FITZY’S FORTUNES
JOHN LYONS TALKS TO ST MIRREN LEGEND TONY FITZPATRICK ABOUT HIS INCREDIBLE LIFE..
The life of Tony Fitzpatrick
THERE are lots of autobiographies on the market these days and everyone has got a story to tell. It just happens that Tony Fitzpatrick’s is more compelling than most.
He’s had massive highs and lows and ‘Fitzy – The Story of My Life’ covers them all with refreshing honesty. It helps that Fitzpatrick chose to do the book in collaboration with experienced journalist Norman Macdonald, a long-time acquaintance.
Macdonald didn’t want this to be one of those shallow books that failed to scratch below the surface. He has probed and probed to get Fitzpatrick to recollect how he felt at turbulent and traumatic times in his life.
For those who don’t know, Tony Fitzpatrick was born in Glasgow in 1956 and went on to become a St Mirren legend. He had two spells as a player (1973-79 and 1981-89) and also managed the club twice (1988-91 and 1996-98). He is now back at the Scottish Premiership club as chief executive.
Those down south may remember the moustachioed midfielder from his stint with Bristol City from 1979-81.
But it is the detailed stories in the book and how well they are told that makes it so fascinating. They include:
*How violence was the norm in his life growing up in Glasgow and how he was arrested for carrying a knife and attacked by a machete-wielding thug
*How he was left devastated after Aston Villa told him he wold never make it as a footballer because he was too small
*How, while still a teenager, he was made captain by manager Alex Ferguson
*How tragedy struck at the height of his career when his six-year-old son Tony Jr. died from cancer. To make matters worse, he returned home from the funeral to discover callous thieves had ransacked his house, stealing anything and everything
*How he goes on to win the Scottish Cup with St Mirren and tastes alcohol for the first time by drinking champagne from the trophy in the Hampden dressing room
*How he behaved like a ‘mad chimp’ during his first stint in the St Mirren dugout – trying and failing to emulate Fergie and his infamous hairdryer treatment
*How he poured thousands of his own money into Livingston, where he ran the youth development programme,
and lost it all when the club went into administration.
*How he was part of a groundbreaking police initiative, working with some of the most violent young men in Glasgow’s gangs to encourage them to give up the blade and the gun
So why did Fitzpatrick decide the time was now right to tell his tale?
“Timing is everything,” he said. “I had known Norman for a few years and he had said I should do the book. Getting the job back at St Mirren, things fell into place.
“I was a bit apprehensive – you are putting your life out there and it was harrowing at times. The hardest part was going back and thinking about how I felt at certain moments.
“The most difficult was the loss of Tony. It took me days to recover from talking about it. Some things from my early childhood were harrowing, too – trying to relive those types of things.
“But it’s not all like that. It was nice to recall the fun times as well.”
If he had reservations about the book’s reception, they were soon wiped away.
“The feedback has been incredible,” said Fitzpatrick, who also opens his heart about his faith in God in the
book. “People have come up to me in the street and at matches and spoken to me. The great thing for me is that people said they can relate to it in their lives – it’s maybe helped them. It’s been humbling.”
Of course, there is plenty of football coverage in the book – and Sir Alex Ferguson takes a leading role. The former Manchester United manager bossed St Mirren from 1974-78 and led them to the First Division title in 1977. However, he was sacked the following year after falling out with the board – and then went on to have astonishing success with Aberdeen and the Red Devils.
Fitzpatrick was handed the captaincy at a time when he was thinking about packing in the game. No wonder he’s grateful to Fergie.
“He’s been massive in my life and I still try to keep the values he preached,” he said. “He’s been the most important male figure for me apart from my dad.
“I thought he was going to release me and I would be a painter and decorator, but he changed my life. It was just a fantastic feeling for someone to show that belief in me – I will never be able to thank him enough. I still keep in touch with him now.”
As for the decision to axe him, Fitzpatrick can’t help but wonder what St Mirren could have gone on to achieve if there had been harmony at Love Street.
“It was criminal,” he said. “He was here for four years, but we lived off that work he did for ten years. We got into the Premier League, into Europe.
“Whether I would have been part of it if he’d stayed, I don’t know, but he would have taken St Mirren the way he did Aberdeen. He had built an exciting team and I reckon we’d have won the Premier League and the Cup Winners’ Cup. Whatever club he was at, it was going to be a massive success. He’s a great leader of men.”
For his own part, Fitzpatrick is happy to be back at St Mirren again after taking the role of chief executive three years ago. They won the Scottish Championship last term, but, at the time of writing, were bottom of the Scottish Premiership and facing a battle to stay up. Not that Fitzpatrick, who turns 63 on March 3, is giving up hope.
“St Mirren has always been in my heart,” he said. “When I first came back we were in the Championship and we had a magical journey under (manager) Jack Ross.
“We are getting the other side of it now, but it’s a great challenge. You learn more in your defeats than in good times, and I’m learning so much more in the job now.
“I don’t like getting beat, but sometimes it’s necessary to go through all this to be the club you want to be. That will happen with chairman Gordon Scott and the board.
“We are still very positive and we have some fantastic young players. We have been very successful with the academy.
“If we stay up it will be a fantastic achievement for the first year back up.”
But even if they don’t, Tony Fitzpatrick isn’t likely to be fazed. He’s had bigger disappointments in his life and lived to tell the tale.