[Father Ted]

Paul McGrath

Born: December 4, 1959
Place of birth: Ealing, England
Height: 6ft 0in
Signed for United: April 1982 £30,000 transfer from St Patricks Athletic
Debut: 10 November 1982 v Bradford City (League Cup)
League Debut: 13 November 1982 v Tottenham Hotspur
Left United: 1989 £450,000 transfer to Aston Villa

United Appearances: 163 Goals: 16
1982-83: Appearances: 16 Goals: 3
1983-84: Appearances: 12 Goals: 1
1984-85: Appearances: 32 Goals: 2
1985-86: Appearances: 48 Goals: 4
1986-87: Appearances: 40 Goals: 2
1987-88: Appearances: 24 Goals: 3
1988-89: Appearances: 26 Goals: 1

Ireland: 83 Caps 8 Goals


In late fifties Dublin, a local girl gets pregnant by a Nigerian medical student, who slams the door in her face when she turns up to tell him the news. She dares not seek support at home so she heads for London where unsympathetic nuns see her through to the birth of her child. Within days, two women have met her off the boat back in Dublin and taken her baby into care. That's how life began for Paul McGrath.

McGrath endured a brutal upbringing, growing up as a black boy in a series of orphanages. Still, he came through, unscathed, it seemed. He was reunited with his mother, introduced to his family, and eventually left his final boys' home for a flat of his own.

His football career had begun. He started playing junior football for Dalkey United and was soon earmarked for a trial at Manchester United. Dalkey’s vice-chairman, Billy Behan also happened to be a United scout. But his progression from adolescence to adulthood was leading him into unspeakable darkness. On a trip with Dalkey to Germany, he met his demons. The drinking started. Not long after, at the age of 19, he had a breakdown and when he re-emerged from the wreckage almost a year later, he couldn't even kick a ball. He eventually got back to playing with Dalkey United and also worked briefly as an apprentice sheet metal worker and a security guard in Dublin before becoming a full time professional with Football League of Ireland club St Patrick's Athletic in 1981. He made his debut for St Pat's in a League Cup clash with Shamrock Rovers in August at Richmond Park. He excelled at St Pat's, earning the nickname "The Black Pearl of Inchicore" and receiving the PFAI Player of the Year Award in his first and only season.

Offers came in from Manchester City, Luton Town and Watford but more importantly Manchester United offered him a months trial. He moved to Manchester where he shared a house with Norman Whiteside. His first game for United was in a reserve game against Newcastle United and continued to do well and Ron Atkinson started to take notice. At the end of the trial, he was given a contract and St Pats accepted the £30,000 offered. The final reserve game of the 1981-82 season was against Sheffield United at Bramall Lane. That’s where the knee problems began. In a clumsy tackle by the opposing center forward, McGrath injured his knee. He had an operation over the Summer to repair the cartilage damage and he missed the start of the 1982-83 season.

He made his first team debut in the South Atlantic Fund match at Aldershot, but had to wait until November for his League debut against Spurs. On that day he replaced Kevin Moran, having been given his first competitive run out three days earlier in the Milk Cup tie against Bradford City. McGrath made great strides towards the end of the first season. He appeared in all but two of the last dozen League games, after performing majestically at the heart of the Central League defense.

Ron Atkinson never doubted the ability of Paul McGrath. The United manager was not exactly short of central defenders at the time with the likes of McQueen, Moran and Buchan on his books but he predicted that McGrath could out do them all. Paul was strong, fast, good in the air and skilful with both feet. It seemed that all he lacked was experience. He impressed both at the back, where he showed every sign of developing into a dominant force, and in midfield, where his rather ungainly gait tended to conceal his all-round competence.

In his first two seasons his appearance record was intermittent and was not helped by frequent knee injuries. He claimed a regular first-team place after Christmas 1984 and enjoyed a successful second season culminating in a classy FA Cup Final performance against Everton. He was coming into his own, his confidence grew and despite an occasional penchant for ball-watching, Paul matured into one of the outstanding centre-halves in the First Division. He had strength and power. He had great acceleration too. He would be running at high pace with someone and all of a sudden, from nowhere, the fifth gear kicked in and he would take off, wiping out the opponent to get there.

