James Scott Beattie (born 27 February 1978 in Lancaster) is an English football player who currently plays for Sheffield United in the Coca Cola Championship.
On 4 August 2007, Beattie officially signed for Sheffield United in a deal worth £4 million potentially rising to £4.5 million, the most expensive transfer fee ever paid by Sheffield United. On August 11, he scored on his Championship debut for the Blades against Colchester United. His second goal came against West Brom with a long range header. He scored 2 goals in the 3-1 win over Wolves. He completed another brace against Blackpool in a 2-2 draw.
On 2 October Beattie was named Coca Cola Championship player of the month. He is the current top goalscorer in the league with 12 goals in 19 games. He scored his first own goal against Sheffield United in a 0-3 home defeat to Stoke.
Beattie earned his first senior England cap against Australia in February 2003 after a prolific period during the 2002-03 season. The game was not a success, with England losing 3-1, which caused a controversy over the management of Sven-Göran Eriksson. Beattie scored 24 goals that season, with 23 in the Premiership and one in the FA Cup, with Saints losing in the final to Arsenal.
However, Beattie was not selected for Euro 2004 with Emile Heskey preferred as the "traditional" centre forward by Eriksson despite scoring far fewer goals than Beattie the previous season. Since this snub Beattie's international career has gone downhill, not being selected for the England squad again.
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