Liam Brady

Football manager infobox
playername = Liam Brady


fullname = Liam Brady
dateofbirth = birth date and age|df=yes|1956|2|13
cityofbirth = Dublin
countryofbirth = Republic of Ireland
currentclub = Arsenal (as Head of Youth Development)
position = Midfielder
youthyears =

1970-1973
youthclubs = St. Kevin's Boys
Home Farm
Arsenal
years = 1973-1980
1980-1982
1982-1984
1984-1986
1986-1987
1987-1990
clubs = Arsenal
Juventus
Sampdoria
Inter Milan
Ascoli
West Ham United
Total
caps(goals) = 235 (43)
076 (15)
057 0(6)
058 0(5)
017 0(0)
089 0(9)
532 (78)
nationalyears = 1974-1990
nationalteam = Republic of Ireland
nationalcaps(goals) = 072 0(9)
manageryears = 1991-1993
1993-1995
2008-
managerclubs = Celtic
Brighton & Hove Albion
Republic of Ireland (assistant)

Liam "Chippy" Brady (born 13 February 1956 in Dublin) is a former Irish football player, who is now the assistant manager of the Republic of Ireland senior team. Brady is also head of Youth Development at Arsenal FC. He is a television pundit with RTÉ Sport. He was renowned as a midfielder with elegant technical skills, most notably his left foot, his high-quality passing and close control. He found success both with Arsenal (one FA Cup title) and Juventus (two Serie A titles), and won 72 caps for the Republic of Ireland.

Playing career

Brady started his career at Arsenal, moving to London to join the side on schoolboy forms in 1970, at the age of 15. He turned professional on his 17th birthday in 1973, and made his debut on 6 October 1973 against Birmingham City as a substitute for Jeff Blockley, and put in an assured performance. However his next match, in a North London derby against Tottenham Hotspur, Brady had a poor match, and Arsenal manager Bertie Mee decided from then on to use the young Irishman sparingly for the time being. Brady ended the 1973-74 season with 13 appearances (four of them as substitute) to his name.

In 1974-75 Brady was a first-team regular at Arsenal, and shone as a rare light in a side that hovered close to relegation for a couple of seasons in the mid-1970s. With the appointment of Terry Neill as manager and the return of Don Howe as coach, Brady found his best form. His passing provided the ammunition for Arsenal's front men such as Malcolm Macdonald and Frank Stapleton, and Arsenal reached three FA Cup finals in a row between 1978 and 1980. Arsenal won only the middle of the three, against Manchester United in 1979, with Brady starting the move that ended in Alan Sunderland's famous last-minute winner.

Brady was at the peak of his Arsenal form by now, as shown by one of his best goals for Arsenal; having dispossessed Peter Taylor he flighted a looped curled shot from the edge of the penalty area into the top corner, in a 5-0 win against Tottenham Hotspur on 23 December 1978. During this time he was voted the club's player of the year three times, and chosen as the PFA Player of the Year in 1979. He was the most talented player in what was then a distinctly average Arsenal side, which was unable to challenge for serious honours like the Division One title, and by the 1979-80 season rumour was rife that Brady would be leaving the club in search of a fresh challenge.

That season, Arsenal reached the Cup Winners' Cup final (only to lose to Valencia on penalties), having beaten Juventus 1-0 over two legs in the semi-finals. Brady's performance in the tie impressed the Italian giants and in the 1980 close season they signed him for just over £500,000. He is remembered as one of Arsenal's all-time greats, playing 307 matches for the Gunners, scoring 59 goals and setting up many more.

Brady spent two seasons with Juventus, picking up two Italian Championship medals, in 1981 and 1982; Brady scored the only goal (a penalty) in the 1-0 win against Catanzaro that won the 1982 title. After the arrival of Michel Platini in summer 1982, Brady moved to Sampdoria, and went on to play for Internazionale (1984-1986) and Ascoli (1986-1987), before returning to London to play for West Ham (1987-1990).

