Byrne, Paul

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Fullname: Paul Byrne
Height: 5.11
Weight: 13st
Born: 30 June 1972
Birthplace: Dublin, Ireland
Signed: 26 May 1993
Left: 24 Aug 1995
Position: Midfielder
First game: St Johnstone 1-2 away 6 October 1993 league
Last game: Hearts 1-1 home 11 January 1995 league
First goal: Aberdeen 2-2 home 19 January 1994 league
Last goal: Rangers 1-1 away 4 January 1995 league
Internationals: Ireland (U21 & B) but none for the senior side

Biog

Paul Byrne hailed from Inchicore in Ireland and was signed by Liam Brady in the Summer of 1993 having started his professional career playing for Oxford United alongside Ray Houghton. His time was a disaster down south, and it wasn’t until he moved to Bangor (North of Ireland) that things turned around winning a domestic Cup (scoring in the final) and being the first player to ever win all four player of the year awards there. So seemed to be a good choice for Celtic to pick up as the club was desperately in need of new talent.

He was deemed to be skilful, and some would class him as one of the better talents to have come out of the Liam Brady years (not that was a long list).

It was a difficult environment for an already singed Paul Byrne. He broke into the first team just as manager Liam Brady was on the verge of resignation after a defeat in McDiarmid Park in October 1993. This was a difficult one, as both he hoped to learn from Liam Brady’s footballing talent and that Liam Brady was a bit of a hero to him & other Irish football fans. The more stern Frank Connor was then put in charge of the team and duly gave Paul Byrne his place, a small run that brought some good relief during what was a dire time for the first team. It also give Paul Byrne some confidence. Lou Macari next in his short reign was a disaster for Celtic as manager and Paul Byrne must have wondered what was all going on.

Under Tommy Burns he was hoping for a fresh start, or as he was to put:

“I’m going to win things with Celtic, I will play for my country and I will prove that all the people that knocked me were wrong”.

So he was a man on a personal mission but ended up not achieving his aims.

He had some great high moments, with the the finest in a Celtic shirt coming against Rangers. In October 1994 he brought Tommy Burns team level with Rangers with a cool left foot finish from a low Tom Boyd cross at Hampden, in a match that Celtic went on to lose 3-1. He also scored a screaming equaliser in the 1-1 draw in the New Year’s derby game at Ibrox, taking a John Collins switch of play on the volley, with the outside of his boot, leaving Goram with no chance in the Rangers goal. It showed a talent but it was to be a short-lived event. It was additionally sweet as malicious games were being played to put him off his game:

“Someone rang the club and said that I had five grand on Rangers to beat us in the game where I scored the equaliser at Ibrox. Tommy pulled me off the bus and asked me if it was true. Under no circumstances was it true and I told him to check the records and things like that. Tommy said, ‘No, someone rang the club and it is my job to ask, but I believe you’. I went and scored. He and I used to joke after where I’d say, ‘Tommy if I had five grand on Rangers I would’ve hit the corner flag’. “

One thing that people remember said about him after the goals was that he was worth his weight in pies if nothing else, or as he put himself:

“When I joined Celtic I weighed around 14 and a half stone – hardly prime condition for a winger.” (Paul Byrne, 1993)

Anyhow, the truth is that he became a little too reacquainted to the good side of life, carrying on from where he had left off beforehand. We’ll leave the full details to the tabloids but it was no secret that he was not keeping the best diet & lifestyle for personal conditioning for a football career, and he was his own worst enemy. At his previous clubs he had smoked, drank and gambled away his chances there. Taking in that Frank McAvennie was back at Celtic, a night out with the pair of them would possibly have been an interesting experience.

He was to fade out of the first team picture soon after due to a loss of form, the questionable fitness, and an expectation of a better calibre of player arriving at the club as the Celtic takeover had occurred and new capital injections were expected. His last start was against Hearts in a 1-1 draw at Hampden in January 1995, a match which also saw the debut of Pierre van Hooijdonk, ironically the sort of player that Byrne could have thrived playing alongside (but wasn’t given time to prove it).

