issue 5 germany v ireland sat 2nd september 2006

AT a time when being Irish in England was about as popular as being Muslim now, there was one shining exception to that rule that came to the fore on Saturday afternoons at 3.pm, one glorious example of magic and beauty that demonstrated that being Irish could be more than the brutal stereotypes of those dark days — Liam Brady.
Born in Dublin in February 1956, Brady was part of the four musketeers, along with Frank Stapleton, Dave O’Leary and Johnny Murphy, that travelled to England by boat to sign for Arsenal in the early 1970s. Brady was the undoubted star. He made his debut against Birmingham City in October 1973 as a scrawny 17-year-old, coming on as a sub, stolethe show and continued to do so in the rest of the 200 odd games he played for the Gunners, over the next seven years. It would be contentious to say Brady is Ireland’s greatest ever player but what is beyond debate is that he was our most skilful. Blessed with God’s own left foot, Brady could pick out a seemingly impossible pass with one sweeping movement that would have 40,000 people gasping with incredulity. Despite his waiflike frame he was also strong on the ball and equally comfortable with his right foot. But why would you bother with the right foot when you had a left foot that would break defences and hearts so easily. He scored a very respectable 59 goals for the Gunners, created many, many more and in an era before prozone and match statistics his immense contribution to the game will never be fully known. Live Football on television then was limited to the really big games which ruled out the Gunners, who were brutal. Fans had to listen to the radio, watch whatever snippets were shown on Match of the Day or the Big Match or read the Sunday Papers. Brady’s name was always mentioned as being the one saving grace in an endless litany of poor matches. He will be remembered mostly for the 1979 FA Cup Final against Man Utd in which he was peerless. It is rare for Cup Finals to be named after individuals but 1979 belonged to Brady. It was the only trophy he won in England. He picked up two FA Cup runners up medals in 1978 and 1980 and lost the 1980 Cup Winners Cup Final against Valencia where he missed a vital penalty in the shoot out. His transfer to Juventus in the summer of 1980 still brings back feelings of pain and loss. Arsenal’s greatest ever player (at the time) leaving for an Italian club seemed bizarre. Trevor Francis becomes the first £1million player and Brady goes for half that. It still beggars belief! Every six months or so afterwards the Evening Press would cruelly print stories of his imminent return to Highbury. It was more eagerly anticipated than a reappearance by Jesus Christ but it never happened.

In Italy he won two Scudettos with Juventus and it is a measure of the man that despite knowing he was being replaced by Platini for the following season it was his penalty that secured that second Scudetto. He went on to play for Sampdoria, Inter Milan and Ascoli before finally returning to England for a spell with West Ham. Brady never got the chance to display his skills in a green shirt on the World’s greatest stage. He was denied for a variety of reasons from dodgy refereeing decisions in 1982, when we should have gone to the World Cup instead of Platini’s France to suspension and injury in 1988 and Jack Charlton’s cruelty in 1990. Brady’s passing game being incongruous with Jack Charlton’s long ball. He made his debut in the memorable 3-0 win over the Soviet Union in Dalyer in 1974 and went onto win 72 caps. People talk about Gary Mackay’s winner for Scotland against Bulgaria as starting the glory days for Irish Football. I think it should be traced back to Brady’s calmness in Brussels when he scored a last minute penalty to claim a 2-2 draw at the start of that campaign. He scored nine goals for Ireland including a sweet strike against France in Lansdowne Road in which he fooled the French defence and the entire stadium with one movement and a very Brazilian goal against, well, Brazil in 1987. It is ironic that, as we are about to face Germany, he is our cult hero. For it was against West Germany in 1989 that he made his final appearance. He was ignominiously substituted by Charlton after 35 minutes. Deeply upset by the insult, he never played for Ireland again. Brady is now part of RTE’s Holy Trinity alongside Giles and Dunphy and his verbal jousts with Dunphy, most notably over Roy Keane, are compulsive viewing for all fans. More often than not the studio discussions are more interesting than the matches on view. Asked for his highlight of this year’s World Cup, Brady told us that seeing David Beckham crying was particularly satisfying. Who can argue with that!!! For Arsenal and Ireland fans in their 30s, Liam Brady was the only player we ever aspired to be. His name opens the floodgates of childhood memories; the Liam Brady footballs you got with Texaco tokens, panini stickers, his love of chips and the pride that you felt knowing we had one of the best players in the world at that time. The closest we’ll ever get to him is that we too are a little fleshy around the chops and thinning on top. Liam, as a player, as a pundit and as a man, we salute you.