He won 72 international caps for the Republic of Ireland, scoring 9 goals, although he never played in a major tournament, thanks to injury and a suspension accrued before Euro 88. During qualification for Italia 90 Brady retired from the international game. Once Ireland qualified he un-retired himself however Jack Charlton decided that those who'd played in the qualifiers deserved to go to Italy.

Managerial career

After retiring from playing in 1990, he managed Celtic between 1991 and 1993, and then Brighton & Hove Albion between 1993 and 1995. Neither spell was particularly successful, and at both clubs Brady's tenure was overshadowed by the respective clubs' financial problems. At Celtic, Brady failed to win a single trophy in his two year tenure, and included a 5-2 defeat on aggregate by Neuchatel Xamax in the 1991-92 UEFA Cup, one of the club's worst European defeats in their history.

Brady would have no greater success with Brighton, departing following a disagreement over the way the club was being run; ["Build a Bonfire: How Football Fans United To Save Brighton & Hove Albion, pages 44-48] he later led an unsuccessful bid by a consortium to buy the club. He remains involved with the new owners, having appeared at fans forums as a representative as recently as 2005.

He rejoined Arsenal in July 1996, as Head of Youth Development and Academy Director, and has remained there since; although he was linked to the manager's post after the departure of Bruce Rioch, Brady insisted he was not interested in the role; Arsène Wenger eventually took the role. Under Brady, Arsenal's youth sides have won the FA Premier Youth League in 1997-98, the FA Premier Academy League U17 title in 2001-02, the FA Youth Cup in 1999-00 and 2000-01 and the FA Premier Academy League U19 title in 2001-02.

Brady was one of dozens of former managers linked to the Republic of Ireland manager's job after the sacking of Steve Staunton on 23 October 2007. On March 7th 2008, the Football Association of Ireland announced that Brady had agreed to become an assistant to newly appointed manager, Giovanni Trapattoni. [cite news | url=http://www.fai.ie/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2955 | title=Brady agrees terms with FAI | work=FAI Official Website | date=2008-03-07 ] He will continue to work as Director of the Arsenal Youth Academy

Honours

Arsenal

Winner
*FA Cup: 1979

Runner-up
*FA Cup: 1978, 1980

Juventus

Winner
* Serie A: 1981, 1982

Other

While at Arsenal, he was nicknamed "Chippy", not for his ability to chip the ball but for his fondness for Fish and Chips. [ [http://www.worldeasy.com/arsenal/brady.htm Liam Brady or Chippy ] ]

Brady was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame in 2006 in recognition of his influence on the English game.

Brady also became involved in an anti-drugs campaign in the early 1990s, called "give drugs the boot", encouraging young boys to play sport as a healthy pastime.

Up until the end of the Euro 2008, Brady appeared as a pundit, along with John Giles, Bill O'Herlihy and Eamon Dunphy, on Irish channel RTE.

Family

Brady was from a footballing family, with both his great uncle Frank Brady Sr. and older brother Ray Brady having been Irish internationals. His older brother Frank Brady Jr.
Frank won the FAI Cup with Shamrock Rovers in 1968 and made 2 appearances in the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, while another brother, Pat Brady, played with QPR.

References

External links

* [http://www.arsenal.com/article.asp?article=203880&lid=Coaching+Staff&sub=Liam+Brady&navlid=coaching+staff&sublid=&Title=Liam+Brady Profile on Arsenal FC website]
* [http://www.juventuz.com/history/legends/brady/ Juventus tribute to Liam Brady]
* [http://www.irelandshirts.com/profiles/liambradyprofile.htm Irish biography of Liam Brady]
* [http://www.arsenal.org.uk/?p=brady_interview Interview with an Arsenal fanzine]
* [http://www.worldeasy.com/arsenal/brady.htm Fan's tribute to Liam Brady]
* [http://arsenal-land.co.uk/history/?col=71 Liam Brady profile on Arsenal-land]
* [http://www.sporting-heroes.net/football-heroes/searchresults.asp?FootballHeroName=Liam+Brady Photos and stats] at sporting-heroes.net