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  JOHNNY CAREY

  Figurehead: a person nominally having a prominent position, but no real authority.

  Collins Concise dictionary

  Johnny Carey, was Ireland’s manager for a twelve-year period from November 1955 to February 1967 and is also regarded by many as the first big-name Irish footballer. With his success in the English League, he paved the way for footballers from Ireland to make it in English football. A natural leader on and off the pitch, Carey is a Manchester United legend and still ranks as one of the greatest players to have ever played for both the Red Devils and Ireland. A natural sportsman on the pitch, he was a charismatic gentleman off it and was fondly referred to as ‘Gentle John’. Before Carey, Alex Stevenson, one of only three players born in the Republic of Ireland to have played for Glasgow Rangers, presided over the team, but he, like Johnny after him, had very little input into team selection. During Stevenson’s stint as manager, from 1953 to 1955, Johnny Carey was the captain of the team.

  As a Manchester United player Carey played in an incredible nine different positions, including goalkeeper, and won all the English game had to offer at the time. As a manager he had spells with Blackburn Rovers, Everton, Nottingham Forest and Leyton Orient and he was the first high-profile English-based manager to coach the Irish national soccer team. A truly modern and versatile footballer, who was revered in Ireland, the role of coaching the national side was made for Johnny, with the pipe-smoking Dubliner staying at the helm for twelve years.

  EARLY LIFE

  Born in 1919 in Dublin, Carey was an all-rounder when it came to sport, playing minor Gaelic football for Dublin and junior football for Home Farm. And in his formative years Carey was a keen swimmer, as well as being a ball boy at tennis matches at the Fitzwilliam Lawn Tennis Club. The skills he learned in those early days, whether it was the concentration and ball-watching skills he acquired from being a ball boy or the sheer strength of mind he gained from swimming, formed the basis for his successful career in football – nothing he learned was wasted.

  It was a swimming race that gave an early glimpse of the determination that was to become a hallmark of Carey’s career. Entered in a 100-yard contest by his father at a time when the young boy could only swim forty yards, Carey delayed the start of the next race while he slowly but determinedly finished the full course.

  Football and Gaelic soon took over Johnny’s life. However, in those days soccer was considered to be a foreign game, so Johnny was banned from Croke Park and effectively forced to choose one sport over the other. Thankfully for Ireland and Manchester United fans, he chose soccer and moved on from Home Farm after signing for St James’ Gate in 1936 at the age of seventeen.

  In 1936, after only a few weeks with the St James’ Gate team, Johnny’s talent was spotted by Manchester United. The story goes that the Red Devils’ chief scout and general fixer Louis Rocca was in Dublin to cast his eye over another young player but instead found himself focusing on the young Carey, who even at such a young age was head and shoulders above all the others on the pitch. The renowned talent-spotter wasted little time in agreeing a £250 fee with St James’ Gate.

  Apparently when Johnny arrived in Manchester, he saw a newspaper banner that read ‘United Sign Star’ and he un-characteristically jumped to the conclusion that he must be the subject of the article. However, on buying a paper he found out that the ‘star’ in question was Blackburn Rovers’ Ernie Thompson, and a mere two lines at the bottom of the page were devoted to the acquisition of Johnny Carey. As it happened, despite the low-key arrival of Carey and the big fanfare for Thompson, it was Carey who left the biggest impression on Old Trafford, while Thompson’s United career was over almost before it began.

  Johnny made his League debut on the left of midfield in September 1937 and that season celebrated promotion with Manchester United to the First Division. He also made his international debut in what was a momentous first year in English football for the young man. But just as his career was really taking off and gathering pace, the Second World War broke out, and he was faced with a very big decision. Hailing from Ireland, which was and is a neutral country, he had the right to go home if he wished, but the highly principled Carey reckoned that as he earned his crust in Britain he should stay and fight for the country, so he joined the British army.

