Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
IN Talks to Glentoran’s long-serving defender CALUM BIRNEY n-the-wool an Calum love to see b back in x for a title
dreaming big because he does so too, all the while accepting part of the problem is the fact expectations have never dipped in line with the reality on the ground.
Whoever dons the famous green shirt will always be held against the standards which went before, that’s just the way it is.
Glentoran is a storied club, the Oval an east Belfast landmark the mere mention of which conjures grainy images of European nights against Benfica and Juventus, the legend of Sixties trailblazers the Detroit Cougars, and some of the finest talents ever to grace the Irish League like Jim Cleary, Billy Caskey and Gary Mccartney.
They are hard acts to follow but it all adds to the aura of the club and makes Birney intensely proud to follow in their footsteps.
And finally, after a lost decade in financial purgatory, with their historic debts easing and two club heroes at the wheel, maybe, just maybe, the sun can rise in the east again.
“It can be extremely difficult at times,” admitted Birney.
“My career has coincided with a very dark period for the club and that’s why I always reflect on the 2015 Irish Cup final because that meant more to me than potentially winning the cup with any other team because of the amount of friends and family I have in the stands, my friends who go every week.
“Losing in football is hard enough, but I think I feel it double because it’s my people who are looking down.
“It’s not just a club you go and play for and you don’t know the history, somewhere you just go on a Saturday and walk away, you leave it there.
“This follows me everywhere but it makes the highs higher and the lows lower, but I wouldn’t change it.” Asked where he hoped he and his club would be in a few years’ time, Birney was unequivocal.
“I want medals and I want to win trophies for Glentoran,” he said emphatically.
“Yes, I’d love to win the league but realistically, it’s not going to happen next year and is it the next year?
“Most likely not, but we need to be in a position where we are challenging at the top of the table.
“I want to get us back to where we should be, but there’s no divine right just because we are a big club with a big history and a big following.
“That gives you no right, you have to work for it and earn it.
“But before all that, first and foremost, I want to make sure I’m still a Glentoran player.”
Glentoran to the bone, indeed.