Stephen Mc Phail article from times.co.uk

[Kevin77]

Renaissance man yearns for big time
Rick Broadbent




Grasp of reality: McPhail tangles with Michael Kightly, of Wolves, at Molineux on Saturday (Peter Ford / Action Images)

It has been a long and winding road, with detours via Barcelona, Barnsley and the Bronx, but the man once compared to Liam Brady believes he is finally approaching the end-game. Remember Stephen McPhail? He had it all. Hailed as the most naturally gifted of a Leeds United team that made the Uefa Cup semi-finals, the future seemed bright, but then the chairman starting renting goldfish, the dream imploded and the new poet of the left foot was sent off on his loan debut for Millwall.

It has taken five years for the Irishman to rediscover the lustrous talent and spearhead Cardiff City’s staccato assault on the Barclays Premiership. In the interim, Leeds have entered a seemingly inexorable decline, while Peter Ridsdale, the former chairman, has fronted a takeover at Ninian Park.

“I look back and it’s all a bit of a daze,” McPhail said. “It knocks your confidence when you drop down a level, but you have to learn quick. It’s made me stronger to see how the other half live. At Barnsley, there were a lot of young lads who were on a pittance scrapping to get into the team, and it made me realise that there’s a lot more to football than just playing for a big club.”

McPhail spent two years at Barnsley after brief loan spells at Nottingham Forest and Millwall. Barely a year after playing a Champions League match in the Nou Camp, he was taking on Gillingham. It was a decline that might have crushed lesser men, but McPhail always had a sharper perspective than many of his peers.

“When I was a kid, we went to live in the Bronx for three years,” he said. “My dad was a carpenter and there was a big job out there. It was strange going from a nice seaside town in Dublin to a place where you weren’t allowed outside the school doors. We were right beside the hospital and it was mayhem, noise going on through the night. It was a different world and it opened my eyes. You couldn’t play football in the streets there, but my mam would take us to the park and I never let go of that.”

When the family returned home, McPhail became close friends with Robbie Keane. Even now he seems baffled that Leeds could allow Keane to leave as a youth and then spend £12 million on him, but McPhail’s own progress was swift. George Graham mentioned him in the same breath as Brady and Paul Hart, the then youth team coach, said he treated the ball like gold-dust. Even as recently as May 2004, he was still playing for Leeds, but by then both player and club were on the way down.

“I’ve tried to erase it,” he said of the Leeds years. “I didn’t play for a year and a half through injury and there was a new manager every three months. It was one in, one out and it wasn’t working for me. I could easily have stayed because I had two years left, but I wanted out. It was hard because I’d been there for a decade, but I’d recommend dropping down a level to anyone. It’s good for your character to see people who are really dedicated because they need to make a living.”

McPhail, 27 and celebrating the birth of his first child, is content even though Cardiff’s early-season promise has faded and the 4-0 FA Cup drubbing by Keane and Tottenham Hotspur marked 13 games without a win.

McPhail insists the future is bright and is happy to defend Ridsdale. “Peter is a top man,” McPhail said. “He’s a really nice bloke who loves his football. People criticise him for what happened at Leeds, but he was one bloke answering for a lot of others. Look at what that team achieved. People are fickle.”

Cardiff’s recent poor run, brought to an end with victory at Molineux on Saturday, has not dimmed McPhail’s optimism and the Premiership remains an obsession. “Once you’ve tasted it you want more,” he said. “I want to get up and show I can still do it at that level.”

[irishfan86]

Good article, cheers.

[SÓC]

He's been top quality for Cardiff this season in games I've seen.

Just wish he'd shoot more!

[Wolfie]

We need all the midfield options we can get.

[NeilMcD]

Should be in the squad ahead of Liam Miller.

[drinkfeckarse]

“I want to get up and show I can still do it at that level.”

Questionable as to whether he's done it at all at that level.

[Kevin77]

Questionable as to whether he's done it at all at that level.

Funny you picked that out. It stood out to me too. No doubt he made an impact, but it’s the kind of comment you’d expect from a Teddy Sheringham who has dropped down to the first div after a full and successful career in the top flight not a lad in his mid to late twenties that was never really an automatic choice for Leeds bar for half a season really.

