by Trevor Keane
For the Brazilians, the game marked the end of a nine-match tour of Europe, and they had so far won five, drawn once and lost twice. Their line-up on the day included two of the biggest names in Brazilian football in Rivelino and Jairzinho. In front of 34,000 fans, Ireland fought back from 4–1 to lose 4–3, with Pat Jennings doing his reputation no harm when he saved a penalty. Tuohy, like his players, later revealed the pride that he took from the Irish performance at Lansdowne Road that night. He recalled in an interview in The Irish Times in 2004: ‘The game itself was great. They played their usual dazzling brand of football. There was more to them than that. They had great balance in the side and they all worked very hard.’
As well as managing Ireland, Tuohy had managed Shamrock Rovers and Dundalk, so he had worked with some of the players at club level and knew their strengths and weaknesses. Eoin Hand was one of those players, having played under Tuohy at Dundalk, so he knew the Ireland boss well: “I found him to be very astute, and he made the best of the resources he had at his disposal. He was involved with the players and was a very hands-on manager. He really knew what he expected from the team. Tactically he was prepared, although, that said, he did not always have the full team he might have wanted.
‘One of our lowest moments was probably the 6–0 defeat to Austria in the qualification for the 1972 European Championship. We only had one professional on the pitch that day – Paddy Mulligan. None of the stars travelled with us. Clubs would not release their players, as the game was at the same time as League matches. It was a crazy situation, really, and hard on Liam. There were none of the long stints that Giovanni Trapattoni enjoys with the players these days. The training camps help the players to gel together, but we did not have that.’
Liam Tuohy brought Mick Leech to Shamrock Rovers: ‘Liam was a great manager. He had this great ability to be a friend and a manager. His talent was split more on the motivational side of management than the tactical, not that he wasn’t tactical. He was a great character. When he signed me for Rovers I was taking over his position, and he stepped down and let me play in the team and encouraged me. He was able to make the tough decisions with players but still managed to keep the team happy. He had a good eye for talent. Damian Richardson, Mick Lawler and I were all signed by Liam and all played at international level.’
Tuohy was Paddy Mulligan’s manager for six years at Shamrock Rovers: ‘I was very familiar with him when he became the Ireland manager and knew him well. He was a players’ man and had a great way with the lads. I remember Ray Treacy calling me when Liam came in and asking me what Tuohy was like. And I said to him that in six seasons at Rovers he’d been brilliant and I couldn’t fault him. Unlike the Noel Cantwells, Charlie Hurleys and Mick Meagans of this world, Liam did not have the same level of success in England and instead built his reputation with Shamrock Rovers, where he won the League in 1964 as player-coach and then led the club to five successive FAI Cups from 1965 to 1969. But Liam, like Mick Meagan, was big on his sides being organised, and during his time he took Ireland forward again. He was close to the players and would mix well with them, taking part in the singsong after the games.’
In all Liam was manager for eleven games and he helped usher in another stage in the development of the Irish manager.
LIFE AFTER IRELAND
When his stint with Ireland finished, Tuohy became involved with Dublin University (Trinity College), winning the Collingwood Cup, an intervarsity tournament, in 1979. He managed the Dublin University team for six years. Liam then returned to national football. Such was his love of football, and such was the character of the man, that he took an unpaid position as manager of the Republic of Ireland Under-19 team. While working with them, Liam also returned to League of Ireland management, taking the reins at Shelbourne. Liam’s work with the youth team brought instant success and he led the country’s youth to three European Championships and a youth World Cup. The 1984 European Championship saw Ireland reach the semi-finals, losing to the USSR and eventually finishing fourth. Two years later Liam resigned his role with the youth set-up when the arrival of Jack Charlton saw changes to the coaching staff. One of the biggest appointments of Liam’s time with the Irish youth set-up was that of Brian Kerr to the coaching team, a move that proved to be one of the most inspirational and beneficial appointments in Irish football.
