The Irish Mail on Sunday

McLoughlin reflects on health scares and wild scenes in Windsor Park

- By Philip Quinn

FOR the week that’s in it, Alan McLoughlin knew calls would come to his office as academy manager at Swindon Town. It’s November, Northern Ireland are in town so it’s inevitable folk want to talk about that goal at Windsor Park.

He’s used to the fuss by now, even if not everyone knows that his 20-minute cameo in Belfast 25 years ago was his sole playing contributi­on to the 1994 World Cup qualifying campaign. It’s rare he’s asked about another make or break encounter, one in which he didn’t come on, but should have.

At Anfield two years later, in the Euro ’96 playoff, Ireland trailed Holland 0-1 and were desperate for someone to make something happen. McLoughlin, a busy-bee midfielder with a knack of scoring goals, was the ideal candidate. Irish captain Andy Townsend called on Jack Charlton to spring him. But Jack, in his final Irish game as manager, sent on Alan Kernaghan, a defender, instead. McLoughlin almost quit but stayed inside the tent and was rewarded the following November with the highlight of his nine and a half years in green.

This weekend marks the anniversar­y of his selection as the 1996 Ireland Player of the Year, sandwiched between Townsend (1995) and Roy Keane (1997). The night in Dublin when he was presented with a cut-piece ball of glass and shared a stage with Kenny Dalglish, was the one which left the greatest personal impact.

‘It was my proudest moment. The goal was a moment in time, and it mattered because it meant I’d helped the team. But the award reflected a longer period and also a period of consistenc­y in the team,’ he said.

At 29, it marked the highpoint of a football journey that began in Moss Side, Manchester, and embraced many challenges.

Along the way, he coped with rejection from Manchester United, drawing support from his parents, and his youth coach at United, Eric Harrison. ‘Eric was a huge influence,’ he said.

McLoughlin went backwards – to the old Third Division – to go forward, winning two selections for the World Cup finals with Ireland, 42 caps and scoring two goals.

He’s 51 now, but still as wiry as he was in his playing career which stretched 17 years, and in fine fettle. It’s six years since he was diagnosed with cancer which cost him a kidney and possibly more had he not agreed to take part in a drugs trial.

Today he’s chipper. ‘I feel fine, just getting older,’ he quipped.

He is almost four years on the staff at Swindon, the club where his front-line career began in 1986 after United let him go.

He was one of countless teenagers whose dreams of Old Trafford stardom are shattered. Many vanish but McLoughlin has always been a battler.

By the spring of 1990 as he headed towards 18 goals and promotion from the old Third Division under Ossie Ardiles, he was in demand, as he found ahead of a B internatio­nal between Ireland and England in Cork.

Two envelopes arrived informing of his selections, one from the English FA, one from the FAI. It was ‘a no-brainer’; he answered Ireland’s call.

‘It just felt right when that envelope was there. It felt right going to Turner’s Cross. It felt right that it was p ***** g rain, that we turned up with five subs – they (England) had a whole team of subs,’ he said.

‘We put on the gear, it was a bit tight, bit rough and edgy. All things I expected being from Moss Side in Manchester. Having left Manchester United and going to Swindon, having to do things by myself, it just felt right.’

McLoughlin has lived in Swindon, on and off since 1986. His wife, Debbie is from the town so it was easy to return to the club where he played 136 games when the call came in 2014.

‘I’m very grateful [for the job] and don’t see myself going anywhere else. As academy manager, I’ve 12 teams to organise. I’ve got a bit of cabin fever at the minute as I love being out on the grass.’

Forthright, passionate, McLoughlin might have made management material. Be he has no regrets. ‘I’ve missed the boat (management) as one or two situations didn’t fall right,’ he said.

He thinks back to Windsor Park in 1993 and the final whistle. There’s a photo of him in a bear hug with Roy Keane. They were close then, and stayed close, never more so than when his career took him to Wigan in the late 1990s.

‘I always got on fine with Roy. I helped him along the way when he first came in (to Ireland squad). When I went up to Wigan, he was kind enough to offer me around for tea. We’d go for a walk with the dog, have a chat and come back to his place for a bite to eat. Roy doesn’t like Big Time Charlies. Maybe that was a reason we got on well.’

The goal took Ireland to the 1994 World Cup finals but he never played a minute, unlike in 1990 when he featured twice.

‘I understood my place in the squad. You had Paul McGrath, Ronnie Whelan, Andy Townsend, Roy Keane, Ray Houghton, John Sheridan…

‘I came into the squad on the back of scoring 18 goals for Swindon, so I could understand why Jack wanted to have me there.

‘For the ’94 qualifiers, I turned up and bided my time. Jack decides to throw me on in the last game. I hit it, I scored, and we get through. I’d done something I didn’t think I’d do, I’d helped the team get a result to get to the World Cup. It was a little bit more difficult to take at Anfield [Euro 96 play off] when we needed goals.’

Goals. He scored many for club, if not so many for his country – just two, the one against Northern Ireland, and also Macedonia away where Ireland lost 3-2 and the 3-52 experiment was binned by Mick McCarthy.

The ’98 World Cup campaign ended in heartbreak in Brussels for McLoughlin, and he was still in the trenches in Skopje two years later when a place in Euro ’2000 was snatched from Ireland’s grasp.

‘That was the only time I ever got upset after a football match,’ he said.

From 1990 to ’99, there was a lot more to Alan McLoughlin than just

that goal.

 ??  ?? IMPACT: Alan McLoughlin scored two goals for Ireland
IMPACT: Alan McLoughlin scored two goals for Ireland

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