Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Alks to new Linfield general manager and ex-player PAT FENLON
alongside Dessie Gorman – to the Ports was, with the benefit of hindsight, the beginning of the end. The Englishman would be a revelation at Shamrock Park, while Fenlon’s departure the following summer robbed the Blues of their main creative outlet.
Fan favourite Gorman would be gone too by the end of the following season.
Looking back, Fenlon admits leaving Windsor Park is one of his few career regrets, even if the situation he found himself in was beyond his control.
“It’s always something I’ve said, probably my one regret was leaving,” said Fenlon. “At the time, I had taken over the family business. My dad had died in 1993 and I’d taken it over and it was difficult, going twice a week to training and playing on a Saturday.
“It was just difficult at the time and it’s always something I regretted, but I do agree that we probably didn’t fulfil the potential we had as players and it was at a time when the club was spending some money so they had to row back as well.
“But we had a very, very good squad, a really good squad, and a good bond between the players as well and we obviously won a fair few trophies, all the big ones as well. But I would agree that we probably left a little bit behind us as well.” Of course, the calibre of opposition had something to do with it too.
Back then, for the first time in decades, the dominance of Belfast’s Big Two was fragmenting. Portadown were champions in ’90 and ‘91, after all, while Glenavon and the Crues were emerging forces.
It was the era of Raymie Mccoy, Stevie Mcbride and Glenn Ferguson; Stevie Cowan and Sandy Fraser; Stephen Baxter, Sid Burrows and Glenn Hunter – big personalities in the local game who would roll over for no one, and who would all inspire their clubs to honours.
“The Glens had a good side, Glenavon had a very good team as well with Mcbride and Mccoy. Portadown were very strong, the Crues were very strong, Cliftonville were strong, it was a strong league, a tough league and it was an enjoyable time,” said Fenlon.
Amid all those stellar attacking talents, however, for the diminutive Dubliner the contemporaries he most admired where his team-mates at Windsor, with the quiet assassin John Easton, the unassuming left-back with lead in his boots such was the ferocity of his tackles, marked out for special praise. “I’ve always said that John Easton is a player I loved playing with,” said Fenlon.
“You knew if you had to stand up and be counted, that John Easton would be in beside you. He was a tenacious full-back, he was more than that too, but you knew he would always be in the trenches with you.
“But listen, there were a lot of good players. Dessie was a fantastic player, a great goalscorer and a great talent, and I loved playing with Gary Peebles in midfield. Obviously that was a good partnership that we developed.
“There were other opposing players around at that time that I had good battles with, but they are the players I admired because I was playing with them day in day out.
“But we had loads of good players, not just them, and then there was Noel Bailie and with relation to what he did in the game, it was just phenomenal.”
These days, while he may be back at the Blues, Fenlon has taken a step back from the coalface.
He says the distance allows a better sense of perspective on what he achieved in the game, and admits he’s proud of a career which saw him earn international honours at under-age level, and manage professionally in the Scottish Premiership with Hibs.
In between, he played for his home city’s four biggest teams – St Pat’s, Bohemians, Shamrock Rovers and Shelbourne – winning three League of Ireland titles as a player, and a further five as a manager with the Bohs and Shels.
“When you get to the stage where I am, having stepped away from it for a while now, you realise you’ve been lucky to play for some great clubs,” reflected Fenlon.
“And I’ve been very fortunate to manage some great clubs as well, and I played for my country at under-23 and under-21. I’m proud of that and they are all things I look back on.
“Taking Hibs to two Scottish Cup finals as well, even though we lost both of them. There is loads of stuff, but just the fact that I played for and managed some good clubs is something I will always look back on.”