Like father, like son
Why it’s great to see Swifts boss Dean follow in dad Kenny’s footsteps
SO, after my second prolonged hiatus from the game, I made my return to live action on Saturday for my first match of 2021. My hopes for a nice, leisurely, quiet return were somewhat dashed as a madcap encounter ensued with Ballymena United racing into a 4-0 lead at the break against Dungannon Swifts.
It could and should have been more. As good as Ballymena were in spells, the alarming alacrity with which Dungannon pressed the self-destruct button made you wonder were they about to ditch the Swifts moniker for Lemmings.
And, alongside this kamikaze football on the pitch, it was accompanied by the soothing strains of a manager in the depths of coaching despair — Dean Shiels.
Now, I am no stranger to a member of the Shiels family pulling his hair out at the Showgrounds. His dad, Kenny, was one of the many in my lifetime who has warmed the dug-out at Warden Street, taking charge of the Sky Blues from 2001-2005.
It was never boring with Kenny. It was never normal with Kenny. But one thing that was always consistent was that Shiels Snr was not going to change.
And it is clear the apple did not fall far from the tree with Shiels Jnr. He kicked and headed every ball on Saturday, vented his spleen at every refereeing decision that didn’t go his way, and his frustration at his mantra being ripped apart was clear for all of us there to see. And hear.
He never stopped barking out instructions, cajoling his players, telling them where to go and how to do it, and if he continues along these lines he may have to retire through exhaustion by the end of this season.
Put it this way, it isn’t too often that David Jeffrey is made to look like a nervous debutant at his own dance.
That was part of the attraction of coming out of shielding to cover this game — the new kid on the block against the oldest singer in town, the young pup against the top dog of Irish League managers.
Of course, it is not the first time Jeffrey has had to deal with a member of the Shiels clan, some of his spats down the years with Kenny were better than the games.
So, with the clocks springing forward let’s turn them back again to February 23-26, 2004 and a four-day spell that pretty much summed up King Kenny’s reign.
On the Saturday, he guided Ballymena, thanks to a goal by Dominic Melly, to their first win at Windsor Park since 1989, a 15-year period of hurt most of it inflicted by the man in the opposite dug-out that day, David Jeffrey, both on and off the pitch.
There was a fair bit of badinage between the rival bosses that day — and, indeed, any day they were about to meet — but eventually peace was to break out, and with Kenny moving on to pastures new in different jurisdictions we lost one of our favourite sideshows.
That win may have been sublime, but the ridiculous was waiting just around the corner, a 1-0 home defeat at the hands of Kilmore Rec in the Co. Antrim Shield with some lad called Andrew Waterworth scoring the goal — I wonder what became of him?
Certainly, local football was much poorer without Kenny around. There were moments of wonderful madness — the term ‘even the dogs on the street could see we were the better team’ one of my favourites, an impromptu post-match trip to look at the sandy Showgrounds or ‘Bondi Beach’ as he called it and an image of the reporting legend that is Billy Spence carrying out a nude interview with Kenny (Kenny was just out of the shower, Billy remained fully clothed throughout).
There was relegation, failed promotion, successful promotion, an away draw in Denmark with Odense in the Intertoto Cup, a 6-0 home defeat by Odense in the Intertoto Cup, and, the biggest hurt of all, an Irish Cup semi-final defeat at the hands of Larne in 2005 that all but signalled the end of his spell in charge. He went on, of course, to an incredible Scottish League Cup triumph with Kilmarnock, Dean playing his part in the defeat of Celtic in a match that means Shiels, like Rabbie Burns, will be the toast of Ayrshire for ever and a day.
And now we have come full circle. While Kenny has taken the Northern Ireland women’s side to the brink of unparalleled success, his wee lad, who I always felt never got the Northern Ireland caps his skills deserved, is continuing the family business.
It makes you feel very old when you start dealing with the offspring of managers you have dealt with in the past.
Thankfully, I am not alone in this feeling as Jeffrey revealed after his first tussle with Shiels Mk II.
“I said to him when we came out ‘Dean, this is most unfair of you’ and he looked at me,” said Jeffrey after the game.
“I said ‘the fact that your dad was manager when I first came in and now you’re coming through certainly reminds me that I’m the oldest serving manager in the Irish League, as if I needed reminded.’ Time stops for nobody.”
And Shiels has no intention of stopping what he holds dearly to — football being played his way.
“It’s the only way I know to play the game. My principles will not change,” he told me after a second-half where the Lemmings became Swifts again, but a 5-1 defeat will have rankled with the fledgling boss.
When that was followed up by a 4-0 defeat at home to Glenavon, albeit finishing with nine men, the initial glowing reports of how pleasing on the eye the Swifts have been since he took over the role have been replaced with video nasties.
I put it to him that the good thing about no relegation this season is that he gets the chance to hammer home his ideas, although the madcap schedule of three games a week means it is hard for him to hone those away from the unforgiving world of live matches.
“Scorelines do not define us right now,” he insisted.
“What I want to see is who is with me, who wants to play this way, who wants to be brave and get on the ball and who wants to fight when we don’t have the ball. I will learn a lot between now and the end of the season, so it’s up to them.”
“It takes time. We’ve had a limited number of training sessions since I came in. It has been Saturday-tuesday-saturday games and we get them on a Thursday, and they are sore and recovering and we try to give them as much information as we can.”
That information was stored in a notebook that went AWOL after the game, a search proving unsuccessful whilst I was there. Given that it had been hurled in frustration at one point you wouldn’t have blamed it for scurrying away to hide.
A water bottle was also harmed, badinage exchanged with the fourth official, the Ballymena bench and, I think, an errant seagull was growled at. It was exhausting watching him go through the pain and angst of every kick.
The cry we often hear is there are no characters in the local game anymore. Well, we’ve certainly got one now.
And up next, the visit of David Healy’s Linfield to Stangmore Park this Saturday and two old Northern Ireland team-mates going head to head for the second time in a month.
A time for a Plan B? Time to batten down the hatches, overload the defence and lump the ball up the pitch? Not a chance.
Dean is one of a kind, unique. Just like his dad. It’s great to have him on board and please don’t go changing.