Ipswich Town manager Paul Lambert has backed the campaign to honour Blues legend Kevin Beattie with a statue outside Portman Road.

East Anglian Daily Times: (L-R) Allan Hunter, Kevin Beattie, Robin Turner and Clive Woods celebrate reaching the FA Cup Final. Picture: OWEN HINES/ARCHANT(L-R) Allan Hunter, Kevin Beattie, Robin Turner and Clive Woods celebrate reaching the FA Cup Final. Picture: OWEN HINES/ARCHANT (Image: Archant)

The ‘Beat Goes On’ campaign, led by the East Anglian Daily Times and Ipswich Star in conjunction with BBC Radio Suffolk and TWTD, was launched earlier this week in a bid to raise the £110,000 needed to commemorate the man voted the club’s greatest ever player, following his death in September.

Lambert, who recently watched the documentary on the life of former Ipswich manager Sir Bobby Robson, believes Beattie should be honoured in the same way as his former boss.

“I think when you’ve iconic players and managers and they do incredible things - didn’t he get voted the greatest ever player at Ipswich? - it’s a normal (thing to do),” Lambert said. “I don’t see why not because the type of player he was.

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“There’s one (a statue) of Bobby Robson. I watched the documentary (More Than a Manager) the other night, it was absolutely brilliant. It just shows you how well he done here and for the rest of his career.

“I love the past because I think it’s really important, you’re respecting what people have done.

“But we’ll never be as good as that, that’s the bottom line but we have got a chance to have our own little hit at it but that era was a special era.”

When asked for his thoughts on the Robson documentary, Lambert said: “It was brilliant because the success the man had, not just in this country but Holland, Portugal, Spain, incredible, He won titles everywhere he went.

East Anglian Daily Times: The Kevin Beattie Statue Campaign committee at the Sir Bobby Robson statue Picture|: SARAH LUCY BROWNThe Kevin Beattie Statue Campaign committee at the Sir Bobby Robson statue Picture|: SARAH LUCY BROWN (Image: Archant)

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“And I think going and doing that in different countries and trying to learn different languages and different cultures was incredible.

“It wasn’t anything other than I wanted to [learn about] the career of the guy and how it went. I thought it was fascinating.

“And the success the man had, dear oh dear, to do it in other countries, that takes some going.”

East Anglian Daily Times: Sir Bobby Robson and Kevin Beattie with the replica FA Cup, at a celebratory dinner several years after the 1978 final Picture: LUCY TAYLORSir Bobby Robson and Kevin Beattie with the replica FA Cup, at a celebratory dinner several years after the 1978 final Picture: LUCY TAYLOR (Image: Archant)

Lambert invited Terry Butcher, George Burley and John Wark into the club during the early weeks of his reign, before subsequently having Mick Mills and Russell Osman as his guests at Playford Road.

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“Russell came in today, brilliant. As I said before, along with Terry Butcher, George (Burley), Mick Mills and John Wark, people from the era when I was growing up and who are important to the club and I’ll always say that to the day I leave the club.

“Those people are really important to the club and should never, ever have been left out of it. They should be close to it because of what they did for the football club.”

How you can donate to the appeal:

- Send cheques made payable to ‘The Beat Goes On’ to Kevin Beattie Statue Appeal, EADT, Portman House, 120 Princes Street, Ipswich, IP11RS

- Visit the crowdfunding page and make a donation online here.

- Look out for collection buckets at reception of both the EADT office and BBC Radio Suffolk.

- Events will be held in the coming months aimed at fans and businesses. Look out for more details soon.

Campaign committee:

We’ve assembled a fantastic committee to make this project happen:

• Emma Harvey, Kevin’s daughter

• Terry Butcher, Ipswich Town legend

• Mark Murphy, BBC Radio Suffolk

• Charlotte Spackman, Assistant editor, BBC Radio Suffolk

• Brad Jones, editor EADT and Ipswich Star

• Mark Calver, business owner MC Contracts and Greshams Ipswich

• Mark Ramsay, Ipswich Town Supporters’ Club

• Colin Kreidewolf, Ipswich Town Supporters’ Trust

• Phil Ham, editor TWTD website

• Steve Flory, Hudson Signs

• Duncan Foster, Ipswich businessman, associate director ITFC, friend of Beattie and custodian of The Beat’s memorabilia

• Tim Edwards, Partner, Ipswich Town Heritage Society

• Elizabeth Edwards, Director Ipswich Town plc and Partner, Ipswich Town Heritage Society