Paul McGrath

[sheepyvillian]

24 minutes ago, PaulC said:

If a cross came over you could guarantee he would get on the end of it. 76/77 he was amazing. One of few players to win both PFA awards at the same time. Would have been Interesting to see McGrath against him then when he could jump. 

30 goals in one season. That says it all.

[John]

6 hours ago, Zatman said:

I just know him from his commentary, always a smug prick who never said much praise about us. Never mind his sexism 

I know him from watching him give everything for us, from his first Villa debut. I don't recall him being particularly detrimental about us, in fact he tends to be generally rather positive about the club that sold him for a then record British transfer fee in 1979.

My opinion of him had been based on his time with us as a player and assistant manager. I hadn't thought at the time that I made my earlier reply, of the incident that led to his dismissal from Sky around ten years ago, which I take it is what you have now referred to at the end of your post above. He was rightly sacked back then, along with Richard Keys, when their off air comments, that were recorded and then leaked to the media came to light. My comments on Andy, were on him before that more recent incident. I don't actually recall what the recorded comments made were, they might have been the sort of things that two blokes might have whispered to each other back in the 70s. Whatever it was, they found to their cost, that it was unacceptable when they had said it.

Edited June 6, 2020 by John

[Woody1000]

6 hours ago, Zatman said:

I just know him from his commentary, always a smug prick who never said much praise about us. Never mind his sexism 

He’s a big Villa fan. Can’t argue about the sexism though

[Zatman]

2 minutes ago, Woody1000 said:

He’s a big Villa fan. Can’t argue about the sexism though

Is he really though, I remember many Villa games on Sky and he was always against us, can see he was being professional but vs Everton he was always pro Everton. for me an absolute prick similar to Collymore

[Adam2003]

7 hours ago, Zatman said:

I just know him from his commentary, always a smug prick who never said much praise about us. Never mind his sexism 

To be fair - never said much praise about us because he identifies as a fan of the team (notwithstanding his affection for Everton and Rangers as well). So firstly avoiding accusations of bias, and secondly... as a fan never saying much praise that’s kind of like the rest of us haha.

[sheepyvillian]

3 hours ago, Adam2003 said:

To be fair - never said much praise about us because he identifies as a fan of the team (notwithstanding his affection for Everton and Rangers as well). So firstly avoiding accusations of bias, and secondly... as a fan never saying much praise that’s kind of like the rest of us haha.

Let's not forget this is a Paul McGrath, thread.

[pete101]

As an Irish man I'm still tore between McGrath and Keane , really find it hard to separate them, but being a kid from an Irish family growing up in Birmingham in early 90s , he pretty much gave me a place to belong, he is more than god to me

[The Fun Factory]

16 hours ago, sheepyvillian said:

Do you mean that Paul was going to leave us for Celtic before Big Ron came to the helm ?  It was Graham Taylor who signed him for us.

Celtic showed an interest when Big Ron came in. Its in McGrath's book so I guess the summer of 1991. He met with Liam Brady. McGrath looked up to Brady being a Irish legend and Celtic were offering more wages. But he played so well at the start of the season Big Ron decided to keep him!

It seems so strange now that a top flight Scottish team could offer more salary than a top flight English team. That's never going to happen again.

Edited June 7, 2020 by The Fun Factory

[PaulC]

11 hours ago, Zatman said:

Is he really though, I remember many Villa games on Sky and he was always against us, can see he was being professional but vs Everton he was always pro Everton. for me an absolute prick similar to Collymore

He gave his all for us, he came back to us when he could have stayed at everton and he even came to us as Ron Atkinsons assistant. Don't see him praising Dundee United much either 

[TRO]

22 hours ago, sheepyvillian said:

You can't teach what he had, I know that's a cliche, but it's absolutely true. 

Paul, was never afraid to get those dodgy knees dirty but he rarely had to because he had such wonderful anticipation. We resurrected his career and he's never forgotten that, hence why he loves Villa, first and foremost.

Also, the only defender who I've seen beat Andy Gray to every header for an entire game : the 1984 FA cup final between Everton and Man United. 

 

The only Villa player who could reallistically get in to a world eleven.

In one season with us Baresi called him the best centre back in the world.

his consistency level was amazing.

his reading of the game was unparalleled.

[PaulC]

Just now, TRO said:

The only Villa player who could reallistically get in to a world eleven.

In one season with us Baresi called him the best centre back in the world.

his consistency level was amazing.

his reading of the game was unparalleled.

Platt?

[TRO]

1 minute ago, PaulC said:

Platt?

Good player, but Nah.....not that level.

[TRO]

13 hours ago, John said:

I know him from watching him give everything for us, from his first Villa debut. I don't recall him being particularly detrimental about us, in fact he tends to be generally rather positive about the club that sold him for a then record British transfer fee in 1979.