  Carey continued to play football during the Second World War, appearing in the wartime regional leagues, a league competition that replaced the football league from 1939 to 1945. The league divided England into three sections as travel was limited, with a Northern League, a Southern League and a London League. During the war a lot of football stadiums actually became military bases and when players were not fighting they were free to guest for any team in the league. Carey appeared in 112 games, scoring forty-seven goals. His impressive skills could be seen on the field as a guest player for several English clubs, including Liverpool, Manchester City, Middlesbrough and Everton, and he played a number of times for Shamrock Rovers as well as in a League of Ireland XI. Carey served with the British army in Italy and the Middle East, and he also played football as the guest of a number of Italian sides. He received several offers from clubs to remain in Italy, but although his feet might have left Manchester, his heart never did, and he returned to United when the war ended.

  It 1945, when something like normal football service was resumed, change was afoot. A new era was dawning at United with the arrival of Matt Busby, a manager who would change the face of football in Manchester. Busby was quick to recognise Carey’s natural authority and leadership skills, so he decided to make him club captain. But Busby was not only impressed with Johnny Carey’s leadership qualities, he was also impressed with his versatility. Carey was a great passer of the ball, and he was ahead of his time in terms of positional play. Having played in all positions for United, under Busby he found his home and made the right-back slot his own.

  The club soon reaped the benefits when Carey captained the club to the 1948 FA Cup final, United beating a Stanley Matthews-inspired Blackpool 4–2, despite being 2–1 down at half-time. Carey’s half-time team talk was said to have laid the groundwork for the team to turn things around and win.

  In 1952 Carey achieved his ultimate reward. Having finished as runners-up four times between 1947 and 1951, Manchester United were finally crowned First Division champions. In all, Carey played 344 games for United and scored eighteen goals. He finally retired as a player in 1953. He will always be remembered as the first non-UK footballer and the first Irishman to captain a winning team in an FA Cup final and to win the First Division title.

  INTERNATIONAL CAREER

  Carey began his international career in 1937 when there were in effect two Ireland teams, chosen by the rival associations. The IFA and the FAI claimed jurisdiction over the whole of Ireland, ensuring that Carey was a dual internationalist, not only playing for but also captaining both Ireland teams. In fact, such was the set-up at the time that several notable players played for both teams. Amazingly, in 1946 Carey played for the IFA XI in a 7–2 loss to England before facing them again three days later for the FAI XI in a more morale-boosting 1–0 loss. In 1947 he also captained a Europe XI that played a Great Britain XI at Hampden Park. In 1949 he was voted Footballer of the Year and that same year captained the FAI XI to a 2–0 win over England. In doing so Ireland became the first non-UK-based team to beat England on their home soil.

  In all, Carey appeared for the FAI on no fewer than twenty-nine occasions between 1937 and 1953, scoring three goals. He made his debut against Norway in a World Cup qualifier that ended 3–3, while his first goal came in a 3–2 win over Poland in 1938. He captained Ireland no fewer than nineteen times, with his last game for the FAI’s national team coming in 1953 in a 4–0 win
over Austria.

  During the period 1946 to 1949, Carey played nine times for the IFA’s Ireland team, helping them to finish runners-up in the British Home Championship of 1947. There were seven players from the Irish Free State and four from Northern Ireland making up the team. A 0–0 draw with Scotland secured the runners-up spot.

  CAREY THE COACH

  Following his retirement in 1953, Carey accepted the role of Blackburn Rovers manager and, after narrowly missing promotion four times, he took them to the top division in his fifth year in charge. Mick McGrath, who played twenty-two times for Ireland and was signed for Blackburn by Carey, recalls: ‘I first came across Johnny Carey when I was living in Dublin and playing for Home Farm at the age of eighteen. Johnny was in the stand, he would have been manager of Blackburn at the time and he was over scouting for players. The match he was watching was the All-Ireland Under-18 final played in Dalymount Park and I was in the Home Farm team that day and we were playing against Tower Rovers from Cork. I must have made an impression on him as a few days later he signed me and three others from that match.

  ‘We travelled over to Blackburn, and Johnny took us into a room, told us we would earn £9 a week and gave us a list of rules and regulations. He told us to respect people. That was a big thing with him.

