Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Jonny’s exactly what Utd need says legend Mo
JONNY Hayes was a rough diamond when he arrived in Scotland.
And his former Inverness coach Maurice Malpas has taken pleasure and pride in watching the shine and polish put on the Dundee United target over the past decade.
The Tannadice legend – Terry Butcher’s No 2 at Caley Thistle – remembers the 32-year-old Irishman’s early days on these shores with fondness.
The managerial duo knew they had a talent on their hands, but one that would occasionally frustrate them with his wastefulness in wide positions and needed time to adapt to their training demands in the Highlands.
Incredibly, Hayes – who had played very little senior football at that stage of his career – scored 10 goals in 43 games in all competitions as Inverness clinched the 2009/10 First Division title.
Malpas, 57, said: “We got Jonny as a raw kid and we went from one extreme to the other at times.
“He hadn’t played that many first-team games and hadn’t been put under any pressure.
“He wasn’t sure what it was going to be like with us at Inverness and we weren’t sure what he was going to be like.
“The first thing you noticed was his sheer pace. We knew we needed to improve his fitness.
“Once we got him fit – we needed to get him up to scratch and keep him playing at the same time – and got into his head in terms of how we played, he was great for us.
“He was brilliant at taking the ball, getting us up the park and running past defenders, his pace was a major asset.
“I didn’t have a lot of hair at the time but I still lost a bit because he would drive you bananas at times with some of the silly things he’d do in good positions.
“It goes without saying that he’s matured well beyond that now. He might have lost a bit of pace in recent years but he is a seasoned campaigner.
“The big thing we sold him on was the area, the lifestyle – the tranquillity up here compared to the hurly-burly down south.
“We told him he could get himself on the TV, sell himself in