THE FAIRYTALE CAREER OF FAIRCLOUGH

NOT too many top footballers from the North East have experienced such amazing highs and dreadful lows as Mick Fairclough.

The man from Togher played at the highest level in England and for both Drogheda United and Dundalk at various stages, but events at Oriel Park in October 1981 were a microcosm of a career that fluctuated from ecstasy to despair.

He had previously been told his career was over because of a serious knee problem, so imagine the jubilation Fairclough experienced that night on stroking the ball into the Tottenham Hotspur net for what had to rank as the most famous goal ever scored at Oriel Park in European competition.

This was a game, remember, which was watched by a crowd estimated at 17,500, paying record receipts for a game outside of Dublin of £70,000.

However, that joy was quickly replaced by heartfelt and numbing grief. As he ascended the stairs in the main stand straight from the dressing-rooms after the final whistle, he learned of the death in Bulgaria of Bobby McGregor, the physiotherapist responsible for making it possible for Fairclough to play again after that serious injury. McGregor was on duty with Glentoran in a European game against Sofia that same night when he collapsed as he went out to attend to a player on the pitch.

Ultimately, though, Fairclough’s career proved something of a fairytale as the striker savoured League, Cup, League Cup and President’s Cup success and gained two caps for Ireland before ending up back at United Park where his odyssey began.

He was 18 when he was sprung almost straight from youth football after doing his Leaving Certificate in 1971. He moved over to England in August and within two months was playing for Huddersfield in the equivalent of the Premier League. By Christmas he was playing against the top teams such as Arsenal and Chelsea.

However, from there the fortunes of the club went rapidly downhill. The Terriers were relegated at the end of the season and again 12 months later, consigning them to Division 3 football.

At the end of four seasons as a professional Fairclough was told his career was over as a result of that knee injury. So dejected by the news, he returned home, but a chance meeting with Jim McLaughlin after five years out of the game paved the way for a return to the game.

McLaughlin arranged for him to meet miracle man Bobby McGregor, who was physiotherapist for Irish League club Glentoran and for the Northern Ireland team.

Fairclough spent 18 months receiving treatment, travelling up and down to Belfast during the height of the Troubles. This involved applying a magic poultice of vinegar and water and a potion resembling whipped cream that smelled like winter green, at the end of which McGregor pronounced: ‘It’s time to try it out.’

Fairclough recalled: ‘I knew a chap, Paddy O’Neill, who ran CIE, which later became CIE Mosney. They played at the back of the railway station in Drogheda.’

He played a number of games for CIE and a clipping appeared in the Evening Herald after he scored six goals in one match.

‘The next week,’ he said, ‘we were playing and I was togged out and I seen Jim McLaughlin coming in at the sideline. I says, what is this. I didn’t play particularly well that day.’

Nevertheless McLaughlin approached him to join Dundalk, to which Mick reacted; ‘You won’t be much impressed by that performance.’ The manager said all he was interested in was ‘have you the hunger’.

Fairclough played a couple of reserve matches and was then introduced as a substitute with 15 minutes to go, with Dundalk trailing 1-0 at Milltown to Shamrock Rovers and needing a draw to keep European qualification hopes alive. He duly answered the call, grabbing the equaliser from a Leo (Pop) Flanagan free kick.

He went on to net four goals in an undefeated seven-match run to the end of the season, securing the European qualification spot which led to a money-spinning tie against Oporto. Over the following four seasons he was the club’s top scorer for three successive years.

Before the 1981 FAI Cup semi-final he suffered a recurrence of his knee injury but was cleared to play at the last minute and scored the only goal against Finn Harps, while in the final his superbly taken 79th-minute goal, after a run from the half-way line, clinched victory against Sligo Rovers.

During the European Cup Winners Cup in 1981 he scored goals in three successive matches - both legs against Fram Reykjavik and most memorably in that 1-1 home tie against Tottenham.

‘I was over the moon going up to the players lounge when a reporter from the Mirror – a Northern chap - broke the bad news about ‘your buddy’ Bobby McGregor.

‘I remember going to the funeral and the vicar giving his homily and referring to the irony of Bobby passing away on the pitch and the player he nurtured back to play who was finished scored against Spurs.’

The icing on Fairclough’s comeback was his selection in May 1982 on the Ireland tour party to South America, during which he made two substitute appearances in a 1-0 loss to Chile in Santiago and a 2-1 defeat to Trinidad & Tobago at Port of Spain.

Fairclough stayed at Oriel Park for another year after McLaughlin departed before returning to Drogheda, where his nine League goals in 1984-85 was just one less than leading scorers Roddy Collins and Pat Dillon - but it was all in vain as Drogheda were one of the four clubs who fell through the trapdoor into the new First Division.

‘I enjoyed my time there,’ he reminisced, talking about his times with Drogheda. ‘I had a lot of friends there from my early years and it was good to go back. I knew some great club people like Vincent Hoey who were very good to me.’

Fairclough’s career turned full circle as his last involvement with the game was as assistant to the late Paddy Mooney, who was in charge of the Drogheda Youths team that won the FAI Youth Cup in 1997. Jim McLaughlin at this stage had taken over the Boynesiders for a short spell.

Perhaps surprisingly, Fairclough now reflects that the years after his comeback meant more to him than those early times across the water playing against the giants of English football.

‘I had a different attitude far more enjoyable than when I went to England at 18. Everything was going on and everything was so fast. I didn’t fully savour what was going on.

‘When I got back playing I think I enjoyed it more because it was a second chance I probably shouldn’t have had.’

Mick’s son David was an accomplished left-sided defender who played with Bohemians and Drogheda United before a spell in England with Tranmere Rovers ‘that didn’t really work out as well as it might have’.

Mick’s view on young players moving away from home in pursuit of a playing career is clear.

‘I wouldn’t encourage young lads to go over until they have done their education. I was lucky I did my Leaving Certificate, which meant something then. People who did their Leaving Certificate had a better chance of getting a job. Now you need a degree to get any sort of job opportunity.’

He had his Leaving ‘to fall back on when I came back’ and went