BIG INTERVIEW
For a fleeting moment Richie Foran is back in Dublin’s rough East Wall estate.
He’s embroiled in a game of Gaelic football and is being clattered off every side of the old gym hall building.
Foran is just 13 years old and, incredibly, the people inflicting this physical pain are relatives of his.
In fact, his father Paddy is dishing it out as ruthlessly as anyone else.
Being exposed to that kind of aggression at such a young age might have destroyed some kids. It made Foran. You wouldn’t mess with the current Inverness Caledonian Thistle gaffer, which is always a good starting point for any manager. In a modern era when few players fear their boss, Foran – at 36 – is a throwback.
The Irishman might be a managerial rookie but he commands respect, not necessarily for what he has achieved in the game but for where he had to come from to get where he is today.
There is not much he hasn’t witnessed during a colourful 18-year football career. Before that, though, his journey started in a Dublin hall two decades ago when he was forced to grow up fast while playing the Gaelic equivalent.
Foran told MailSport: “My dad played Gaelic football and he was a bit ill-disciplined, which is probably where I get it from.
“I grew up on Gaelic football, I wasn’t too interested in soccer.
“I didn’t take that up seriously until I was 16 or 17. Gaelic football was my life – it was my love, my passion.
“I was the youngest person to play for my dad’s adult team, St Joseph O’Connell’s. It was a man’s game. I’d train with them every Thursday night. This hal l had four wal ls around it and that was it.
“My father, my two uncles, other family members and friends all trained with us and not one of them held back on me.
“I was getting kicked against every wall, shouldered into them. And my dad was one of the first to do it. They were treating me like a man and I loved that aggressive style. Maybe it toughened me up.
“I was brought up on the inner-city streets of Dublin so I was constantly on the street kicking a ball.
“If there were lads walking through our area doing the same, I’d get into scuff les. You had to toughen up in that environment.
“And playing Gaelic football was great for me. In nearly every game someone would end up in a f ist f ight or scrapping. There were no headbutts or sly boots, they were all fair fights. It was just part of the game.”
Whether it was a family member or the owner of a football club, Foran has never been afraid to stand his ground.
The former striker left Ireland in 2001 for Carlisle United where his first season was marred by problems off the pitch as the club hurtled towards voluntary administration under former owner Michael Knighton.
Foran said: “Knighton was hated at Carlisle. There were problems with wages every month but me and another boy were the lucky ones.
“We were the only two being paid on time because Knighton thought he could sell us on and make money. We were young, up-and-coming players and he had to try to keep us happy.
“But I was angry about it. All the lads were waiting around the reception area for their wages.
“I saw them, knowing that I was getting paid. I wasn’t happy with that at all so I pulled Knighton aside, even though I was still only a young lad. “We were nearly going for it. I was really angry. He was saying, ‘ Don’t worry, don’t worry, the lads will get paid tomorrow’. But I came close with him. If he hadn’t backed down I wouldn’t have cared if he was the owner, chairman, whatever, I’d have went for it.
“It was a horrible feeling seeing other boys not getting paid on time.
“I was a team player and these boys were my mates. To see them worried about their families wasn’t nice.
“I got some answers out of Knighton that day, for sure. I had to do it. It was the right thing to do and I didn’t like the guy at all, not one bit.
“He wasn’t a good man, treating the players like that. Eventually we got it sorted and he left.”
Foran once joked he’d had more court appearances than goals during one campaign at Carlisle. But he’s adamant he paid the price for dealing with situations in his own way, largely due to his East Wall upbringing.
He said: “I got caught up in a few off-field things at Carlisle. It always seemed to be me. If it’s one in I’m all in. That’s just my character, it’s the way I was brought up.
“I’m not the kind of guy to go out and start trouble, I wouldn’t do that. I’m not a tough guy or a hard man.
“I don’t want to be known as one – that doesn’t interest me. But if I found one of my friends in a bit of trouble I’d step in.
“And at times I had problems in nightclubs. I’d have drinks thrown over me and I’d react to it. A lot of people would act differently. Some might go over to a doorman and ask them to eject someone.
“But I’d try and sort it. I’d try and eject them myself. Nowadays I wouldn’t even go to a nightclub.”
Foran might be hard pushed to now that he has settled and put down roots in the Highlands.
The Irishman still has the same traits he grew up with, although they were honed by Terry Butcher at Motherwell following his time at Carlisle then again at Caley Thistle when the pair were reunited after Foran’s spell at Southend.
Even if Butcher doesn’t know it, the former Caley Thistle captain credits him with “fixing” a player who burst on to the scene in 2000 with goals for Shelbourne against Rosenborg in the UEFA Cup only to pick up five red cards in the season that followed.
He said: “For a striker, that’s a lot. But I thought I was still playing Gaelic football. I wasn’t clever enough