A man of many talents

It's not that he remembers too much about what it's like to have a quiet life, but even by Pat Devlin's standards it's been a little hectic over the past week or so. Last Sunday his Bray Wanderers team played second fiddle to St Patrick's Athletic in Inchicore, while the 46-year-old has had the bulk of his time taken up this week with trying to ensure they don't do the same against Finn Harps tomorrow afternoon.

There has been plenty more to keep him busy as well though, with the traditional build-up to a cup final demanding that he turn up for a variety of public engagements and media opportunities. And then there was his other day-to-day work, the schools of excellence he co-ordinates for Wanderers in conjunction with Newcastle United, and Sportsreach, the company through which he operates as a sports agent assisting young players looking to move across the water.

On the face of it, there's more scope for conflicts of interest to arise in amongst that lot than virtually any politician could hope to get away with and Devlin, who oversaw the signing of four teenagers from St Joseph's Boys in Sallynoggin for Newcastle this week, admits that there is some room for misinterpreting his various roles.

He insists, however, that the fact that clubs and youngsters here still come to him after a 25 year involvement with schoolboy football demonstrates his reputation for fair dealing. He has, he maintains, always put the interests of the players first, and the regular sights of players like Damien Duff warmly embracing Devlin when they meet up at representative games would suggest that the players he has represented would tend to agree.

Devlin, in fact, can't really put a figure on exactly how many young players he has helped move to British clubs. You would have to for a start, he points out, define his role in each move, for in some he acts merely as advisor, in others as a manager, and in others as an agent.

"The bottom line," he says, "is that if I was in this for the money I'd be an agent, nothing else. But I'm not. I wouldn't even charge for giving somebody advice and no matter what way I'm involved, I try to make sure that the lad gets the best deal possible - not one player that I've been involved in sending away has ever gone on a YTS or an apprenticeship. Not all of them have made it once they've got there, but at least they've gone over on professional contracts with something to fall back on if it doesn't work out."

The Wanderers boss is adamant that he is entirely innocent when it comes to the regular charges of exploitation that are levelled against those involved in the trade. Devlin, indeed, has regularly been the one leading the call for improvements in the protective structures. He points to, with pride, the system he has set in place on behalf of Newcastle and Bray.

At three centres each week players from clubs in Dun Laoghaire, Bray, Arklow and their surrounding areas can come and develop their skills with highly qualified coaches. Less talented kids are catered for as well as those regarded as potential stars, and the whole exercise is funded by the Premiership outfit which, it is believed, invests around £100,000 annually.

The fact that Thomas Hawkins, Joe Kendrick, Stephen Brennan and Neale Phelan have agreed to a move to St James's over the summer shows that, in stark contrast to Everton's three-year relationship with Home Farm, the English club is seeing a return on its investment, while Wanderers get to eye up those unwilling or not quite good enough at this stage to move.

"I think the whole thing is a model for the way every National League club should be looking to go. But, let me tell you this: the players are never pushed into doing anything that they don't want. We've had kids offered deals by a lot of other English clubs and they are perfectly entitled to make up their own minds about what they want to do.

"The basis that we're operating on is the one that I've always tried to work on: if you treat people well, then they'll show you some loyalty. If a young player can see that Bray, Newcastle and Pat Devlin have helped him along and are offering him a fair deal for the future, then why would he take a chance on going to somebody he has no experience of? It really wouldn't make that much sense would it?"

For Devlin the current organisation is a natural extension of the scouting work he has been doing here for almost 15 years now, mainly for whichever English club Kenny Dalglish, with whom he has long enjoyed a strong friendship, has been involved with. And while the benefits for Wanderers (the club receives none of the cash) have yet to become readily apparent, to outsiders he insists that the scheme is very close to bearing fruit for this weekend's cup finalists.

"The fact is that the next step for Bray is to get a full-time set up in place. If we'd stayed up I think we'd definitely have been looking at it for next season, but now we'll have to look at it terms of the reduced gate receipts, sponsorship and all that that you can expect in the first division.

"The idea would be to get 12 or maybe 15 of the best young fellas from the school of excellence and get them in there every day training together. Add in the better young players already with the club, and you have the bones of a squad working with each other all the time. Mix that with your more experienced lads and you would have a good basis to start from."

He admits that relegation has been a terrible blow for the club, although "it has come at the end of a season that, in every other way, has been a huge success for us".

The youth development programme, the redevelopment of the Carlisle Grounds, and the investment in the first team will, he insists, continue despite the setback and a cup win tomorrow, of course, would provide the club with an opportunity to play in the UEFA Cup.

Even that, however, was almost not enough to keep Devlin in the first team manager's post for next season. Having been there, done that a few too many times in his day, Devlin says he swore last summer that he wouldn't manage in the first division again. "After the Sligo game I was so upset that I couldn't sleep and I went for a walk down Dun Laoghaire pier early the next morning to have a think about things.

"In one way I was inclined to pack it in, but there's a lot happening here because I'm at the centre of it. Without trying to sound too big-headed, there's always the fear that if I wasn't here any more it might well all start to fall apart. The more I thought about it, the more I realised I've put too much in at this stage to simply up and walk away."