collapsing while out at work.

Now the 62-year-old’s wife and daughter are to continue his work by taking over the management of the football league Mr Beech “ran like clockwork”.

Plans are also afoot to rename a league cup in his memory.

Mrs Beech said her husband – a father-of-four and grandfather-of-15 – with whom she was about to celebrate her 35th wedding anniversary, “held the family together”.

She said: “He’d been in football since he was a kid and always played.

“He was passionate about it and when I met him I’d go and watch Chester with him and it snowballed from there.

“On the day he died, he went off to work and said to me, ‘I’ll see you at two for my break’.

“He was taken to the Maelor after loading the van. He just collapsed.

“He was always on the go, he loved his job, his family and his football.”

Mr Beech first began working in football when he joined Chester City as commercial manager in 2000.

He would then go on to act as club secretary before leaving the Blues in 2002.

Mr Beech went on to serve a number of clubs across North-East Wales including Conwy United, Cefn Druids, Flint Town United, Holywell Town and Queens Park in Wrexham.

His daughter Nikki worked alongside him at Chester while Carol washed the kits.

Nikki said they would now take on the running of the NEWFL.

She said: “We’re going to continue his legacy and I will take on the league with mum.

“A lot of clubs and referees have said they will give us their backing.

“Dad was very proud of the clubs and his league and anyone you ask would say it always ran like clockwork.

“He would help anyone with anything and would bend over backwards for anyone to resolve a football problem.

“He loved his grandkids and would do anything for them.

“He was very caring. Nothing was ever a problem with him.”

A two-minute silence will be observed ahead of this
weekend's NEWFL fixtures in Mr Beech’s honour.

Nikki added how Mr Beech’s dedication to the game would ultimately end up interfering with family occasions.

She said: “He couldn’t leave it, mum would be playing hell when we were on holiday.

“He was genuinely a really
nice man and when he stepped away from the football, he was just dad.”

Mr Beech’s funeral, for which a date is yet to be confirmed, will be football-themed with all clubs and officials asked to wear team colours.

A fundraising page has been set up in his memory and Nikki said how she and her mother are aiming to generate enough cash to install a defibrillator in the Buckley Iceland store where her father worked.

Speaking of their loss, she added: “It’s the shock of it, but the amount of tributes that have been left have given us some comfort.

“We didn’t realise how many lives he touched.

“It’ll be hard when we send him off, but it’ll be his last football meeting.”

Mrs Beech said: “He’s touched so many people’s lives.

“He used to read the obituaries and once said, ‘when I go, make sure you put what I was really like’.”