DUBLINER IS AN EXPERT AS DEFYING THE ODDS
MATT DOHERTY to Atletico Madrid; a Tottenham stand-in to the third most successful club in Spanish football.
The odds on him making that move were slim. Then again we’ve written those words before and he has proved us wrong before.
Aside from Joe Dolan, it’s hard to think of any Irishman who has had as many comebacks.
Remember how it started?
He left school early to follow his dream of becoming a professional, but it took years before it happened — 14 rejection letters appearing in his post after trials in England, his father’s carpet-cleaning business giving him a living until he got his first big break.
At the time he was a reserve with Bohemians but got to play in a glamour friendly against Wolves because a cup replay held the night before meant a number of first teamers were unavailable.
Two weeks later Wolves boss Mick McCarthy signed him for €80,000.
Sacked
Doherty said: “I had left school because I kept going on trials and it didn’t work out. I was thinking that wasn’t such a great idea, but it came good in the end. It was out of the blue.”
A case of right place, right time, right-back.
Enter setback No2. McCarthy, the man who signed him, got sacked. Wolves then got relegated not once but twice ending up in League One, Doherty ending up on loan at Hibs and then Bury. Living on his own in Edinburgh was tough and he admitted: “I really didn’t like being there. I didn’t drive at the time. It was a bit like, ‘What am I doing every day?’ Nothing. I couldn’t really cook that well at the time. I was in and out of the team. I didn’t enjoy it. I wouldn’t say that I improved as a footballer, but I guess it was an experience.”
So he was fed back to the Wolves, who were going through a crisis, eight different managers in charge during Doherty’s first seven years.
“It was a bit toxic at times,” he admitted in 2016.
But his career changed the moment Nuno Espirito Santo took charge.
From being misused as a left-back, suddenly he was reinvented as a rightwing-back, placed on a special diet, quickly becoming one of the fittest players in the Championship.
Obstacles
But still there were obstacles to clear. It seems scarcely believable now but it was 2018 before he got his first Ireland cap, seven years after he’d made his Premier League debut.
It finally happened when Martin O’Neill was manager — but again Doherty had hurdles to jump.
He and O’Neill were never a mix, never a match.
“I had feedback the first time I went there, over a year ago. They wanted me to work on my fitness, my back-post defending, my defending in general. I have improved in all those aspects. They later criticised my attacking. Maybe my face does not fit.”
His reward for plugging away at club level was a move to Spurs for €17m in 2020.
But with Ireland there were few rewards, as O’Neill’s successor, Mick McCarthy, didn’t believe there was room for both Coleman and him in the starting X1.
By the time that problem was solved by Stephen Kenny, a new one had arrived — Jose Mourinho left Spurs as boss after favouring Doherty.
But he has earned the most surprising transfer involving an Irish player going abroad since Inter Milan bought Robbie Keane from Coventry.
Two years ago Atletico won their 11th La Liga and now they are going for a 31-year-old who has made just seven Premier League starts this season, who has kept getting back up after being knocked down.
The former cleaner is set for one final magic carpet ride.