Long road has another turning for Gillespie

SOCCER ANGLES:Longford Town is the latest port of call for former Northern Ireland international Keith Gillespie in a chequered career, writes MICHAEL WALKER

SCEPTICISM IS a reflex action for the average football supporter and even from across the Irish Sea you could sense the rolling of eyes at Thursday’s news that Keith Gillespie, the Keith Gillespie, the one of Manchester United and Newcastle United and 86 Northern Ireland caps, has joined Longford Town. Longford Town!

A common reaction outside Longford, and perhaps from some inside it as well, will be that this won’t last long and that it won’t be particularly productive.

The scepticism stems not from Gillespie signing for Longford alone, but from the experience down the years in the League of Ireland and elsewhere that players of a certain age and fame tend not to have one last hurrah at a level they never appeared at on their rapid way up – Steve Archibald lasted less than 90 minutes at Home Farm.

The motivation is always viewed with suspicion. In Gillespie’s case, the fact he was declared bankrupt last October in Belfast’s High Court is well known. What has made less news is he is embroiled in a legal action over previous financial dealings. We can go no further here on that topic.

Does Gillespie need the money Longford will be paying? Possibly not, he earned a million and more, literally, in his career. Then again, he was one bad punter.

At 36, Gillespie should have accumulated enough cash to retire and if he has then he is at Longford for another reason. He said recently he would like to play “until I’m 40”.

He said it in a bar in Hartlepool. We had first met in February 1995, three days before Gillespie scored twice for Newcastle at St James’ Park in a fifth round FA Cup-tie against Manchester City.

It was a month after he had been involved in one of the transfers of the decade when he moved from Manchester United and Alex Ferguson to Newcastle and Kevin Keegan. Andy Cole went the other way. It was a sensation, an early landmark in the Premier League’s history.

Almost 16 years on Gillespie was now staying with a friend in Hartlepool as he tried to earn a contract at nearby Darlington. It didn’t work for a variety of reasons, not least because Gillespie was not fully fit.

He arrived in the North-east in a blizzard month, in which games and training sessions were cancelled, having not played a proper game for almost six months.

He lasted three matches at Darlington, one of which was a different FA Cup-tie, against York City. Gillespie was played at left midfield, a good position for a right winger, and while he wasn’t terrible, he did not stand out.

Except in one way: Darlington lost this game 2-0, which brought York a lucrative third-round tie at Bolton, but Gillespie was named man-of-the-match. This was because his name is Keith Gillespie and people wanted to shake his hand and ask him questions about his career.

At Darlington’s hand-to-mouth level, this is fair enough. Just as it is at Longford.

There must be realism about what Gillespie will bring to his new team, particularly in the first few games, but there should also be a little skip of anticipation at seeing a player of his experience playing for Longford.

At 17, Gillespie made his debut for Man United in the League Cup at Old Trafford. He scored. This was the team: Schmeichel; Irwin, Parker, Pallister, Bruce; Gillespie, Phelan, McClair, Sharpe; Cantona, Hughes.

Roll your eyes at that.

Of course, of much greater relevance is that last season Gillespie was at Glentoran in the Irish League. He spoke about that in Hartlepool.

“I thought it’d be nice to live at home again. And it was nice to go back, but then it was also difficult. I played abut 47 games but people expect miracles from you, beat four men, cross it and score. The reality is that you become more realistic in your game. But I really enjoyed it. I would have stayed but it wasn’t feasible, money-wise.”

How success is defined in these things is subjective. A dose of realism, a dose of excitement, seeing out the season with commitment, this would be success for Gillespie at Longford.

For Longford, stimulating interest is success. That takes some doing at the best of times.

Surely the League of Ireland – and the Irish League – needs any stardust going. It needs to get people through the turnstiles and to be talked about. Gillespie’s arrival should generate enthusiasm amid the scepticism.

Longford locals will meet an ordinary lad who has had an extraordinary career. He wants to play and is approachable. He will answer the questions he has been asked many times before, about Old Trafford and what it was like to destroy Barcelona with Newcastle.

Gillespie has just been playing for the Manchester United “Legends” in the Far East. That brings a certain level of fitness. But if he gets match-fit, applies himself and feels realism and warmth in Longford, then let’s hope we are talking about this unlikely partnership well beyond March.

Italians reputation tarnished

HOW PLEASED are you with Giovanni Trapattoni?

How pleased are England fans with Fabio Capello?

How pleased are Manchester City with Roberto Mancini?

And what about Chelsea’s owner and supporters, what do they think of Carlo Ancelotti?

Four Italian managers, four big-name Italian managers: take Ancelotti out of it and the other three aren’t setting the world alight, are they?

Ancelotti won the Double for Chelsea in his first season last year, and a measure of that achievement is what Chelsea would give now for it. Yet Ancelotti appears to be working his notice at Stamford Bridge.

Even if Chelsea win the Champions League it seems Ancelotti will walk of his own choosing. The Ray Wilkins thing lingers.

Mancini? He needs City to kick on quickly, which is not a description of that team’s style under him. City’s next away game is at Liverpool. That’s the Monday night before City meet United in the FA Cup semi-final at Wembley.

You could see City losing both, and Mancini not being at Eastlands next year.

Capello? England should win against a Bale-less Wales in Cardiff this afternoon but, even if they do, Capello will still be regarded as a man who has failed. Capello needs England to flow at next summer’s finals for him to recover the standing which got him the job.

And Trap? These Macedonia games, tonight and in early June will shape Irish chances. Four or six green points and Trapattoni will have done his bit for the reputation of Italian managers.

Which, in March 2012, has question marks against it.