My opinion of him had been based on his time with us as a player and assistant manager. I hadn't thought at the time that I made my earlier reply, of the incident that led to his dismissal from Sky around ten years ago, which I take it is what you have now referred to at the end of your post above. He was rightly sacked back then, along with Richard Keys, when their off air comments, that were recorded and then leaked to the media came to light. My comments on Andy, were on him before that more recent incident. I don't actually recall what the recorded comments made were, they might have been the sort of things that two blokes might have whispered to each other back in the 70s. Whatever it was, they found to their cost, that it was unacceptable when they had said it.

Arrogance was always Andy's weak point......but i prefer to remember him as a player.

The private lives of our players, don't interest or influence me, its what they do on the pitch that concerns me.

I pay for them to play, not how they conduct their lives, outside football.

[TRO]

12 hours ago, Woody1000 said:

He’s a big Villa fan. Can’t argue about the sexism though

So is his son.

[John]

1 hour ago, TRO said:

his reading of the game was unparalleled.

I've said in the past that the only player that I've seen play, that could read the game in the same way as Paul did was Bobby Moore.

[TRO]

On 07/06/2020 at 14:40, John said:

I've said in the past that the only player that I've seen play, that could read the game in the same way as Paul did was Bobby Moore.

Bobby rarely headed the ball too.....but in the England side he had Big Jack to take the high balls.

[Zatman]

Quote

JACK CHARLTON AND PAUL MCGRATH: MANAGING GOD

 

The fans were dreaming about the World Cup in the USA. The players were in Tirana and focused on the match against Albania. Paul McGrath was wondering how he'd get back from Israel.

As Ireland were preparing for their vital World Cup qualifier in a group where no point could be dropped, McGrath was supposedly injured and unable to play. In a way, he was.

The disease of alcoholism had Ireland's greatest ever defender in its ugly vice.

“I was skulking around the tarmac, liquor humming through my head,” McGrath later told Vincent Hogan in his superb autobiography, Back From The Brink.

Remarkably, a few weeks later, McGrath was back in the Irish lineup for another away assignment against Latvia in Riga where he scored. Even more remarkably, a few short weeks after going AWOL in Tel Aviv, McGrath walked up to a stage and accepted the PFA Players' Player of the Year Award to wild applause from his fellow professionals.

What else would you expect from a man that's still affectionately known as God from the Villa fans?

McGrath's battles with alcoholism and his glory days in a green jersey are well known, but standing by his side was always Jack Charlton.

For so many football fans, the concept of man management is solely related to behaviour on the pitch. The proverbial wisdom is that a manager needs to know when to throw an arm around a temperamental player that's out of form, when to fire a rocket up the arse of someone that's not carrying their weight, how to break the news to someone that they're not starting.

In the case of Jack Charlton and Paul McGrath, football was never an issue to be discussed, analysed, or argued. McGrath required a different type of management.

As Charlton said: "Paul was an exceptional player. You could play him anywhere and he would do a job for you - up front, midfield, at the back.  Paul was one of those players that every manager in the world would have had in their team."

On the pitch was never a problem.

Charlton was required to manage McGrath off of it and that's where his managerial skills excelled was he adopted a sagely fatherlike mix of attention, freedom, and patience to protect the famously shy defender.

Case in point, Charlton's take on McGrath's sojourn to Israel: "When you talk about Paul, his great problem was alcohol. He had a real problem with this. When he played for Villa, he used to fly into Dublin and we would go across and pick him up,  take him and stick him in his room, ask him what he wanted to eat, and someone would sleep across the front door of his bedroom so he couldn't get out.

"Paul was one of those lads. He didn't turn up one day and I asked who went to pick up up from the Airport and nobody knew. Later that night, I got a call and it was from Paul. I said 'where are you?' and he said "I'm in Israel. I was with a friend and we went down to Cork and jumped on the first plane we could get onto, it was to Israel. Can I come back? I said of course you can come back, but you're not going to play. He turned up for the game, that was typical Paul."

All managers give leeway to their more gifted players but McGrath would prove to be a unique case for Charlton.

Charlton's indulgence of talented and technically gifted players who wanted to pass the ball wasn't always consistent - the magnificent talents of Roy Keane, Liam Brady, Ronnie Whelan, and Mark Lawrenson might have a very different opinion on Charlton's tactical and man management skills - but to Charlton, McGrath was different.

"Paul had a knee problem and it was one where you couldn't let him train, put tackles in, or change direction. He used to go for a jog around the field while we were doing the other work. Paul would train with Mick Byrne, but he was always under supervision whenever he trained because he was such a good player and we needed him," said the former Ireland manager.

Whether or not you agree with Charlton's tactical ideas of put 'em under pressure, there's one thing that's apparent from everyone who played for him, Charlton was universally adored.