He moved to Brighton on loan for a short spell of 8 games before returning to Celtic Park. He was then subsequently transferred to Southend for £80,000 having been signed by fellow Irishman and ex-Liverpool hero Ronnie Whelan where he did well. However, his career in the top flight of football was really ending sooner than he could have imagined. Talent alone isn’t sufficient, and application and commitment are necessary, something his critics would state he lacked.

He played out his career with various clubs back in Ireland and his career was declining ignominiously. It was sad to see.

He has kept ties with the club and appeared in Celtic veterans’ club matches (5-a-sides etc). He has been able to live off the goals against Rangers, and for those moments we should remember him well. Shame that the Celtic support won’t remember him for a longer more prosperous career at the club. He may have outlived some managers at Celtic but he did little better than they themselves did. It wasn’t an easy time to be at Celtic, and with the problems that Byrne already carried coming to the club, it didn’t help his case.

We hope him all the best for the future.

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Quotes

“I’m part of the Celtic players association now. There’s Frank McAvennie, Alan Thompson, John Hartson and Stiliyan Petrov and we do a lot of travelling. We were in Thailand recently and Philadpehia just before that. There’s legends games coming up in Dublin and Belfast plus trips to New York, South Africa and Australia. It’s good and I do a radio show with Ken Doherty the snooker player over here which I really enjoy.”
Paul Byrne now based in Dublin, Ireland (2021)

Playing Career

Club _______________			From ___________				To ___________		Fee ___________		League ___________			Scottish/FA Cup			League cup ___________			Other ___________
Southend			25-08-1995				31-05-1998		£80,000		71 (13)		6	2 (0)	0		6 (0)	2		4 (0)	0
Brighton			10-03-1995						Loan		8 (0)		1	0 (0)	0		0 (0)	0		0 (0)	0
Celtic			26-05-1993				24-08-1995		Signed		24 (4)		4	1 (0)	0		1 (1)	0		2 (0)	0
Bangor City			01-09-1991				26-05-1993		Free		No appearance data available
Oxford			04-07-1989				01-09-1991		Trainee		4 (2)		0	0 (0)	0		0 (0)	0		0 (0)	0
Totals									£80,000		107 (19)		11	3 (0)	0		7 (1)	2		6 (0)	0
									goals / game		0.08			0			0.25			0
											Apps		Goals	Apps	Goals		Apps	Goals		Apps	Goals

Honours with Celtic

none

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Articles

Old Firm bounty a taste of Paradise for Byrne

By Alan Pattullo

The Scotman, 07 December 2002

IF YOU should find yourself seeking shelter in a bar on the broad and narrow streets of Dublin this afternoon, and a stout young chap with a friendly manner waylays you with talk of having once scored twice for Celtic against Rangers within a matter of weeks, then, pray, hear him out. Paul Byrne, who will watch today’s Old Firm clash in Slattery’s, his Dublin local, is not putting you on, even if the tale he may then recount, taking in as it will a number of familiar regrets, sounds as hackneyed as the fiddle tunes emanating from a busker in the street outside. It would, in most circumstances, be prudent to dismiss these warblings as the blather of a Guinness-addled moon-hopper. However, Byrne can truly claim to have been a contender, and in this, his testimonial season, is surely allowed the time to reflect and, perhaps, dream.

“The thought of what I might achieve in this game bloody frightens me” a young Irishman once announced as he landed in Glasgow, flushed with excitement at the journey still before him. He once spoke of being worth £1million though in the end Celtic struggled to offload him for a tenth of that fee, Byrne joining Southend United under the charge of fellow Irishman Ronnie Whelan. This ended when they cancelled his contract, allowing Byrne to return home to Ireland.

“At the end of the day you leave Celtic and the only way is down,” says Byrne now, in so cheery a manner that the drama he may hope to invest is lost. Now working for the Football Association of Ireland in Dublin and playing for Kilkenny City, his “umpteenth club”, Byrne is happy to pick over the bones of his life in football, particularly when, with 12-year-old son Kurtis being targeted by Liverpool, another Byrne career might soon be starting. “I just tell him to follow what his mam says, not what his dad did,” he says, offering a clue to who he blames for the unfulfilled potential you cannot avoid discussing.

