Shooting from hip on Rocky Road to Dublin

INTERVIEW: Ronnie Whelan tells Keith Dugganwhy he is walking the Rocky Road to Dublin to highlight the auto-immune disease Myasthenia Gravis

RONNIE WHELAN spent Wednesday afternoon mugging up on DVDs of Lyon and Bayern Munich before heading over to Montrose for his latest engagement with the old firm of football punditry. The Giles-Dunphy axis had become a celebrated force by the time Whelan retired from international football in 1995 and he had become aware of their reputation for calling straight shots long before he became part of the squad.

“Everybody knows what we are about,” said Whelan this week. “Souey (Graeme Souness) would go back and tell the people in Sky Sports what Dunphy or Giles had said the night before. It is different, I suppose, for us because if you are with the BBC and you hammer someone, there are consequences – you see that Alex Ferguson still won’t give them an interview over what was said about his son.

“In RTÉ, we are not beholden to anyone and that is the great thing about it. I had my opinion about Benitez and I got slaughtered for it in some quarters. But it is what I feel. You do not have to worry about saying the right thing or saying something nice. We always have a structure in terms of what we are going to talk about before a show but once it gets going, God knows what way it could take off.”

Whelan will spend most of June in Dublin working on RTÉ’s World Cup coverage, a tournament that is bound to feature several reminiscences of Italia ’90, when Whelan was a player and Dunphy all but provoked Jack Charlton to issue the Northumberland version of a fatwah.

But Whelan is going to be a noticeable presence in Ireland over the next week or so as well in his attempts to raise awareness about an auto-immune disease that afflicted his daughter Elizabeth six years ago. He has issued a general invitation for people to join him on a trek that has been labelled as “Ronnie Whelan’s Rocky Road to Dublin”, a five-day jaunt covering 130 kilometres of the most beautiful landscape in the country, starting out on the Western Way and taking in the Slieve Bloom mountains, Glendalough and the coastal road from Greystones to the city centre.

“I just wanted to do something different. People suggested jumping out of an aeroplane. But that type of thing wasn’t for me.”

He hopes the expedition will be light-hearted and it will offer a great chance for people to meet a footballer who remains a folk hero to many in Ireland, not only for the glittering career he enjoyed with Liverpool but also for the goal he will never be allowed forget, the outrageous volley against Russia in the European Championships of 1988.

But the motivation behind the event stems from what has been a troubled few years for the Whelan family. Elizabeth was 18 years old when she was suddenly troubled by Myasthenia Gravis, a relatively obscure condition which causes a breakdown between the nerves and muscles in the body.

“It was only after Elizabeth was diagnosed that she told us how badly this thing has been troubling her. She fell down in the street. She fell down the steps of a nightclub just after walking into the place. Things like that. We were lucky in that we got the right diagnosis and she benefited from an operation which basically involves taking a gland out of the back of the chest.

“It works for some people, not for others. And afterwards, I felt I wanted to do something to make more people aware of this. About 400 people have been diagnosed in Ireland but we feel there are probably many more people out there with the symptoms who have been either misdiagnosed or have not had any diagnosis.

“Elizabeth is one of the lucky ones in that the operation worked for her but I have seen people for whom it hasn’t worked and they are on massively high doses of steroids just to get through the day. Elizabeth has a very low dosage and takes a booster pill when she feels her muscles aren’t responding.”

His daughter will join him on the last leg of a walk that is bound to feature many conversations about Whelan’s football life. He will always be associated with the last dazzling era of Liverpool football club. His voice must be one of the most recognisable in Irish sport, with the native Dublin accent laced with a touch of Scouse.

His affection for the club is obvious but so, too, is his frustration with the direction it has taken. He has probably been the most outspoken of the gilded Anfield old boys in his criticism of Benitez and his fears now are the club is in such a parlous state its place among the elite of English football is in jeopardy.

“The signs aren’t good,” he sighs.

“Millions of pounds in debt and the manager has bought substandard players with that money. Is anyone going to come in with the money they need? They need a new stadium to get capacity up if they are to stay with the likes of United.

“Would you give more money to Rafa Benitez given his signing record? It is a huge dilemma just now. There are so many big decisions to be made now and if they don’t get them right, Liverpool will keep slipping. But you see someone come into Manchester City and put so much money into that club. There must be someone out there because Liverpool is such a huge club and an institution.”

This reputation is part of the problem. There is a sense that Liverpool has such heritage as a football club it cannot be allowed to slip into permanent mediocrity. But losing out on the Champions League next season drastically weakens the team’s position.

“It is horrible to think about. They could slip. It has the potential to go that way. You see them play some weeks and they look okay. Then the next three weeks, you are wondering why these players are with Liverpool football club. And if they need the money, do they have to get rid of Torres and Gerrard? What would Liverpool be without Torres and Gerrard? The banks may say we need the money. Barclays may demand it to get some of the debt down.”

These are the woes on Merseyside. But although Whelan retains a fondness for the club, he has to think for a second when asked when he last saw the Reds play at Anfield.

“Two years ago against West Ham. Finished 0-0. The worst game of all time.”

It is, he acknowledges, a different club now.

“Different lounge people, different people on the doors. Yeah, course it is different. To be honest, when I have a Saturday off, I prefer to go play golf, maybe watch Match of the Day. I see enough football and there is nothing that would make me go rushing to see Liverpool when I have the occasional Saturday off.”

Football, though, is still at the epicentre of his life. Bob Paisley was managing Liverpool when Whelan broke through as a professional: Paisley had made his debut for the club when the football league resumed in 1946 after the second World War. The link spans half a century of English football. He rates Paisley as the god of all English football managers and is cheerfully lost as to what it was that made the Durham man such an omnipotent figure. “None,” he declares when asked what memories he has of his conversations with Paisley.

“You didn’t really have memorable conversations with Bob. Half the time, you couldn’t understand what Bob was saying to you. But he just had this ability to bring in players and build a team and to win things. He won three European cups. I have terrific admiration for Alex Ferguson but I think that record stands alone.”

And the failure to bring in the correct players has been at the heart of Whelan’s complaints about Benitez. He believes in speaking his mind. He laughs when he thinks about analysing games for RTÉ with Statler and Waldorf on either side of him.

“It had been Eamon, John and Liam (Brady) for a long time and Eamon and John had been there forever. And suddenly I am sitting in between them. The strange thing is, when I am talking, people can’t see them because my face is on screen. So people don’t see them looking at me when I am talking. And it is a bit daunting at times when the two of them start giving you that look. But they have been great to work with. They know football.

“Eamon has his rants but they are great: I just sit back and listen to them. If he isn’t happy with me, he will say it and I am sure one day we will have our row, or whatever. You can’t always sing off the same hymn sheet. People love a good argument.”

As for the World Cup, he can’t wait. He figures Argentina might get their act together and give it a good run and chuckles darkly when asked how England, arch rivals in the Copa do Mundo 20 years ago, might fare in South Africa.

“Well, they have the players. If they can get a team performance together, they can win it, England? There is a lot of talent there in Gerrard, Lampard and Rooney. They are at an age now where the experience is there. Can they beat teams like Brazil in a big one-off game? I think they have a chance. England have a real chance to win it this time.”

Ronnie Whelan’s Rocky Road to Dublin Walking Challenge takes place from Thursday, April 29th to Tuesday, May 4th. Sign up and event details on www.rockyroad.ie