Omar Beckles

Omar Jerome Beckles (born 25 October 1991) is a Grenadian international footballer who plays as a defender. He played for Shrewsbury Town between 2017 and 2020. He now plays for Crewe Alexandra.

Pre-Shrewsbury career
Beckles was born in Leytonstone, London and grew up supporting Arsenal. As a teenager, Beckles played youth football for Millwall between 2008 and 2010 before signing for Spanish club Jerez Industrial, making his debut on 6 February 2011. However, the Glenn Hoddle Academy terminated its agreement with the club, leading Beckles to return to England. On his return to England, Beckles signed for non-league side Boreham Wood before joining Kettering Town in 2012. He returned to Boreham Wood shortly after after Kettering's financial problems forced him to leave the club and spent another year there. In February 2013, he signed for Billericay Town but was only with the club until July the same year, where he signed for Histon. During his second year as a Histon player, he signed for Margate on a dual-registration. Beckles had two more new clubs in 2014, first signing for AFC Hornchurch before joining St Albans City later that year. A move to Conference Premier side Aldershot Town in 2015 soon followed, before making the step up into the Football League by joining Accrington Stanley in 2016.

Shrewsbury career
Beckles signed for Shrewsbury on 22 August 2017 for an undisclosed fee on a three-year deal. He was initially regularly used as a substitute or rotation player before breaking into the first team as a left-back following a long-term injury to regular first-team left back Junior Brown. He scored his first goal for the club on 3 February 2018 in a 2−1 victory away at Bristol Rovers at the Memorial Stadium. Beckles went on to make 49 appearances in all competitions that season, scoring 4 goals.

The 2018–19 season saw Beckles remain a first-team regular, now under the management of John Askey and later Sam Ricketts. Beckles made 47 appearances in all competitions this season, scoring 2 goals, including netting in a 6−0 home thrashing over Tranmere Rovers in the EFL Trophy.

In August 2019, Beckles was called up to the Grenada national team for the first time, alongside Salop team mate Aaron Pierre. The 2019–20 season saw Beckles in and out of Ricketts' starting line-up. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and League One being cut short, Beckles only made 32 appearances, scoring 3 goals.

On 13 August 2020, Beckles left the club after deciding not to renew his contract. During his time at the club, Beckles became a favourite amongst the Town faithful not just on the pitch but also off it, doing a lot for the local community and charities.

Post-Shrewsbury career
Shortly after his departure from New Meadow, Beckles went on to sign for Crewe Alexandra on 4 September 2020, signing a one-year deal with the Cheshire side.