He was spurred into leaving Celtic by a casual remark from Tommy Burns, who simply said he could not guarantee Byrne a first-team place. The impetuosity of youth dictated that Byrne simply upped sticks and left, refusing to entertain for a moment thoughts of staying somewhere where he was not wanted. This wasn’t the first mistake in his young, turbulent life, but it is the one which returns to haunt him most often. “I got it into my head that Tommy did not want me, so I wanted to leave as soon as I could,” he says. “At the time I was playing well, and I went down to Southend and scored a few goals there. Birmingham offered £750,000 for me, but the chairman Victor Watson, who is dead now, God rest his soul, rejected it, thinking he could get £1million at the end of the season.

“Birmingham were up near the top of the First Division then, and now they are in the Premiership. God knows what might have happened.”

Still, he balances such regret with an acknowledgement that he was perhaps fortunate to play as many times as he did for Celtic, under three different managers.

“I played under Liam Brady, Lou Macari and Tommy Burns, so I must have been doing something right. At the end of the day, in my wildest dreams I never thought I would ever play for Celtic first team when I first left Bangor. So I think the job I did at Celtic was OK.

“I was one of the better players at the time. That’s why people cannot understand why I didn’t go onto better things.”

The former Celtic player is now only 30, but already he is eight years away from when his career peaked. Capped by Ireland at every level, Byrne was perhaps one of the most talented players to arrive at Parkhead during an era when qualifying for Europe was an achievement, never mind remaining there after Christmas. Supporters might recoil in horror at mention of his name, since it requires them to recall a time when the sign welcoming fans to Parkhead read like an inscription stuck above a grave. Byrne, though, supplied some life, at times a little too much. “The sort of character I was at the time, a lot of people did not like it at Celtic. Maybe because I was not one of the boys as such things went against me a bit. I was a bit wild, if you like ….”

He arrived at Parkhead in 1993 carrying considerable baggage, and not just the extra padding observed around his buttocks. He admits to drinking, smoking and gambling away his chance at Oxford, having also failed to make the grade at Arsenal. “I was doing all the things a teenager does,” he shrugs. However, not every teenager is a father at 15, as Bryne was, and not every teenager has the brassneck to return home to Ireland with belief in tact having been rejected by Oxford.

A year later he was on the road again, a head full of dreams and with reason to believe that finally his skills were to find reward at a club managed by his hero Liam Brady, with whom, bizarrely, he stayed for the first six months of his stay.

Not many leave Celtic after three years with only a loser’s medal in the Coca-Cola Cup final (against Raith Rovers!) for company. Byrne, though, did at least score one of the penalties later rendered redundant by Paul McStay’s miss, but few will remember this.

They may, however, recall those goals against Rangers, the only two league goals he scored in the entire 1994/5 season. Even Henrik Larsson cannot boast so prodigious a goals per game ratio in Old Firm fixtures, and nor could the Swede hope to better the goal scored by Byrne in the 1-1 draw with Rangers on 4 January 1995, when he turned to sweetly volley home a John Collins cross. It wasn’t enough to keep Byrne at Celtic, amid doubts about his weight and general fitness.

When he returned to Irish football, there were no shortage of workaday players seeking to take the rise out of him. “You try and do things you did at Parkhead, and they don’t come off,” he says. “It frustrates you. All of a sudden, before you realise it, people think you’ve lost it.”

It was hard to accept a homecoming so lacking in ticker-tape after having left Bangor Town aged 21, the recipient of both the league’s Young Player and Player of the Year trinkets. He was on stand-by for Jack Charlton’s World Cup squad in 1994. On Thursday night, aged only 30, he was being carried off the park in a game between Kilkenny and Waterford, spending the night in a local hospital. However, even a damaged ear drum won’t keep Byrne away from Slattery’s today at midday, he promises. And, he gently chides you as you prepare to leave, he has one more thought for the road, though you suspect the rambling might now have started. “It’s my testimonial on the 12 May, at Dalymount Park. Half the funds raised are going to Our Ladies’ Hospital for Sick Kids. You have to get yourself over here for the craic.

“Celebs are coming from Coronation Street, Emmerdale, Eastenders …. Jack Duckworth is managing one of the teams.

