Fenlon’s Linfield return shows football has no borders
THERE are no hard borders in football, Pat Fenlon being a prime example, even amid the Brexit wrangling, everything is possible.
Of all the boyhood football dreams he could have imagined growing up in Dublin, not in his wildest would he have seen himself being cheered wildly on an open top bus along Belfast’s Shankill Road.
Small in stature, he carved out a giant reputation as a midfield genius in Trevor Anderson’s swashbuckling mid-90s side. And now, more than two decades after he left as a player, Fenlon is back at Windsor Park as Linfield’s newly-appointed general manager.
His job description and avowed aim is to make the club as successful off the pitch as he did on the field in his 1990s trophy-laden spell, topped by a league and cup double in his first season, with the ultimate aim of taking the Blues full-time.
In a glittering career as player and manager, the 49-year-old has amassed 10 league titles, north and south, numerous cups and personal accolades. For the past 20 years he has also been running a successful cleaning business, bringing that acumen and his experience as general manager of Waterford in a conscious change of direction to the commercial side of the game.
Yet he is keen to point out that his Windsor Park remit does not extend to the playing side.
“David (Healy) is the main man on the football side and he is doing a fantastic job. I have no input there,” he said.
“My role is different, working to develop a strategy for the future direction of the club over the next five to 10 years.
“When you look around Windsor Park it is completely different to when I was first here. It’s a huge opportunity to progress the club. It’s a great time for Linfield to try and develop and it’s something for me to get my teeth into.”
It is to a new Northern Ireland, as well as a new Windsor, he has returned. The age-old ‘no Catholics’ signing taboo at Windsor had been broken by the time he arrived from Bohemians in 1994.
But as the first Dublin Catholic to sign for the Blues and a significant, for then, £25,000 transfer fee to justify, eyes were upon him on both sides of the border.
“I arrived with a bit of an injury and didn’t play well in my first few games,” he recalls. “But gradually my form improved and the turning point came against Cliftonville when I scored a rare header.
“Trevor subbed me soon after and the crowd went ballistic at him. As I trooped off, Trevor whispered to me, ‘You’ve arrived now, that’s them showing they appreciate you as a player’.”
And so began a mutual love affair with those fans who immortalised their new hero in song and affectionately nicknamed him ‘Billy’.
Surreal is a word that crops up frequently in our conversation.
Like when he recalls that open top bus ride to celebrate the 1994 double. His goal against Glentoran on a dramatic last day of the league had secured the title and a week later, he scored the second goal in a 2-0 Irish Cup final win over Bangor.
“I’m looking at the crowds lining the road as we paraded the trophies and some of them are wearing Billy Fenlon t-shirts. Surreal,” he smiles. “To be honest, that old Protestant-Catholic, north-south thing never bothered me, then or now.
“I knew the history. As a Rovers fan, I was at the European game in Dublin in 1985 when Linfield fans were banned from travelling but I had no hesitation in signing when Trevor Anderson made his offer. Football is football. It’s about players and what happens on the park.
“I wasn’t oblivious to the Troubles but I just wanted to play.”
62 appearances and 18 goals later, he bade farewell for what he thought would be his dream move, as a lifelong supporter, to Shamrock Rovers — a case of be careful what you wish for. But 10 incredibly successful years followed as player and manager of Shelbourne before spells at Bohs, Hibs and Rovers.
After crossing to the other side of the operation at Waterford, Fenlon is ready for this next challenge.
“This is a massive club,” he enthuses. “Being here as a player, being accepted by the supporters and enjoying a successful time here,
“I want to maintain and enhance that relationship in a different role. That’s important for me because I’ve always had a great rapport with the supporters.
“I really want to take Linfield forward and help the club fulfil all its potential.”