  ‘When Carey took over at Blackburn Rovers, he set about changing what was an old team. He brought in Brian Douglas, who was eighteen when he came into the first team, and he also promoted Ronnie Clayton, who would go on to become a club legend. Clayton had made his debut in 1950 but was still a young player when Carey took over. He also made some shrewd signings, bringing in experienced players such as Frank Mooney and Bobby Langton. Carey managed to draw performances from us that we did not know we could achieve. We became known as “Carey’s Chicks”. The average age of the team was twenty to twenty-one.

  ‘I know people talk up the team that won the Premier League in 1995, but if you speak to older generations of fans, they will tell you that the team that Johnny Carey built was one of the best ever.’

  Despite steering Blackburn to promotion, Johnny did not hang around to help them in Division One, as he accepted a role with Everton, who at the time were among the also-rans of the League and a mid-table side. The move did not last long, however, for despite leading the club to their highest post-war position of fifth place in 1961, Carey was sacked at the end of the season. The chairman of the club was the Pools magnate John Moores, who had backed the club financially in the transfer market and expected more from the team and manager than a fifth place finish. The actual sacking of Carey took place in the back of a taxi. His replacement at Everton was Harry Catterick, who led Everton to the title two years later.

  Carey continued his development as a coach with Leyton Orient, whom he led to promotion to the First Division in 1962, to this date their only season in the top tier of English football. But his greatest success as a manager came with Nottingham Forest, whom he guided to the runners-up spot in the First Division, finishing behind his beloved Manchester United. That season he also led Forest to the FA Cup semi-final where they lost to Tottenham Hotspur.

  During this time, Carey was also the manager of the Republic of Ireland’s national team. He served as the boss of the national side from 1955 to 1967. However, as was the case with his predecessors, Carey was not responsible for the picking of the side during this period. His reign started with a 2–2 draw at home to Spain in November 1955, and in his second game in charge Ireland travelled to Rotterdam to beat Holland 4–1. Good times, it seemed, were on the way. In fact, Carey enjoyed three wins and a draw in his first eighteen months in charge, but he and the team came crashing down to earth with a 5–1 loss to England in May 1957 in a qualifying game for the 1958 World Cup.

  Mick McGrath remembers that ‘from about 1955 onwards, Johnny managed both the Ireland team and the Blackburn team. However, when we were at Blackburn, there was no mention of Ireland. A couple of weeks before a game, the FAI would contact Blackburn and give them the details of Ireland’s game and a list of where we were to go and meet. Even though Johnny was the manager, the squad was picked by a committee.

  ‘In those days, Ireland games were played on a Sunday, so you would play your club match on a Saturday at 3.00 p.m. – there were no Sunday or Monday games – and when the game finished, you made your way to Liverpool to catch the mail boat over to the North Wall. The conditions at that time meant you could hardly sleep on the boat, and you arrived in Dublin at 7.30 a.m., where you then made your way to the Four Courts Hotel down by the Liffey. That was where we stayed back then. You would then grab a couple of hours’ sleep before you met up with the team at 12 noon in the Gresham Hotel, which was a major hotel in those days. There you would meet up with the League of Ireland lads – some of them you would have never met before.

  ‘There was no chance for training or practice. We would have a light meal – some lads would have steaks or a poached egg with toast, but I generally had toast and tea – then we would head up to a room and discuss the game. Johnny would generally start by saying he did not know much about the opposition. That was the way it was then. We had to focus on what we had. He would tell us to work hard and to support each other. He would have his pipe in his mouth and he would be puffing away. He would then go to each individual and tell them what their job was.

  ‘I got my first call for an Ireland squad for a match against Poland, but I didn’t get on that day, and, in fact, I got my first cap against Austria. I was very nervous before the game but was still looking forward to it. We lost 2–0, but I got some decent press.’

  That campaign saw Ireland finish runners-up to England. Denmark were the cannon fodder in the group, with Ireland managing to beat them twice. Dermot Curtis was the star of the Irish campaign, with three goals.