“It’s just something they want to give me after what I have given to the game over 16 years. I’m trying to get Alan McManus and John Higgins involved. Steve Collins the boxer is coming, and his brother Roddy. Maybe I’ll get some Celtic players along……”

‘Boredom leads to a lot of things and we ended up going to the pub and wasting ourselves’

Remembered best for scoring two goals in the Old Firm derby, ex-Celtic midfielder Paul Byrne has more than his fair share of regrets.
12 hours ago 30,036

source: http://www.the42.ie/paul-byrne-celtic-bohemians-ireland-footballer-4283516-Oct2018/Byrne during his days at Celtic.“MY CAREER WAS all ifs, buts and maybes,” admits Paul Byrne.

For a man who is still fondly-remembered by Celtic fans today for scoring, not one, but two goals in the Old Firm derby, it seems a strange statement on the surface.

But the Dubliner is abundantly aware that his professional playing days could have — and should have — amounted to so much more.

The natural talent was never in doubt, but problems with drinking, gambling, weight and general ill-discipline contributed to his shortcomings.

We all know a fella down the local pub who will tell you he was destined to be the next big thing in Irish football.

In Byrne’s case, they are legitimate claims. Many players would bite your hand off to achieve what he did in the game, but it’s hard not to feel that the 46-year-old ultimately wasted his God-given abilities.

Six months out from the 1994 World Cup, The Irish Times made comparisons (both positive and negative) with him and another gifted Paul — England star Gascoigne. The piece went on to suggest that he could potentially make an impact with Ireland similar to what Gazza had done four years previously at Italia ’90.

As you’ll read later, that never transpired and there would be no senior international cap despite him featuring in squads under Jack Charlton.

Even two decades on, the feeling of ‘what might have been’ weighs significantly on his shoulders. Byrne accepts that his behaviour has been far from exemplary over the years and, as a result, relationships with family and loved ones have suffered at times.

“I still struggle with it,” an affable Byrne tells The42 this past week. “I wouldn’t call it a deep depression but I self-destruct sometimes. I don’t become a very nice person when I do that. It’s something that I want to deal with and try to cope with.

“It’s difficult. You hurt the people around you and sometimes it’s too late to mend the bridges. I’m spending my time trying to fix things with my kids and the people I love.”

Soccer – World Cup Italia 1990 – Semi Final – West Germany v England – Stadio Delle Alpi He was compared to Gazza (pictured) in 1994. Source: EMPICS Sport

Like so many young footballers in Dublin (and one particularly high-profile one from Cork) around the 1980s and 90s, Byrne was spotted by renowned scout Noel McCabe while lining out for his local side Bluebell United at the age of 13.

He and his team-mate, current Dundalk manager Stephen Kenny, were sent across for trials with Oxford United and the youngster liked what he saw despite interest from elsewhere.

“Back then, they had the likes of Davy Langan, Ray Houghton, John Aldridge, Billy Hamilton and Jeremy Charles were playing in the first team,” Byrne says.

There were a couple of other clubs sniffing around including Liverpool, but Oxford just appealed to me. I felt that if I went to a lesser club, even though they were in the old First Division, I would have a chance.”

That proved to be the case and he would make his first-team debut at the age of 17.

“It was brilliant,” he remembers. “In my first game, I came on against Barnsley and then I started against Middlesbrough, which was great. I was introduced as a substitute against Spurs, when Glenn Hoddle came to play at the Manor Ground. A couple of years previous to that, my father would have kept me up to watch Match of the Day and all of a sudden you’re on the same field as some of these players. It was incredible.”

Oxford v Arsenal. Ray Houghton, Billy Hamilton and John Aldridge of Oxford United with the Milk Cup in 1986. Source: PA Archive/PA Images

There was a strong Irish presence at Oxford and Byrne often cleaned the boots of Aldridge and Houghton, while he says the likes of Steve Foster, Jim Magilton and Paul Kee helped him settle.

But it wasn’t long before he began to find himself in trouble.

Mark Lawrenson, who managed the club in 1988, proclaimed at the time that “Paul Byrne’s biggest problem is Paul Byrne”, while his replacement Brian Horton was far from pleased when the teenager went to visit his girlfriend and young son in Ireland — only to fail to return for several weeks.