However at the time, he was part of a group of United players like Rosbon, Whiteside, and Moran who enjoyed their drinking. The Drink Club confined their drinking to Saturday nights and Sunday lunchtimes. If there was no midweek game, a session might start after training on the Tuesday, sometimes rolling all the way through into Wednesday morning. But in the eighties this was commonplace, most teams did it, even the great Liverpool team. Maybe part of the infamy of the time came from the fact that Norman Whiteside and McGrath spent so much time sidelined through injury, they effectively took it as a license to drink.

Atkinson’s lax attitude didn’t help. In 1983-84, United were two points clear at the top of the table after Easter and there was a free week for the FA Cup. Instead of staying in Manchester and preparing for the final games of the season, Atkinson took the team to Majorca for a break. The next game, United lost to West Brom,the bottom team and went into a free-fall.

McGrath made his Ireland debut in a friendly against Italy on Febuary 5, 1985. He was perhaps the most important member in the Jack Charlton era, where he played in several positions, in midfield, full-back and at center-back.

When Alex Fergusson arrived at Old Trafford, from the outset he was not happy with the drink club. Under Atkinson you could do whatever you wanted during the week as long as you performed at the weekend. Fergie wanted to bring in more discipline to a losing team. It was not that he doubted the ability of the likes of Whiteside and McGrath, he did not like the unreliability. He constantly discussed the drinking with McGrath but without ever really getting through to him.

In 1987 he played for the Football League - in its centenary showpiece against the rest of the World and many observers made him man of the match. It was only a friendly but such was his poise and power when confronted by Maradona and company that soon his name was being linked with some of the top clubs in Europe. But instead of being a platform for glory with the Red Devils, the occasion proved something of a watershed in his fortunes.

The further he got into his United career and the more problematic the knees became, the more drink he drank. He did try to address his drinking problems by going to the Priory, a rehabilitation clinic in Manchester. Indeed, many times when he was rehabilitating his knees, he was actually hidden in the Priory. But he would quickly revert to his habits as soon as he left.

On October 25, 1987 at West Ham he injured his knee again, and this time he would be out for 5 months. That December he crashed his car after a night on the town. He lost his driving license but kept on drinking heavily while recuperating from another knee operation. He returned for famous 3-3 draw at Anfield after being 3-1 down(Whiteside came on as a substitute to inspire the comeback). Ian Rush never scored against United while McGrath was playing. By this time Steve Bruce arrived from Norwich and it was hoped he and McGrath would forge a great partnership.

But McGrath was endlessly at odds with Fergie who was trying to get through to him.

After performing well for Ireland at Euro88, he would undergo three operations to try and repair the knee damage between pre-season and Christmas. There was a lot of doubt whether his career might ever get back on track due to the knees. He did return however, coming on as a substitute in the 3-1 Old Trafford defeat of Liverpool on New Year's Day. The day before, he had completed an A team game against the same opposition at the Cliff. Twenty-four hours after the Liverpool win, he played all ninety minutes of a 0-1 defeat against Middlesborough at Ayresome Park. The next morning the knee was injured again. He did not train that week and was not available for the FA Cup tie against QPR the following weekend. That gave him another license to go on another bender during the week and on Friday morning he appeared on the “Kick-Off” Television show along with Norman Whiteside. Obviously they were both under the influence and the interview did not go well. People were phoning the club saying it was disgraceful. They were both fined two weeks wages by Fergie who was not impressed. However Lee Sharpe came down with the flu and Fergie wanted McGrath to play the next day despite being injured. McGrath sought the help of Jim McGregor to explain to Fergie that there was no way he could play. Fergie relented but requested the McGrath report to him that Monday. United decided to cut their losses and offered him a £100,000 insurance payout and a testimonial game. Under advice from the Players Union, he declined the offer and returned from injury to play out the rest of the 1988-89 season.

