Deely on road less travelled
Ex-Wexford football captain reflects on his time in India
THERE’S A lovely touch of serendipity about Ciarán Deely’s story. Fate’s gentle touch guiding him down his path.
A Wexford boy who ends up working for Queens Park Rangers, the club he supported as a child. A sports scientist who lands a job in India out of a trip to Gillingham.
A GAA enthusiast who was appointed London senior football manager while he sat in a hotel room in Mumbai.
That’s part of his story so far. One that has seen him have dinner with Nicolas Anelka and meet Roberto Carlos.
He’s coached World Cup winners, all while working for a team owned by India’s superstar cricketer Sachin Tendulkar.
These days, he’s back at Loftus Road with QPR. His mother and father met in Shepherd’s Bush in London and their first son was born there and took to supporting his local side with a fervour.
When they moved home to Wexford, the Rangers were ensconced as the family’s favourite team.
So when the chance to work in the club’s academy came up while he was studying for a master’s in strength and conditioning in Middlesex University, he had to take it.
‘I didn’t have time to do it at all, but me and my family all support QPR so it was too good to turn down.’
Working with the club’s young talent, part of his brief was to check in on players who were out on loan.
A ‘loan player review’ saw him head for Gillingham, where two QPR players were under the guidance of one-time England caretaker manager Peter Taylor.
Taylor and Deely hit it off and when the former took a job in India as manager of the Kerala Blasters, Taylor picked up the phone and asked Deely if he could recommend anyone to be his fitness coach.
Deely put himself forward. He’d always been interested in travel and people and places.
At one point he’d even studied for a master’s in international relations in DCU and even though he’d be leaving a permanent role for a four-month stint, it felt like the right move.
‘It meant I was quitting my job (with QPR) and packing up. I had no job to come back to but I feel it was the right time, I wanted a bit of adventure, to live in a different country and to experience first-team football in big stadiums.
‘Then Terry Phelan was head of the academy over there so I became very close with Terry then, and we still chat. I was there for four months, we played in loads of cities – Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Goa, so it was an amazing experience.’
Soccer in India is huge in certain parts. The Blasters would play home games in front of 70,000 people and while cricket was king, the league in general was well received.
Tendulkar owned part of the Blasters, adding to the league’s appeal in India.
‘Some of the clubs were owned by Bollywood stars or big cricket players; Sachin Tendulkar was our owner.
‘I didn’t know who he was to be honest, but then he came and met us in the hotel and the whole city just shut down. He was treated just like a god.’
Playing staff were made up of a combination of Indian players, journeymen from other parts of the world as well as some marquee players.
The Blasters’ star was Carlos Marchena, who had won two European Championships and a World Cup across 59 appearances with Spain. His stint didn’t work out, but the league was awash with big names.
‘I remember in Mumbai, you were flown around to five-star hotels because there was no club [facilities] in some ways.
‘So you are in the hotel, you train, you go to the stadium and play, and then you fly home.
‘Myself and Terry Phelan and Nicolas Anelka were in Mumbai, having dinner in a five-star hotel discussing how to get the best out of players because he (Anelka) was player-manager of Mumbai.
‘He was talking about young players, their motivations and he came across as a really mature, knowledgeable fella, but sometimes his reputation wouldn’t lend itself to that. And I was there to soak up all that information.
‘You’d meet Roberto Carlos, Florent Malouda, (Marco) Materazzi who was player-manager with Chennai. They won it that year.’
It was an unforgettable experience in more ways that one. India’s passion for soccer surprised him, but the gaps between the haves and have-nots was stark.
‘It was quite sheltered for us – you were going from hotel to hotel – and that was something I found difficult because I like to get out and discover places through travelling.
‘We were a little bit cooped up in the hotels, going from stadiums to training pitches to airports.
‘But we’d always have a few days’ break so we’d go to Chennai, arrive in a hotel, we’d probably have the next day off, so myself and Terry would go in around the city and go to cafes.
‘General life on the ground was crazy, completely different from Europe. Everywhere we went people were interested because (a) we were Western men going around and (b) if we were noticed Kerala Blasters people would want pictures and selfies and autographs. They were so into it.
‘It was always friendly. There was never any issue ever. And that was India as a whole, everyone was friendly. And then you’d see the craziness, a man with a donkey and a cart with a load of straw thrown in with the mayhem of stray dogs, poverty and extreme wealth too.
‘I found it very difficult. I remember we were in Pune up in a rooftop of a five-star hotel with the swimming pool and it was amazing and great to be lying around.
‘And then you peer out over the edge and there is a shanty town and dogs and wild animals and street children and poverty and filth. And it was hard to live like that.’
With the season wrapping up, London got in touch and asked if he’d be interested in putting his name forward to succeed Paul Coggins as the county’s senior manager.
With the Indian season coming to a close, he was organising sessions in Ruislip from a hotel room in Mumbai.
And before long he’d come full circle and return to his previous role with QPR as well as pouring himself into his website, elite.deelysportsscience. com, a subscription-based coaching resource which pulls from Deely’s own experiences in sport.
‘We get a huge amount of senior club coaches, fellas from county development squads, I’m always quite surprised that people from well-known clubs, senior managers, are members.
‘It gives me a lift to see people are signing up to this and want to be involved,’ he said.
‘Since Covid we have accelerated things more. We were well set up for Covid because we were online and have a big social media presence, and we have a load of coaches on a WhatsApp group and there’s discussion about the structures now, how to prepare for it, what to do and general discussion and the hearing of information.
‘I’m always pushing that it’s a community of coaches where we are sharing ideas.’