Kerr recalls: ‘I got involved again with Liam at Shelbourne in 1982, but it was short-lived. I think he was promised a golden hoard when he took over, and it never transpired. He then took over the Irish youth team, and again he got me involved – me and Noel O’Reilly. It was completely voluntary. None of us got paid, and the better we did the more work we had to do, but it was a fantastic time. We played in three European youth finals and made the youth World Cup in Russia. He had a lot of trust in us, and he gave us the freedom to do what we wanted in terms of coaching. He would often get involved in the training games. It was amazing, watching him play, seeing the way he thought. His mind was so fast, and his finishing was still brilliant. He always had a knack of scoring. I was a St Pat’s supporter, and Liam often scored against us.
‘He is a unique character, and he has some memory for football. His preparation and judgement were key attributes. For me, he was a great confidence builder. It was the most enjoyable period of my coaching life, those days with Liam.
‘In those days there was no Under-21, Under-23 or even B squads. It was Under-15, then youth and then the senior side, so Liam was involved in the development of many players. The likes of John Sheridan, Eamonn and Brian Dolan, and Denis Irwin all came through the youth set-up. He liked to have a Kelly in goal, too. He had Alan and Gary, Alan senior’s sons, and also a keeper by the name of Paul Kelly.
‘[When he resigned] he was a huge loss to the game, although people in the football know would often tap into his knowledge. He never got involved with the FAI again. They could have benefited from his knowledge, but he was never invited to speak at a coaching seminar. It was ridiculous, really. Liam loved the game, and he was not about ego or money, as he had proved throughout his career. I think it bothers me more than it does Liam.’
Eamonn Dolan is the academy manager at Reading and was part of the youth set-up for Ireland under Tuohy: ‘I was seventeen when I was called into the youth team squad under Liam, and at the time my inclusion generated some controversy in England. I was born in England to Irish parents, and at the time I was doing well with West Ham, so I had got a call up to both the Ireland and England youth squads. I was never in any doubt that I wanted to play for Ireland, but at the time Bobby Robson was under pressure with England and my declaring for Ireland was used as proof of his incompetence, which was not the case, as it had very little to do with him. Before, if you did not make the grade with England and had Irish blood, people assumed playing international football for Ireland was the silver medal. However, now the press was putting the spin on it that England was the silver medal.
‘Liam was great to me, and he handled the whole affair really well, with his own mix of humour, appreciation and dignity. Liam was a very straightforward and simple manager. He was a great motivator, and everyone loved playing under him. He was the perfect mix as a manager. He reminds me in many ways of Steve Coppell.
‘Ironically enough, I actually played in a youth game against England when we became the first Ireland team to beat them in a competitive fixture. They had Tony Adams at the back, and we had Niall Quinn and Denis Irwin in the team, so that level was a good stepping stone for players for later years. That victory helped remove any air of invincibility that England had. That game was before the World Youth Championships in the USSR, and it really helped build momentum before the finals.
‘The first thing we all noticed when we arrived in Moscow for the tournament was how downtrodden and bleak the city was. When we got into the hotel we were heading up to our rooms and amazingly there was a man at a desk on every floor. In those days everyone had a job in the USSR. It was a real eye-ope
ner. Liam really had to keep us focused over there, and it was difficult for the coaching staff to get us to keep our eye on the ball, with so many distractions around.
‘The food and water in the USSR were very poor, and Liam and the staff decided that they would bring all our own supplies with us. We used to have to sort out our food in the rooms.
‘After Moscow we headed for Tbilisi, which is in Georgia, and it was such a contrast. Tbilisi was hot and beautiful, and the people were smiling, which although a small thing was not something we’d seen in Moscow. Wherever we went people followed us, and when the coach was taking us to training crowds would line the streets and watch us. They were very friendly.
‘Liam was very good at the psychological aspect of things. Whereas in Moscow it was very much a siege mentality, when we got to Georgia, Liam had us embrace the town and it got the people behind us. I remember there was a square outside the hotel and all the squad and staff got together and decided we’d play a game that the locals had never seen, so we started a game of cricket. The funny thing was that we had no bats, no stumps and no ball. We just pretended. It was amazing. All the players bought into the game, and the lads were catching imaginary balls and making appeals. We all got caught up in it. By the end of the game, a large crowd had built up around us, and everyone was watching us and really enjoying it. It was a special thing.
