Retirements

[backstothewall]

But for much of his 20s he was playing in Scotland or the third tier of English football if I remember correctly.

I think you are misunderstanding the point I am making. The missed opportunity is that he was playing at that level when he obviously had the talent to be at a higher level.

Either everybody missed how good he was, or he wasn't playing to his potential. The latter seems the more likely but either way it was a missed opportunity.

[OwlsFan]

Yes, I thought you meant Ireland was at fault for not selecting him when he was in the third tier.

Never got this regular substitution of him after 70 minutes in international and club football. I know he used to put in a good shift but still seemed to be going strong.

[DannyInvincible]

I think you are misunderstanding the point I am making. The missed opportunity is that he was playing at that level when he obviously had the talent to be at a higher level.

Either everybody missed how good he was, or he wasn't playing to his potential. The latter seems the more likely but either way it was a missed opportunity.

He says himself it was due to poor nutrition and conditioning. Essentially, he wasn't on the diet you would expect of a top-flight professional footballer until later in his career. I think it was through lack of education or knowledge than anything.

Back then [at Shelbourne and Livingstone], you didn’t realise what a diet was. After a game, it was a burger and chips and a few pints. I just thought that was the norm in the League [of Ireland] and even when I went to England, diet and nutrition wasn't there. Now it’s all in place.