  A highlight of Carey’s career was presiding over the Republic of Ireland team during a historic era for football. The game was going through a period of evolution, and with the game growing, the European Championships were created for the cream of Europe. Ireland were drawn against Czechoslovakia in a qualifying round for the first tournament in 1960, which was referred to in those days as the Nations Cup. Ireland won the first leg at Dalymount Park 2–0, with goals from two future Ireland managers: Liam Tuohy, scorer of the first ever goal in the history of the European Championships, and Manchester United’s Noel Cantwell.

  Despite conceding an early penalty in the away leg, the Irish performed well and retained the advantage until a twenty-three-minute spell in the second half when they conceded three goals, eventually losing out 4–2 on aggregate. Czechoslovakia went on to qualify for the finals, finishing in third place after being beaten by the ultimate 1960 European Nations Cup winners, the Soviet Union, in the semi-final.

  The year 1962 saw the Irish team reach a low point when they suffered a humiliating 7–1 loss to Czechoslovakia in a World Cup qualifying match. This result remains Ireland’s biggest competitive defeat. The team managed to put that disastrous result behind them, but in the European qualifiers of 1964, Ireland lost out to eventual winners Spain.

  Tony O’Connell was with Dundalk when he was called into the Ireland squad under Carey: ‘I remember we met at the Gresham Hotel, as was the norm for the time, and he did not say one word to me. I had caught his eye in a League of Ireland XI that had been beaten 4–2 by Scotland. Joe Haverty had called off for the game against Spain, and I was drafted in. There was no discussion before the game, and I remember just giving it my all. The game finished 0–0. I would not get another cap till four years later.’

  Paddy Mulligan looks back at the era and remembers what it was like to be part of the Ireland squad at that time: ‘I was first called into the Ireland squad in 1966 when the team was under the management of Johnny Carey, although Noel [Cantwell] and Charlie [Hurley] were big influences, even in those days. I travelled with the team to Austria and Belgium for a doubleheader. It was amazing. I was surrounded by players I grew up idolising.
There was Alan Kelly, Mick McGrath, Tony Dunne and Johnny Giles, all amazing players, not to mention the two managers – I mean Charlie Hurley, who was at Sunderland, and Noel, who was at West Ham and then Manchester United – so to be involved was a great honour. They all had a presence about them. I was in awe, but they all were great and welcomed me into the squad with open arms.

  ‘I remember we played Austria on the Sunday and lost 1–0. We were very unlucky, too, but that was the way it was for Irish football in those days. A short pass from Mick McGrath back to Alan Kelly led to the winner for Austria, although I remember that Mick Meagan twice had to clear the ball off the line.

  ‘Then, a few days later, we played Belgium and got a great result, winning 3–2. Noel Cantwell scored twice that day. I did not get on the pitch in either game, but to be involved was just fantastic. I had played for a League of Ireland selection XI, which was made up of players that only played in the League of Ireland, against Scotland and England, but to be in the Ireland team was altogether different.’

  Carey’s final game in charge came in February 1967, when Ireland lost to Turkey 2–1. In all he was Ireland manager for forty-six matches. Many people thought that he was too relaxed to be a manager and often left the players to decide the tactics. He never challenged the status quo of the era and was happy to go along with the decisions of the FAI. According to Mick McGrath, ‘Carey was a very quiet man. He spoke to you like you were his equal, but you definitely knew he was the boss. He was very shrewd. You have to remember that Johnny was trained in the school of Sir Matt Busby from his time at Manchester United, and he was of a similar footballing mind. He would tell us that even if we were losing, we should still play good football.’

  Eric Barber recalls the early days in his career when he was in a couple of squads under Johnny Carey: ‘I remember that it was Noel who would speak to us. He would tell people to pull their weight and to watch certain opposition players. The first time I was in the squad, I was sitting in the hotel and Johnny Carey looked at me and asked, “Who’s that?” Someone told him I was Eric Barber. Another time we were in Milltown, training before a game and a civilian, dressed up in all the gear, came out and trained with us. The players knew, of course, but Johnny Carey did not know who he was.’