“There was no doubt about my ability and I was given the chance,” he accepts. “I could have taken it a lot better than I did, but I was young and I was away from home. Once I started breaking into the first team, I began to get sidetracked by the things I shouldn’t have been doing.

My addiction started when I was at Oxford. A lot of people know the things I did — not going back for pre-season training, staying home for three months and stupid stuff like that.

“It was all down to discipline. I was very young to be achieving what I was starting to achieve. You ask any ex-professional footballer in and around my age group, and they will tell you it’s not like today.”

He adds: “Karl Wilson, whose son Tyreke plays for Manchester City, is a very good friend of mine. I’ve been watching him over the last few years and Willo has been telling me about his progress. Clubs gives the players pocket-money out of their wages, and the rest goes into a savings account until they are of an age that they know exactly what they want to do with it.

“We didn’t have anything like that back then, so we went astray. We would have an odd game of golf, or you would be playing pool, having a few pints or doing a couple of bets when you should have been going out for second training sessions in the afternoon, working harder and keeping your head down.

“We started at 10 and we were finished at half 12. What else are you going to do when you’re away from home? Boredom leads to a lot of things and we ended up going to the pub and wasting ourselves.”

Free to leave Oxford, Arsenal offered him six months to impress in their reserves. Byrne played regularly but there were plenty of top players in front of him and a deal didn’t materialise that summer.

“George Graham bought Jimmy Carter from Liverpool for something like a million pounds [£800,000] and he felt he had to play him. There was no place for me in terms of contract for the second season.

I’ve met George a couple of times since then and he has said it was a big mistake letting me go because he felt he could have worked on me.

“I remember my last day at the club, they were playing in the European Cup and I was sitting beside Ian Wright as Arsenal had just signed him. Sadly, that was my last encounter there.”

Ex-Ireland international Theo Foley was assistant manager at Northampton Town and there was a chance to go there, but Byrne opted to join Bangor in the Northern Irish League instead.

And he became an instant hit with the Seasiders, leading them to the 1993 Irish Cup final before scoring the winner against Ards with the last kick of the game after two replays were needed. That strike at Windsor Park was his 21st of the season, and remains the most famous goal in the club’s history.

“I’m just back from Bangor as it was their 100-year centenary dinner and I was up their all weekend,” says Byrne, who took part in a Q&A session with other Bangor legends such as Gerry Armstrong at the event.

At the end of that season, he cleaned up on awards night — winning senior and young Northern Ireland PFA Player of the Year as well as senior and young Football Writers’ Association of the Year.

“It was never done before and it will be never done again because they don’t give them out like that anymore. I won the four awards and George Best presented me with my trophies.”

Having got his career back on track, Byrne’s stock was high once again and a £70,000 switch to Glasgow beckoned.

“Man City and a couple of other clubs were in at the time,” he explains. “Celtic were the last club to show interest, but I just felt when they came in that nothing else mattered.”

Aware of his disciplinary history, Hoops manager Liam Brady — one of Ireland’s greatest-ever players — even took Byrne in to live with him and his family for his first six months.

They didn’t get off on the best foot as he arrived “two stone” overweight, but the 20-year-old was determined to make his dream move work.

“Looking at the Celtic team at the time, I felt I had a real chance once I got myself fit,” he says. “Living with Liam helped me greatly to get used to what life in Scotland was going to be like.

“It’s just mad, it’s hectic. Everyday, you’re trying to please one half and you’re a ‘b’ to the other half. It’s a goldfish bowl, and you had to watch what you did, where you went and who you spoke to. It was difficult at times to cope with the pressure up there and Celtic were going through a bit of a bad time and we went through a couple of managers.”

Soccer – Scottish Premier League – Celtic v Partick Thistle Brady (left) as Celtic manager. Source: EMPICS Sport

Byrne made his league debut for the Hoops as a substitute in a 2-1 loss to St Johnstone. A day later, Brady stepped down after failing to end a barren period that saw them without a league title since 1988. Lou Macari replaced caretaker boss Frank Connor, and, although he wasn’t always first-choice, the midfielder did bag himself two goals in the biggest fixture of the season — the Old Firm derby with Rangers. His second, at Ibrox in January 1995, was a beauty (see video below, skip to 3:10 in).

