Rochdale
Beech was offered the opportunity to become the head of youth coaching at Rochdale Football Club following Keith Hill's appointment from youth team manager to first team manager in 2007–08. Beech also assumed responsibility for the reserve side and the centre of excellence.
This became the start of a 12-year relationship that would see Beech replicate and succeed the success he had at Bury's youth system at Rochdale, with a reputation for establishing quick talented footballers. A stream of footballers came through the club's youth system and either established themselves in the first team or were transferred for substantial fees. Current professional players such as Will Buckley, Scott Hogan, Jamie Allen, Callum Camps, and Andy Cannon formed part of this program.
Beech spent time with SC Braga in Portugal in 2009 to complete his Academy Managers course which help shape his philosophy on football player development, and he went on to complete his UEFA Pro License in 2010 with the visit of fellow candidate Gianfranco Zola to Rochdale to complete the FA assessment criteria.
In December 2011, Beech was appointed caretaker manager at Rochdale for a month, following Steve Eyre's dismissal. [3] Rochdale lost three and drew three of the six games in which he took charge of before John Coleman was installed as the permanent manager on 24 January 2012. [4] Beech returned to his role as youth team manager following the appointment. [5]
Keith Hill returned to Rochdale as manager in January 2013 replacing John Coleman, and confirmed Beech was to be his new assistant manager. [6] This was to be the start of arguably the most successful period in the football clubs history, spanning six seasons through to March 2019, winning promotion to EFL League One at the first time of asking in 2014 and achieving consecutive top-ten finishes on minimal finance and several successful FA Cup runs, with a highlight reaching the 5th round and taking Premiership Tottenham Hotspur in February 2018 to a replay at Wembley, then managed by Mauricio Pochettino.
Beech left Rochdale along with Hill in March 2019 after a poor run of form [7]
Carlisle United
Chris Beech was appointed Carlisle United Manager on 26 November 2019, with the team 5 points off the bottom of League 2 and 21st in the league table.
Beech immediately improved performances and results, securing an FA Cup run, and taking Championship side Cardiff to a replay. Beech averaged 1.6 points per game ratio with Carlisle and managed to operate shrewdly in the January transfer window, recruiting Elliot Watt from Wolves, Nick Anderton and Callum Guy from Blackpool; Omari Patrick from Bradford; and Joshua Kayode from Rotherham. His first season at Carlisle was cut short with Carlisle United in 18th place in the League 2 table after the 2019–2020 season was suspended and then immediately ended due to the COVID Pandemic in 2020.The final league table was defined on a points-per-game basis. [8]
Football initially resumed for the 2020-2021 season, and Beech was forced to recruit a new-look squad. Following a slow start to the season, Beech's side hit form and consecutive league wins carried them to the top of League 2 by January 2021, Beech's Carlisle side was playing fast attacking counter-pressing football, breaking in-game statistics and gaining the side huge plaudits within the national media.
Beech himself was fast gathering a reputation as a coach of substance and was linked with a number of jobs further up the footballing pyramid. To thwart this interest Carlisle rewarded Beech and his assistant Gavin Skelton with new 2-year contracts, announced on the club’s social media on Christmas Day 2020.
The COVID Pandemic was still in situ and football games were being played frequently behind closed doors, in January 2021, 19 of the Carlisle first team squad tested positive for the virus, forcing the EFL to suspend their involvement and the football club temporarily shut down. Once Carlisle was able to resume their campaign, bad weather hit the north of England, with Carlisle finding it difficult to get games on or secure training facilities given most commercial venues were shut down due to national lockdown, and other sporting clubs did not want to share their own venue and risk cross-contamination and jeopardise their own season.
At one stage Carlisle found themselves 9 games behind other teams, ultimately having to complete 25 games in a 12-week period which took its toll on the squad and initial results suffered post-COVID shutdown. Cambridge United manager Mark Bonner pre-match stated "Carlisle have been chopped down at the knees with the virus". Their form did eventually pick up, with the team losing only once in the last 11 games, but this wasn't enough and the side finished 10th on 66 points.
The 2021-2022 season began with much optimism, however, Carlisle failed to retain key players, and the club elected to sell playing assets as the season began, with defenders Aaron Hayden joining Wrexham (undisclosed fee) and George Tanner joining Championship side Bristol City just as the transfer window closed.
Supporters began to become disgruntled and frustrated at the lack of investment, lack of ambition and voiced their concerns towards the board of directors. Beech's revised side had an indifferent start to the 2021-2022 season, drawing to Colchester and Port Vale, and beating Swindon and Salford. Consecutive league defeats to Sutton United, Forest Green, and Bristol Rovers ultimately saw Beech lose his job on 10 October 2021. [9]
