BILL DARBY ON…

PAUL McGRATH

IT was Charlie Walker, an old school pal from their Marino days, who first tipped off Bill Darby about Paul McGrath. ‘Charlie was managing St Pat’s and he said to me “I’m after signing this fellow from out Dun Laoghaire way”. ‘I said to him to organise a match, which he did, in Richmond Park, and I went along. The opposition weren’t all that good but Paul looked great. I said to myself “he can play anywhere”. On Darby’s recommendation, Wilf Dixon, the Arsenal head coach, came over to Dublin to see McGrath for himself.

‘I didn’t go to the game as I was just out of hospital. Dixon was at it,’ recalled Darby. ‘I rang him the next day and asked him what he thought of young McGrath. He said “we’ve better fellows than him”.’ ‘Paul got away later to Manchester United where he was given the worst contract he ever signed although Charlie did well out of it.

ANDY REID

ANOTHER ace who Arsenal allowed slip out of their grasp was Andy Reid. To this day, it still rankles.

‘Steve Rowley was the chief scout. And I brought him over to see an Under 13 match in the Amateur League. Andy Reid was playing and he had a great left foot. Before the game Rowley says, “would you get me a chair?”.

‘Then he went down to one end of the ground and sat down in the sun. Reid got a goal like you’d see the Brazilians score. When it was over, I went down to Rowley, and he was asleep!

‘He wakes up and asks “is there extra time?”. I said Reid is after scoring a great goal and you were asleep. Where would that happen? Andy was a great player, so were his father and uncle who should have been in England.

‘If Rowley had stayed awake that day, Andy Reid would have been signed for Arsenal.’

DAMIEN DUFF

DARBY’S sharp eyes didn’t miss much but he admits that Damien Duff was a player who didn’t impress on first viewing. ‘I looked at him playing for Lourdes Celtic one day. He was very fragile and I thought “he can’t run.”