The first of his four failed suicides came soon after he and Fergie had fallen out for the last time. Ashamed of himself, he tried to slit his wrists in his bedroom but the nanny looking his kids called for the ambulance and he survived. Later that Summer, several clubs came in for him and it was Aston Villa who secured him in a £450,000 move just two weeks after Norman Whiteside had left for Everton.

It was a last chance and, to his eternal credit, he grasped it avidly. Graham Taylor was able to get through to him better than Fergie was able to. Often the pain in those long-suffering knees precluded training, but invariably match days found him performing at his best. Though there were tales, still, of the occasional scrape, he had salvaged plenty from a career that had been heading, rapidly and unnecessarily, off the rails.

Taylor, the sympathetic Villa manager in whom he confided, played him in midfield against an Everton side featuring McGrath's former Old Trafford drinking partner, Norman Whiteside. McGrath wore wristbands to hide his wounds and inspired Villa to a 6-0 lead. While their defence missed his uncanny gift in reading opposition attacks and conceded two late goals, that victory prompted a run of 35 straight league games for McGrath. Villa came close to winning the title in McGrath's first season, finishing 2nd to Liverpool. The next season saw Villa fighting relegation for much of the season, a shadow of the side the previous season under Graham Taylor, who had left to take control of England. Ron Atkinson then took over and Villa came close again in the 1992/93, finishing 2nd again, this time to McGrath's former team Manchester United. In these years, McGrath was the cornerstone of the defence and was causing problems for all strikers in the Premier League. His performances and ability were recognized when McGrath won the PFA Player of the Year award in 1993. McGrath would also win his first trophy for Villa in 1994, defeating his old team Manchester United in the League Cup Final. Villa would also win the League Cup again in 1996. He is considered one of the greatest players in Villa's history and is nicknamed "God" by their fans. He later played for Derby County (1996-97), and Sheffield United (1997-98).

He performed heroically on numerous occasions for Ireland, most notably in the famous victory over Italy in the 1994 World Cup when he had an outstanding performance keeping Roberto Baggio and Guiseppe Signori at bay.

In retirement, McGrath still battles his alcoholism. His drinking never really stopped and was eventually joined by another addiction - to tranquillisers. They were used for another suicide attempt, in 1997. On another occasion he was so desperate for a drink and with nothing in the house, drank a pint of Domestos. Realizing his mistake he spent the next hour drinking water and managed to get himself to hospital, where it was found that, miraculously, his internal organs had been relatively unscathed.

Paul McGrath enjoyed a successful career at Manchester United, but it is always wondered what could have been, if not for the dodgy knees and the booze.

Sources:
“Back from the Brink” – Paul McGrath
“Managing my Life” – Alex Fergusson
“ Manchester United – The Irish Connection” – Stephen McGarrigle
Observer.guardian.co.uk
wikipedia.org
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Thanks to Dark Savante and Republic of Mancunia for spotting some of my mistakes.

[MtP07]

A great read, FT. McGrath has always interested me and I love reading more about him.

Originally Posted by Father Ted

“ Manchester United – The Irish Connection” – Stephen McGarrigle

Never heard of this book. Is it a good one?

[Republic of Mancunia]

Informative and educational. A top piece.

[sdotsom]

Thanks for the read. These profiles are very nice.

[Dark Savante]

Excellent stuff, Ted. I hope you do more.

Rambo!

[TomClare]

Wonderful piece - well researched and well put together. Well done Ted.

[Father Ted]

Originally Posted by MtP07

A great read, FT. McGrath has always interested me and I love reading more about him.



Never heard of this book. Is it a good one?

Yeah, thats an old one I have from about 1990-91. It is a so-so book, good for stats for old time Irish players at the club. The latest player it has is Denis Irwin.

[cr7torossi]

Very educational read.

[Twix]

Really good read. Good job.