MICHAEL DUFF
We take an in-depth look at the career of the new Cheltenham boss
THESE days, thirty grand wouldn’t buy you a pair of Neymar’s shoelaces. Back in 2004, it bagged Burnley an alltime great.
Michael Duff was 26 when he arrived from Cheltenham, a talented but untested centre-back who’d spent the bulk of his days in Non-League.
Fans were sceptical. Even manager Steve Cotterill, who’d known Duff since he was 16, described the signing as a “calculated risk”.
Yet 12 years later, when Duff took leave of Turf Moor for the final time, he was an international, a veteran of three Premier League promotions and - after 383 games - one of the Clarets’ most legendary figures.
“For what he cost and what he gave… for me, he’s got to be under consideration as one of the finest players in Burnley’s history,” said former teammate Steven Caldwell.
And not just Burnley’s. By the time he pitched up at the Moor, Duff had already played over 300 games for Cheltenham – the club he has now returned to manage.
His career is a monument to persistence, patience and professionalism, all underpinned by a grounding sense of perspective.
A slog through Non-League always helps in that sense; Duff started out at Carterton Town, played through a bout of flu to earn a contract at Whaddon Road, got loaned out to Cirencester at 16 and was 22 before he’d even played in the EFL.
Watched
Duff’s ethos, however, was anchored by two seminal events. The first came in April 1989, when he watched with his father from the Nottingham Forest end as 96 Liverpool fans lost their lives at Hillsborough.
“I was 11 and it was my first ‘big’ game,” said Duff, who was born in Belfast but grew up in the Yorkshire town of Bedale. “One thing that sticks in my head was a lad of about 20, tearing advertising boards off. Forest fans were giving him dog’s abuse, he was crying his eyes out and shouting ‘I’ve got five brothers in there and I can’t find one of them’. I’ll never forget it.”
Duff and his soldier father left at 3.30pm, but not before they’d seen dead and dying supporters on the Hillsborough pitch.
Many years later, Duff was asked about pressure games in the Premier League. “What’s the worst that can happen?” he said. “We lose a football match?”
The other came in September 2007, when Duff fell awkwardly during a game against Crystal Palace. Two days later, a surgeon brandished a scan of Duff’s ruined knee and cried ‘Look at the f***ing state of that’.
Cruciate and lateral ligament damage, a torn hamstring tendon; at 29, the defender was warned to start planning for retirement.
If witnessing tragedy had forged in Duff a philosophy that football was never to be taken too seriously, that bleak prognosis kindled something different – a realisation that he loved the sport and a determination to maximise every moment.
Within seven months, Duff was back. And where he’d previously filled in at right-back and even up front, his later years saw him cement a place at centre-back and play the best football of his career.
Belief
“When you have the thought of football being taken away, an injury like that takes great effort and belief to recover from,” said Caldwell. “He appreciated that every day that he came through it and gave everything he had to make sure there was longevity in his career.”
This combination of good-natured perspective and extreme dedication made Duff, in the words of former Burnley team-mate Graham Alexander, the “ultimate pro”.
“He was superb,” said the 46-year-old, who recalls Duff performing a ‘lucky’ body-popping routine before every game in the run-up to Burnley’s first promotion under Owen Coyle in 2009.
“He was all in. He trained as he played, which I love in a player. He liked a social time with the boys too, and that’s the all-round pro for me. He works hard and gives everything on the pitch, but he knows how to enjoy himself with the team.”
Such qualities ensured he was still – at 36 – the first name on Sean Dyche’s teamsheet following promotion to the Premier League in 2014.
“When I got here people, ex-managers, were all saying ‘I’m not sure he’s got much left in him’, said Dyche. “But the way he looked after himself was fantastic and he never let me down once.”
Even as his legs finally slowed, Duff retained his value, helping to develop the likes of Ben Mee and current England star Michael Keane.
“He was like a coach on the pitch, that last year,” said Keane, now at Everton.
It was then no surprise to Keane when Duff’s retirement in 2016 was met with an offer from Dyche to coach the Clarets’ Under-18s.
“He knew the transition was coming,” adds Keane. “And he always had that mentality – he’s got a presence about him like Sean.”
Now, the 40-year-old is back where it all began, ready, he says, to “take the plunge”. According to Caldwell, his friend will not sink. “Duffo has integrity and heart,” said the Scot. “He is the consummate professional. He is a winner and a leader and nobody can fail to be inspired by that.”