‘But that was the spirit that Liam created for us. He had great staff around him, with Brian Kerr and Noel O’Reilly, one of the greatest coaches Ireland ever had. The respect we had for them all was really evident. The experience that Brian got with the youth team helped him to become a great coach, and it was vindication for all his hard work when Brian got the top job. The best football people are really intelligent and really understand the game. This intelligence gives people confidence and helps people trust them, and that was what made Liam. He was one of those people.’
LIAM TUOHY’S CLUB MANAGERIAL HONOURS RECORD:
One League of Ireland Championship: 1964
Six FAI Cups: 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968 and 1969
Five League of Ireland Shields: 1964, 1965, 1966, 1968 and 1972
LIAM TUOHY’S IRELAND RECORD:
Total number of games in charge: 10
Total number of wins: 3 (ratio 30.00%)
Total number of draws: 1 (ratio 10.00%)
Total number of losses: 6 (ratio 60.00%)
Biggest win: 3–2 v . Iran
Biggest defeat: 0–6 v . Austria
Longest run without defeat: 2 games
6
SEÁN THOMAS
Seán Thomas, the man who led Shamrock Rovers and Bohemians on a trail of success in the 1960s, is a bit of an unknown entity. He did not have a football-playing background but had the interest and foresight to go to England and get his coaching badges. He is a football innovator who saw the potential in this country and impressed enough to be linked with coaching roles in England, manage in the USA and ultimately take charge of his country.
It is very hard to judge a man after only one game, but it would be equally unfair to leave Thomas out of this book, as he is still a big part of Irish soccer history. To fans of Shamrock Rovers and Bohemians he is a legend, and he managed some of Ireland’s top talent. He was later honoured for his role in Irish football, receiving a Professional Footballers’ Association of Ireland merit award in 1992.
Very little is known about Thomas’ life before he became a manager. Tony O’Connell, who played under Thomas at Shamrock Rovers, recalls, ‘I remember him at Rovers. He was one of the first men in Ireland to go and get their coaching badges in England. Nobody in Ireland had them at that time. He came in and moved things around, changing the system from the W–M formation that was used at every club in the country to the 4–4–2 system that we see now.
‘Seán was a very good motivator, and he knew the game. He obviously must have loved it to go and get his badges. I think he worked as a carpenter before that, but he had always wanted to be involved in football. Getting the qualification in England gave him an edge over other Irish managers.
‘He was very confident, and he could get his point across. That said, the times were ripe for a change. You see, the training in those days was a couple of laps around the field and a kick of the ball. It was very different to nowadays.’
Thomas’ achievement at domestic level, where he enjoyed great success, earned him the right to manage his country, and in 1973 he took charge for a friendly against Norway in Oslo, ending his reign unbeaten with a 1–1 draw. The team included Preston’s Alan Kelly, QPR’s Don Givens, Jimmy Holmes of Coventry, Manchester United duo Gerry Daly and Mick Martin, and Paddy Mulligan. It was a strong team on paper, although to be fair to Thomas and the players it was an end-of-season game with little to play for, and on top of that, according to Tony Byrne, the grass that day was ‘six inches long, making it almost impossible to play any ball’.
Ultimately, Thomas was merely a stopgap between Liam Tuohy and the appointment of Johnny Giles as player-manager. It was always going to be hard for a man who had never played at the top level of the game or managed in England to command the respect of players who were earning their crust in the English leagues. As former Ireland defender Paddy Mulligan puts it, ‘It is very hard and almost unjust to judge Seán on his time with Ireland. He was only in charge for one game before he was forced to resign, I think over work commitments, and his only game in charge was a draw with Norway. I played under him for six months at Rovers, where he managed from 1960 to 1964, and during that time he won everything going – the FAI Cup, the League and the League of Ireland shield. He built a great team with some great players, including Pat Courtney, Frank O’Neill and Paddy Ambrose – all fantastic players.’