[drinkfeckarse]

Exactly, it's not as his he's got vast experiance of the top tier. Still, footballers are great in their own minds.

[The Swordsman]

I remember a particular game when Leeds were playing Derby County at Pride Park. It was Derby's first season in the ground and they hadn't been beaten there (It was a good way into the season at this stage - probably March or April).

Leeds were brilliant that day. They were leading 4-0 and OLeary decided to give McPhail a run.

With his first touch of the ball, McPhail hit a beautiful forty yard pass for Hasselbaink to score the fifth.

I think Stephen broke into the team after that and for a while, he was brilliant.

Then a few things happened to him which seem to have set him back big time.

Ireland played him in an end of season friendly against Scotland and he had a nightmare. Up against Barry Ferguson, he looked very ordinary.

Then he got injured and lost his place in the Leeds team.

Finally and worst of all, his manager came out publicly and said that there was no place in modern football for players like McPhail.

I don't think he has ever recovered from those setbacks. I hope he does because I think he has huge potential.

[elroy]

I think that should be he "had" huge potential. There is little doubt he could've turned out to be a top class player if things had gone differently but a series of injuries ruined that.
I remember a particular sunday game on sky against chelsea when he scored both goals in a two nil win, the guy was a class act. I dont think he will ever get close to that again, however I would love to see them in the premiership next year with the strong Irish contingent they have there now.

[paul_oshea]

hmm, that could be read differently lads

"i can still do it at that level" could mean he is 27, and though he never got a chance, he hasn't gone past his best even though he missed some of his best years and that at 27 he is still capable of playing at that level.

[The Swordsman]

I think that should be he "had" huge potential. There is little doubt he could've turned out to be a top class player if things had gone differently but a series of injuries ruined that.
I remember a particular sunday game on sky against chelsea when he scored both goals in a two nil win, the guy was a class act. I dont think he will ever get close to that again, however I would love to see them in the premiership next year with the strong Irish contingent they have there now.

You may be right. At 27, he should have possibly realised his potential by now. But with some luck, he could play for another seven/eight years. You never know, if he could keep himself free of injury and gets a bit of good luck, he could prove himself yet.

There is a Cardiff supporter who posts on another board and he has posted recently that Macca started the season really well, but seems to be struggling at the moment. Unfortunately, this incosistency could be his biggest downfall. He has talent but he needs to show it more often.

[Soper]

I can confirm that he is struggling very much at the moment.Then again, the whole team has.Will be able to give a better report when Cardiff beat Leicester on Saturday!

[The Swordsman]

I can confirm that he is struggling very much at the moment.Then again, the whole team has.Will be able to give a better report when Cardiff beat Leicester on Saturday!

Excellent.

I'd also be interested in how the other Irish lads are doing too.

BTW - what's a Sligo Rovers man doing in S Wales?

[BradyIsMyHero]

On the FAI website, which profiles the International Squad, he is described as follows:

"Since first bursting onto the international stage at underage level, Stephen McPhail has been likened to a young Liam Brady. Born in Queens, New York, McPhail moved to Ireland with his Irish parents as a child"

Curious that, when his Times interview says he's from Ireland, and moved to the Bronx for three years before returning home.

That entry has been on the FAI site for several years, and always made for a good pub quiz question (which Irish international was born in New York...etc). However, since there was an element of doubt about this, I once emailed him on his Leeds United fan site to find out, but - needless to say - never got a reply.

Odd one, that McPhail fellow..

[SÓC]

I can confirm that he is struggling very much at the moment.Then again, the whole team has.Will be able to give a better report when Cardiff beat Leicester on Saturday!

I thought he's been one of the best of a bad bunch of late.

Although that said he was poor against Southend.

Where do you watch the games from Soper?

[Soper]

Swordsman - It's a long, long story.Unfortunately, I have a Welsh father

SOC - I know what you mean, it's just he seems to struggle to control anything at the moment.Sciemica seems quiet, so maybe that's hampering McPhail's fondness of getting on the ball, and spraying passes around.

And I usually watch from the bob bank, although sometimes the Lower Grandstand twists my arm