‘I don’t think people realise I’ve been on the dole’ – Derek Beaumont opens up on his journey

Derek Beaumont is doing wonderous things at Leigh Leopards.

He has rebranded the club, brought in some star players and made every home game so far this season a real event.

But he never loses sight of his origins.

“I always think ‘does anyone ever think I have been on the dole’ when I speak to some of these people,” he said on the Eddie and Stevo podcast.

“I never ever lose touch with that (where I’ve come from). I drive through Little Hulton in Salford every day, that is where I was brought up.

“I drive through it going to my office and back through it coming back, sometimes through Farnworth, and I see what those places still look like.

“I never lose touch with reality, and a lot of what I do I keep private. There are a lot of stories I could tell.”

He also addressed whether he is spending his kids’ inheritance:

“I get a pleasure out of giving. My family are enjoying it, I’m enjoying it. I’ll give them (his children) the ways and words to be able to make their own money anyway.

“I’m not spending money we as a family haven’t got, but I believe I’m making change and in the end my kids can look back and say ‘that club’s a full-time Super League club and it’s got an academy which is something that didn’t exist before my dad got involved in it’.

“They can be proud of that. Whereas extra money in the bank, does that really leave any pride?”

In terms of spending, Beaumont also admitted that he had to change his philosophy last year:

“I looked at it last year and I said ‘we can’t keep doing this’. I knew that we had to change what we had done before.

“The one thing different this time is we recruited in May. I put my neck on the line and I knew I could expose myself to £2 million.

“But I also knew that if we didn’t go up and Featherstone did, they would need players so I could keep what I needed to make to make sure we won promotion the next year.”