Before Thomas made his name at Rovers and Bohemians, he began his coaching career at Sligo, but he only lasted a few months, his time there including a first-round exit from the Dublin City Cup and a record 9–0 home defeat at the hands of a very strong Drumcondra side. He also had a short spell in charge of Home Farm. However, it is his time at Shamrock Rovers that made his reputation. He had big shoes to fill when he took over from Paddy Coad in 1960. Under Coad’s guidance Rovers had enjoyed a successful period in their history, winning three League titles.
With Coad deciding to return to his home county of Waterford, Thomas was given the task of rebuilding the team, and under his tenure the Hoops bounced back in 1963, winning the League and Cup double in impressive style. Liam Tuohy had returned after a spell at Newcastle, and he was joined in the side by players such as Frank O’Neill, John Keogh, Pat Courtney, Johnny Fullam, Bobby Gilbert, Mick Leech and goalkeeper Mick Smyth, all of whom would become stars at Rovers. In four years under Thomas, Rovers, one of Ireland’s most successful clubs, won the League, two FAI Cups and two League Cups as well as one Dublin City Cup.
As well as catching the eye in the League of Ireland, Thomas also came to the attention of the media and the FAI when in 1963 a League of Ireland selection played against their English counterparts. There was not too much between the countries in those days. Alf Ramsey was in charge of an English side which contained Bobby Moore, Ian Callaghan, Roger Hunt and Martin Peters, all of whom went on to be part of the team that won the World Cup just three years later in 1966. The League of Ireland XI beat them 2–1. Tony O’Connell recalls, ‘Eddie Bailham was a prolific goal scorer but couldn’t head the ball. He scored from outside the box. Seán had said to him, “You hang at the edge of the box, and when they head the ball out from a corner it will come to you.” And it did. Ronnie Whelan senior scored the first goal that day. It was a great result for the League and for Seán.’
That double-winning season should have been the start of a golden era for Rovers and Thomas. However, not long after winning the double, Thomas decided to quit Rovers. He then took over at Bohemians, and in doing so became the club’s first-ever manager. As seems to have been the standard for the period, Bohemians did not have a manager and relied on
coaches, with a selection committee tasked with actually picking the side. But Thomas wanted to be a full-time manager. He was very ambitious and confident in his abilities, and the Bohemians role was, in some regards, made for him.
Managing Bohemians was a chance for Thomas to return to his roots, to where he had grown up. He had been a junior member of the club as a youngster, so the opportunity to bring success to his local team was a motivating factor in his decision to join the club. The season before Thomas had taken charge, the club had finished bottom of the table, but after only one season under the new manager, the potential of the former Rovers manager and the previously untapped potential of the players were shining through. The club managed an impressive third-place finish, ending up just five points behind winners Drumcondra. That Bohemians were still an amateur side and the rest of the teams in the League were professional, puts this achievement into context. Thomas was rewarded for his efforts with the Irish Soccer Writers’ Personality of the Year award in 1965.
The following season, Bohemians again finished third in the League and this time managed to add some silverware to the trophy cabinet, winning both the Leinster Senior Cup and the President’s Cup. The strong performances of his young players had not gone unnoticed and eight of the team left at the end of the season for the professional ranks. The most high profile of these moves was Turlough O’Connor and Jimmy Conway, who both signed for Fulham.
With his stock on the rise Thomas signed a three-year contract with Bohemians in 1966 and that season he led the club to the runner-up spot in the League. That summer he then made the brave decision to leave the League of Ireland for the chance to manage in America with the Boston Shamrocks. However, the move was not the success envisaged and it wasn’t long before he was back in Ireland. At this point Thomas almost made the move to England to be manager of Fulham. Vic Buckingham approached him to join the coaching staff at Fulham, but the move fell through as Thomas was still in the process of resolving his contract with the Boston Shamrocks. Instead he returned to Dalymount Park, where the season without him had been a disaster for the club and they had finished bottom of the League.
