Exactly 12 years ago next week one of the great Galway United goals was planted at the Carlisle Grounds.
John Russell’s gorgeous slide rule pass enabled Jay O’Shea to end his splendid stint at the club with an assured finish. The following month O’Shea played for Birmingham City at Old Trafford against Manchester United.
Russell, a crafty midfielder, subsequently delivered in the domestic game for Galway United, Sligo Rovers, and St Patrick’s Athletic.
Unfortunately United’s inability to maintain a professional, full-time outfit at the time meant the most talented players, including Russell, had to move elsewhere.
Admirably Sligo Rovers has sustained a top class set-up and built a football club with actual and meaningful community links. “It is testament to the club and the people involved,” says Russell, who is now the Bit O’Red’s assistant manager.
“It is hard graft every year, around half a million a year fundraising. There is no big TV deal, the whole league has been neglected over the last number of years.
“To sustain a club takes huge effort trying to get sponsors in. Everyone looks at success as winning trophies, but a lot of the success is actually sustaining full-time football. If you are able to do that you can build and develop players.
“With Galway I was there during the good times. It was a serious set-up when I think back to 2007 and 2008 when we were in Drom, for pre-season we went to Spain. Tony Cousins was the manager at the time, we had Regi Nootimer, a Dutch player, a superb player.
“It just went, the timing with the whole country. In 2008 the crash came - Sligo managed to keep full time football going, but you just wonder if Galway were able to do it where they would be now.”
Moycullen native Russell flourished with Salthill Devon before joining United as a teenager. “Tony Mannion gave me an opportunity when I was 17 starting out, back in 2003,” Russell recalls.
“When I reflect on that time, it was a tough, tough league. We were in the first division we were part-time. It seemed older, but maybe because I was so young it wasn't that old, when I think back the characters - Alan Gough, Billy Clery was there, Mike Quirke, Mark Herrick, Colin Fortune - tough boys, it was sink or swim at the time.
“I enjoyed the first year or two, I felt I was doing well. When I look back at Galway there is probably a bit of regret for myself because I picked up a lot of injuries and the set up probbaly wasn't as good as it is now with a lot of clubs on the medical side of things. I suffered and my own fault that I played through injuries.
“I remember towards the end maybe 2008 I tore the deltoid ligament in my ankle and was playing the last three months of the season with it. People don't realise all of that, but it has repurcussions the following season. I think it was only after I left Galway that I managed to understand my body and rehab it properly.”
Glory followed collecting two FAI Cups with Sligo Rovers and an SSE Airtricity League title for St Patrick’s Athletic.
Sligo Rovers relevance in the north west should never be underestimated. “It is the hub, everything revolves around Sligo Rovers,” Russell acknowledges.
“When you come into the town all of the businesses, people are going around with the jerseys, flags are up. For the players coming in it is the closest thing you get to one of the big UK clubs. Everything revolves around the club. When the players are out for lunch or for a meal people are coming up asking them about the games, giving them encouragment or if they are losing or on a bad streak they are letting them know too.
“Everyone just fully gets behind the club. It has been like that for a number of years. I joined the club in 2010 as a player. Did I ever see myself playing for Sligo? Probably not being a Galway lad, but that is just the way football works. When I went up I was blown away by how the club operated.
“When I compare it to Galway which has got so much potential, but there didn't seem to be a love for Galway United when I was a player. In Sligo everything revolves around the Saturday nights, you'd have a big Supporters Club in Dublin coming down at the weekends, they really get behind it and it is a full-time environment.”
This season has been encouraging for Sligo under Liam Buckley and Russell’s astute guidance. A Europa Conference League encounter with Icelandic side FH is scheduled for the Showgrounds this evening.
“We are delighted with the way the season has gone so far,” Russell says. “To be joint top after 18 or 19 games, we are really happy. We have just come off the back of the first European tie and we have the second leg now on Thursday evening so we are looking forward to that, hopefully we can get through.
Valuable lessons are being learned from Buckley by Russell. “This is our third season together, I played under him as a player so I knew what he was all about,” Russell responds.
“He is a very calm manager, very experienced. I think we have a nice blend at the moment between the youth players who have come in during the last number of years - they are getting experience and minutes under their belt.
“The likes of Niall Morahan, John Mahon, Ed McGinty, Johnny Kenny has got the headlines this year, he has broken in and been excellent.
“So there is a real nucleus of young local players and we have managed to recruit some experienced players. We have a lovely blend and we are playing some good football, but I think there is more to come.”
Russell played the game in the correct manner, with substance and style. His coaching career will be worth monitoring too.
