Gaffers (31 page)

Givens settled into the team very quickly and soon became an integral part of the club. His finest season for QPR came in 1975–76 when he helped QPR to a second-place finish behind Liverpool in the First Division, losing out on a winner’s medal by one point.

After six years in London, Givens moved to the midlands with Birmingham before winding down his career in English football with a loan spell at Bournemouth and a short period with Sheffield United. His time at Sheffield United was marred by a missed penalty in a key winner-takes-all match against Walsall, which ultimately saw the Blades suffer relegation to the bottom tier of English football, the old Fourth Division.

However, his career did not end there. Instead, he moved to the football outpost of Switzerland and to Neuchâtel Xamax. At a time when Irish players were making their mark on English football, and to some extent on the American soccer scene, making
the move to a European club was rare, and when it did happen it was often for a short period only. However, Givens settled in to life in Switzerland and spent five seasons with the club. It was while there that he won his only top-level medal, winning the National League A in 1987 at the age of thirty-seven.

INTERNATIONAL CAREER

At the age of twenty, Don made his debut for Ireland under Charlie Hurley, playing the full ninety minutes in a 2–0 loss to Denmark. In his second match for Ireland, Don scored his first goal for Ireland, in a 2–1 World Cup qualifying loss to Hungary. Three months later, in September 1969, he scored the first goal of Mick Meagan’s reign as team manager, to take his tally to two in three games. A year after this debut for Ireland, Don had become an integral part of the line-up, having scored four goals in his seven games.

Two of Don’s finest performances in an Irish shirt came during the 1970s under the management of Johnny Giles. In October 1974, Don overshadowed the debut of Liam Brady when he scored a hat-trick as Ireland beat the Soviet Union 3–0 and then a year later he went one better, scoring all the goals in a 4–0 win over Turkey. His achievement was the first time an Irish player had scored four goals in a game in forty years, emulating the feat of Paddy Moore, who scored all four in a draw with Belgium in 1934. Those goals took Don’s international tally to fifteen goals in just thirty-one games for Ireland. In May 1976, Givens scored two goals to first equal and then break Noel Cantwell’s Irish goal-scoring record of fourteen
goals. He added further goals against Bulgaria, Denmark, the USA and Switzerland to set an international record of nineteen goals, a record that lasted until 1990 when it was broken by Frank Stapleton. In an international career that lasted twelve years and six different Ireland managers, Don bowed out of international football in a 3–2 win over France. In all he won fifty-six caps. Such is his legacy that Don still stands fourth on the list of all time top Irish goal scorers.

GIVENS THE MANAGER

Switzerland might have afforded Givens an Indian summer to his career, but it also led to him getting his first break in club management. Once his playing days came to an end he became a youth coach at Neuchâtel, but he quickly got a break and was given the top job in 1993 when he replaced former Switzerland manager Uli Stielike as head coach. Givens managed to save the club from eventual relegation in his short spell but failed to make an impression on the Xamax hierarchy, who replaced him with their former coach Gilbert Gress for the following season. Gress was the person who had originally signed Don, and he had also previously led Neuchâtel to League Championships in 1987 and 1988. As a former player and manager he was well known to the club’s directors.

Givens remained out of the game until his old friend Liam Brady helped him get involved with the youth set-up at Arsenal in 1997. He took charge of the academy players, and in his first season he led the Under-18s to the FA Premier League Academy Under-18 title. With a career being forged in youth
development Givens did not make any further impact on the management scene until he was appointed manager of the Republic of Ireland Under-21 side in 2000. The appointment was part of a restructure of the Ireland international set-up intended to enable Ian Evans to help Mick McCarthy with the senior side. At the time Don decided to maintain his involvement with the Arsenal youth side, and he combined the two roles for two years before taking on the Ireland Under-21 job full-time.

In November 2002 he briefly became caretaker manager of the senior squad following Mick McCarthy’s departure, managing the team for a goal-less draw against Greece. His tenure ended with Brian Kerr’s appointment as manager in January 2003.

He was once again appointed as caretaker manager in October 2007, following the departure of Steve Staunton, and he was in charge for the final European Championship qualifier against Wales, which once again ended as a draw. In February 2008 he experienced his first defeat as caretaker manager when Ireland lost 1–0 to Brazil. In three games as caretaker manager he never tasted victory.

GIVENS THE UNDER-21 MANAGER

While Givens has been a great servant to Irish football, both as a player and as a caretaker manager, it is for his most recent role as manager of the Ireland Under-21 team that he is best known. He spent ten years in the role after taking over from Ian Evans in 2000 and stepping down in March 2010. His position with the youth set-up at Arsenal meant that when the FAI was looking for a new man to take over from Ian Evans,
Givens seemed the perfect choice. A former internationalist, who was a record goal-scorer and part of the Arsenal backroom staff, should have no problem earning the respect of the players. Sadly, during his reign the Under-21 team under-achieved, especially when compared to the glory days of the Liam Tuohy and Brian Kerr’s youth teams.

Young players with the necessary talent are often fast-tracked into the senior squad, the prime examples being Damian Duff and Robbie Keane, who were under-age stars from the Brian Kerr days. However, while Ireland currently has some very skilful young players in the English Premier League and Championship, such as Seán Scannell at Crystal Palace, Owen Garvan at Ipswich and Jay O’Brien at Birmingham getting game time at big clubs, more recently we have seen less and less make the transition through the ranks to the senior side as the latest manager Giovanni Trapattoni looks to make a more immediate impact on the team with more established and mature players.

