Former team-mates of Kevin Beattie will be at Portman Road this evening to pay tribute to the Blues legend who died on Sunday, while his family will be guests of the club.

Allan Hunter, Terry Butcher, George Burley, Clive Woods, John Wark, Roger Osborne, Brian Talbot and Bryan Hamilton will be at the match against Brentford, while two members of the Beattie family will lead out the teams ahead of a minute’s applause. The players will wear black armbands.

The match programme features Beattie on the cover with six pages devoted to the player many believe to be the best in the club’s history.

Speaking yesterday, manager Paul Hurst said he hopes his team can mark the night with their first victory of the season.

“It would be a fitting evening because I’m sure with his relationship with the football club, he’d be looking down and desperately hoping that we can get that win,” he said.

"He wouldn’t be thinking it would be for him but it would be nice to be able to get that victory and then dedicate it to someone that’s so special to this football club.”

There have been calls from fans for the club to instigate some kind of permanent memorial to Beattie at Portman Road, such as a statue, and Hurst believes it would be fully deserved.

“I haven’t been here long but I’ve seen how some of its special people in its history have been commemorated here and I think that would be a fitting gesture,” he continued.

“I’m sure that’s something that will be looked into if it hasn’t already because there’s no doubt, straight away, listening to and seeing views from fans what a special talent Kevin was and how he was thought of, so I’m sure that’s something that the club will look at.”

Photo: Action Images

blueboy1981 added 15:01 - Sep 18 May God Bless - The Beat.
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mathiemagic added 15:05 - Sep 18 Hope all there tonight give him a good send off. RIP - The Beat.
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teamlewis77 added 15:39 - Sep 18 ITFC, open the gates and fill the 15000 unsold seats for free, give him a proper send off.
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therein61 added 15:39 - Sep 18 He deserves the ultimate send off what a giant he was.
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howdonblue added 15:47 - Sep 18 Love you Beat RIP BIG FELLA
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msnow added 15:48 - Sep 18 unable to come tonight so please give the great man a massive goodbye he deserved it A TRUE LEGEND
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Vancouver_Blue added 16:15 - Sep 18 The Greatest Ever. RIP Beat
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CavendishBlue added 16:31 - Sep 18 Better still teamlewis77. Hold a memorial for him followed by a match in his honour and raise something for his families chosen charities. I've read hundreds of stories about our Legend over the last 48 hours so mine won't be that special. But here goes. In 2009,long before they did Life's A Pitch, the Beat decided to shave his mustache off for Children In Need the morning after the annual fundraiser, on show he did with Rob Chandler on BBC Suffolk. After an hour he'd raised just £30 quid towards his target of just One hundred!!!! Utterly perplexed at the sheer insult that I took this to be to him, I phoned in and offered to give my days wages which after tax took him over his target. The Beat thanked me and offered to give me something for kick starting his fundraiser and I have since been the proud owner of his script for the day complete with his mustache neatly folded up in an envelope. In 1992 I was made redundant from an organisation I won't even give a name check to ( I was so cross about how they treated loyal staff). I took a job distributing that years Yellow Pages, which we had to collect off of the back of an articulated lorry in the Foxhall Stadium car park. Feeling pretty low and down about life , I was lifted when none other than the BEAT himself was handing me down the bundles of directories. It was a real kick up the backside as I decided that if it was good enough for The Legend then it was certainly good enough for little me. You will always be the greatest player as if we could find anybody any better it would blow our tiny minds!!!!

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Tufty added 16:37 - Sep 18 Dont usually travel from derbyshire for midweek game. Would gladly walk to this one God bless Beat
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Tufty added 16:38 - Sep 18 Forgot to mention will be there this evening
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Cloddyseedbed added 17:38 - Sep 18 RIP Beat, sincere condolences to his family, he was a great player and human being.
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tractorfromongar added 19:01 - Sep 18 The Beat was a legend. That cannot be taken away but his wife is still here and sadly she has MS. Rather than raise money for family charities why not raise money to support the Beats wife and show her how much he was loved and respected.
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simondrake1961 added 19:22 - Sep 18 Never lost for words until now. God bless the BEAT.
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armchaircritic59 added 01:14 - Sep 19 That's a cracking idea tractorfromongar.
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