Mick McCarthy rightly said that Charlton's work with the Irish team elevated the entire country, Andy Townsend felt it was an honour to play under the World Cup winner.

The news of Charlton's sad passing instantly bringing back glorious memories of Stuttgart, Genoa, and New Jersey.

However, in this haze of nostalgia, it's worth remembering some of the other Irish performances that might not make the highlights reel like the win against Scotland during the Euro '88 qualifying campaign, a dominant performance against England at Wembley in '91 that really should have seen Ireland win, a similar story a year later when Spain were lucky to leave the pitch in Seville with a point, beating Portugal at home.

McGrath was pivotal in all them, despite his battle with the bottle.

During a special Late Late Show tribute to the former Aston Villa and Manchester United defender, Charlton explained why McGrath was given special treatment.

"I love Paul, I love all the lads that played under me. I really did, we had good relations for years but I love Paul because he was a bit different in some ways. We had to look after him. The players had to look after him, I'd look after him, Mick Byrne would look after him because Paul was Paul. He's shy, but we never knew where he was!

"He got away with murder but when you've got the ability that Paul had, you can. Andy Townsend once asked me for the responsibility of looking after him and Andy told me "it's in our interests to look after Paul because he's such a great player, we need to look after him for our sake, not yours."

Of course, there were moments when Charlton spectacularly got it wrong too. McGrath still feels aggrieved that he didn't start the USA '94 qualifying defeat to Spain in Dublin in his favoured position of centre-back.

Elsewhere, the tactics that were so successful in previous campaigns were ultimately ineffective in the sapping heat of Florida vs Mexico and the Netherlands, there was the draw with Lichtenstein, a week of drinking before the Austria qualifier and that infamous fish and chip challenge on the night before the game.

Finally, there was Jack's farewell at Anfield where Ireland were played off the park by the Dutch.

However, those downbeat moments are completely dwarfed by the seismic impact that Charlton's Ireland had on the psyche of the nation. At the heart of it was the manager's relationship with the team's most consistent and talented player.

While Irish supporters have wonderful memories of Houghton's header into the English need, Sheedy's piledriver in Cagliari, Bonner's save in Genoa, that chip over Pagliuca and much more, there's one small anecdote that captures just why the bond between McGrath and Charlton was so special.

"He is a funny man, he gets one or two things wrong - which I can't tell you about! He's just a lovely, lovely man. He used to keep me in when the other boys were going out on the town, I think about one time in Limerick. I was in the room when they were all getting taxis, he'd come up to me and sit on my bed. He'd have a box of chocolates and say "you understand the reason why I can't let you out?'

"He'd try and explain it to me and I'd think to myself 'you're out of order!' but he was always right because I could have gone anywhere. He was great with me because he gave me chance after chance after chance. Then I'd always want to do great for him, to repay his loyalty," said McGrath to TodayFM.

That sense of loyalty was instrumental in McGrath's performances. Off the pitch, he was wayward. On the pitch, he was a colossus that was doing everything he could to not to disappoint a manager who put his total faith into him.

McGrath felt like he owed Charlton a debt and he did.

In paying it off, Irish fans were treated to some of the most incredible moments and memories in our sporting psyche.

McGrath will always be one of Ireland's most beloved and favourite sons, it's telling that he would describe Charlton as a "father figure" and someone that he "genuinely loved."

"It's difficult for me to articulate what Jack meant to me both on and off the football field. Throughout his ten years as manager of our international team, Jack backed me as a footballer and as a person - he became a father figure to me," said McGrath in a statement.

Jack may have had an audience with the Pope during Italia '90, but he knew how talk with God.

In doing so, both men helped take Ireland to the promised land.

 

 

FAIreland 

 

✔@FAIreland

 

 

A heartfelt tribute from @Paulmcgrath5

Incredible words for the great man.#RIP

 

 

long read but very interesting

 

https://www.otbsports.com/soccer/jack-charlton-paul-mcgrath-managing-god-1044675?fbclid=IwAR3BkIdajVnFe4a63LTtFjUyZNivQTV0h6TWcl8FLtZDgJlWPUD1ir_F4SE

 

 

 

[Sulberto21]

World Class is often used to describe a player. But it should be Paul McGrath class. Don't underestimate how good he actually was. He was quick too. He read the game weeks before it was played. Truly special special player. And he's one of our own. 

                               Schmiechal 

 

Ferdinand.       McGrath.          Stam

                         Keane

Lampard.                        Gerrard

 

Beckham.                                        Ronaldo

                        Shearer.      Henry.

My Premier League all time 11.

[Zatman]

In no surprise at all, God has been inducted into the FAI Hall of Fame

[DaveAV1]

Wonderful news, amazed that it has taken so long. I’ve never seen a player that’s so completely at one  with himself and his surroundings when on the pitch. A genuine pleasure and a privilege to have watched him play  
 

Thank you Paul and huge congratulations.