Another damaging aspect of Given’s reign as Ireland Under-21 manager was the often very public spats between him and the players, with some youngsters being dropped from squads never to return. Ireland, as a footballing nation has a small pool of talent to choose from and cannot afford to stop the international development of young players. Success at youth level can have an important impact on the senior side. The setup of the Under-21 team should be as similar as possible to the senior side so the players can make an easier transition if and when a first-team call comes. Despite the problems, Givens oversaw the transition of John O’Shea, Steven Reid, Andy O’Brien, Colin Healy, Gary Doherty, Aiden McGeady and Kevin Doyle from the Under-21 side to the senior side.

Swansea City defender Marcos Painter was one of the kids who was guided by Don in the Under-21 team: ‘I was seventeen and playing in the reserves at Birmingham when Keith Bertschin, who was the reserve-team manager, told Don I had Irish connections, as my grandmother was from Kildare. Don was based in Birmingham at the time, and he came to see me play a couple of times. He had a chat with me, and I was eventually called into the Under-19 squad for a tournament in Portugal.

‘I played at Under-19 and Under-20 level before I was called into the Under-21 group. I played for two seasons with Don at that level, and I found him to be a very calming influence. It gives you great confidence as a player when a coach who is well respected within the game has faith in you, and with Don you had a manager who was genuine and had also played at a high level. He never put pressure on the players, and he solely focused on the Under-21 team. There was never any mention of the senior squad, so in that respect it took away the distraction and helped us concentrate on the game.

‘He made the players feel very welcome and part of the group. When I was making my debut against Switzerland the fact that Don wanted me was a good confidence booster, especially when I started. Don created a good environment with the Under-21s. It wasn’t just him, though, as he also had some very good support staff around him.’

In March 2010 Don stepped down from his role as Irish Under-21 manager, but remained on the FAI payroll, taking up a new role overseeing the FAI’s UK-based scouting network. It ensures that a relationship that started forty-one years ago, and has seen Don progress through the FAI ranks from player to backroom staff, continues. While Don is an integral
part of Ireland’s future building programme, his place in Irish footballing history will never be forgotten.

DON GIVENS’ CLUB MANAGERIAL HONOURS RECORD:

No management honours

DON GIVENS’ IRELAND RECORD:

Total number of games in charge: 3
Total number of wins: 0 (ratio 0.00%)
Total number of draws: 2 (ratio 66.66%)
Total number of losses: 1 (ratio 33.34%)
Biggest win: none
Biggest defeat: 1–0
v
. Brazil
Longest run without defeat: 2 games

Despite the difference in world rankings and the pool of talent available, the Ireland and England national football teams have shared many similarities over the years. The most recent of these is the appointment of an Italian as the national manager. Whether or not the FAI were inspired by England’s appointment of Fabio Capello, one of the most successful coaches in Europe, is not known. However, the committee that was appointed to bring inspiration to the nation’s football team definitely followed England’s lead when they selected Giovanni Trapattoni, then Red Bull Salzburg manager, as the replacement for Steve Staunton.

A former manager of the Italian national team, Trapattoni is a highly regarded manager who, during a management career that started in the 1970s, has won a remarkable nine League titles and six European trophies in Italy, Germany, Portugal and Austria. His profile and experience were exactly what the FAI required to restore confidence both in the national team and their own organisation after the perceived debacle with the previous regimes.

The reigns of Brian Kerr and Steve Staunton had failed to inspire the nation, and with Ireland’s rugby team on the up and enjoying international success, soccer was once again in danger of being left behind. The appointment of Trapattoni has brought about a period of stability and an improvement in performances for the Irish team.

EARLY YEARS

Giovanni Trapattoni was born in the small town of Cusanio in the province of Milan on 17 March 1939. As a footballer he made his name with AC Milan, joining the team at the end of the 1950s. His father worked in a factory and encouraged Trapattoni to abandon football and follow the same road he had taken, seeing football as a hobby only and not to be taken seriously, as did a lot of fathers at the time. Trapattoni worked in a factory after school six days a week, but travelled to watch Milan, the team he supported, train and play whenever he had free time.

In 1958 a nineteen-year-old Trapattoni fulfilled a dream when he pulled on AC Milan’s red-and-black shirt for the first time, making his debut in an Italian Cup match against Monza – the only problem on what was almost a perfect day was that he had to play with a 38.5°C fever. Two years later, on 24 January 1960, Trapattoni made his Serie A debut, AC Milan beating Spal 3–0. It was a bitter-sweet debut for Trapattoni, as his joy was overshadowed by the death of his father Francesco ten days beforehand.

Trapattoni soon became an integral part of the Milan line-up, and as a defensive holding midfielder who often operated at centre-back, his job was to tidy up play and help the more attack-minded players concentrate on just that. In modern-day football, Claude Makélélé, Javier Mascherano and Lassana Diarra have made a similar role their own. Not renowned for their scoring abilities, these footballers break up play, win the ball and act as a shield in front of the back four. In a diamond formation the role works very well. However, most midfield pairings work with a defensive and attacking split.

His time with AC Milan came during a very successful period for the club, coinciding with the appointment in 1961 of Nereo Rocco as head coach, starting a trophy-laden era for the
Rossoneri
. With Rocco on board, Milan won two Italian Championship titles, one Italian Cup, two European Cups, one Cup-Winners’ Cup and one Intercontinental Super Cup. After Milan, Trapattoni eventually ended a successful playing career with A.S. Varese 1910. Varese, who currently play in the fourth tier of Italian football and were footballing neighbours of Milan, were a midtable Serie A club in those days, and Trapattoni ensured their status would last another season before he decided to retire from the game and concentrate on coaching.