Jermaine Beckford has revealed that he still harbours some regret at having left Everton after just one season for Leicester.
The Jamaica international striker, who retired from professional football earlier this summer, only spent one season at Goodison Park.
Having joined on a free in the summer of 2010 after his Leeds contract was cancelled, Beckford was the club’s top goalscorer in his sole season on Merseyside, before he was sold to the Foxes for £2.5million the following summer.
Reflecting on his decision to leave, Beckford told the Liverpool Echo in an exclusive interview that his move was based on wanting more minutes on the field, although he admitted to regretting making the move when he did. Beckford said:
I’ll be honest, I wanted to stay longer but it was the minutes. I’m a football fan. I love to watch football and play football.
I wasn’t asking to play every single game but I was asking to play a few more minutes than I had done previously.
When I was at Leeds, I played around 50 games that season, starting. Then I came to Everton, a completely different team, manager, everything, and I played around half of that.
I had the bug to play and was told I wasn’t necessarily going to play as many minutes as I had done that season. I had a very, very difficult decision to make and it’s one I always look back on and think I should have stayed.
I’m also a true believer of everything happens for a reason. Since I left Everton myself and my wife have gone on to have two beautiful children and that might not necessarily have happened if we’d stayed.
Beckford did however admit that his time at the club has left him with a life-long affinity for the club, and the 35-year old still keeps an eye on the Toffees’ results from his home in Ormskirk. Beckford continued:
Listen, once you’ve had a taste of it there’s no way you can go back. It’s the People’s Club for a reason.
The people come first. I’ve said it numerous times in the past, from the very first day I stepped through the doors I’ve been welcomed and felt like I’ve been there for years.
That’s not easy to do. That will stay with me forever. Everton are one of the first results I look out for and I always hope we end up in the Champions League. Not so much the Europa League, the Champions League. I want to aim for the top.
Read Everton Verdict
I definitely think that Beckford left Everton too soon. Following his departure, Everton relied on Louis Saha for the first-half of the season, and Denis Stracqualursi for the duration to spearhead the offensive line.
In January the club signed Nikica Jelavic which helped ease the burden, with Saha leaving for Tottenham, but Beckford would have been a valuable squad player.
Interestingly Beckford never struck gold with Leicester, and that was a division down, so that does make you question whether he had one lucky season in the Premier League. However, I think he would have done a good job for the Toffees if he had stayed at Goodison Park longer.