Latching onto John Collins’ cross-field ball after excellent work from the former Scotland international, Byrne arrived late to volley home a stunning equaliser on the hour-mark.

“It’s just amazing the way people still treat me today because of it [the goal],” he reveals. “Myself and the missus have been to a couple of functions over the last few weeks for Q&As with Frank McAvennie, Jackie McNamara and John Hartson. It’s great to be remembered.

“I felt I played my part for Celtic at that particular time. I felt if I had stayed that extra one or two years and got my head down to work that little bit harder, I could have been part of the league-winning team, but what I have to live off now is the two goals I got against Rangers. I think that’s more than enough because people in Scotland never let you forget it.”

Byrne had represented Ireland at every level when he received his first call-up to the senior squad from Jack Charlton.

“I played for the Ireland U21s when Roy Keane made his debut at that level over in Malta,” he recalls. “I had to go and play right-full so Roy could play in the centre of the park. Jack must have seen something in me that I could play outside right, full-back or central midfield and maybe he said ‘I’m going to give this kid a chance’.

“I was sort or hot property at Celtic at the time, scoring goals in the first-team and playing in Europe, so I was holding my own at one of the biggest clubs in the world. That’s why Jack gave me my chance.”

Having qualified for the ’94 World Cup, the Boys in Green were preparing for their trip to the States with a number of friendlies early that year. They faced Russia at Lansdowne Road in March, and although Byrne made the bench, he wasn’t handed a debut in the 0-0 draw.

Jack Charlton 3/6/1994 Former Ireland manager Jack Charlton. Source: INPHO

He feels that the general perception may have been that he was left out for allegedly climbing out a team hotel window the night before the game — a claim made in a newspaper article that he refutes.

“I was meant to be sitting in my local pub Kelly’s drinking alcohol when I wasn’t,” he says. “That story would have stuck in a lot of people’s minds but it couldn’t be further from the truth.

“If Jack Charlton thought for one minute that I was climbing out a hotel window, he wouldn’t have put me on the bench at all. I spoke to Jack and he said he hadn’t heard anything. How stupid would that be when I had every chance of getting onto the field, showing him what I could do and possibly be part of the World Cup? I was nuts but I wasn’t that nuts!”

For whatever reason, there was no place for Byrne in Charlton’s final squad for the finals, and not to have represented his country at senior level remains a major disappointment.

“I was looking at the likes of Jason McAteer, no disrespect to him, Gary Kelly, who’s a good friend, and Phil Babb. They were no better than me when I was in my peak playing in Celtic’s first team.

“I felt that because I didn’t get on Packie Bonner at Celtic, as I wasn’t doing the extra training that he wanted me to do in order to be that thorough professional, there was a little bit of a conspiracy against me.

He was a good friend with Mick McCarthy and that’s maybe why Mick never gave me my chance, because he gave everyone else one. I was good enough for Jack Charlton’s squads, so why wasn’t I good enough for one of his to show what I could do instead of listening to other people?”

Back at club level, his time at Parkhead appeared to be ending as Brady offered an exit route to Brighton. “I was still at Celtic and I went out on loan to Brighton as Chippy was there. I think I played eight games, then Celtic called me back. Who knows what would have happened if I had stayed at Brighton. My career was all ifs, buts and maybes. If I had got onto the pitch with Ireland in 1994, just before the World Cup, maybe I could have been part of that. That was another if. If I had looked after myself a little bit better who knows what I could have achieved.”

Soccer – Endsleigh League Division One – Birmingham City v Southend United At Southend. Source: EMPICS Sport

Byrne then went on to spend three years at Southend United under Ronnie Whelan before winding up at Glenavon in 1998. One season later, he was back in Dublin to link up with Roddy Collins at Bohemians.

“Roddy had been a good friend of mine over the years,” Byrne says. “I felt he was a good man and a good character for me. Maybe he was the type of manager that I needed. Roddy was a super motivator, and he had Liam O’Brien doing the coaching. His sessions were very good, and it was good cop, bad cop sort of thing. When Roddy said something, you sat up and listened… otherwise, he would give you a dig.”

At the turn of the Millennium, an opportunity to join Philadelphia Union arrived on his doorstep through a friend.

“There was a lad I knew from the States named Michael Lapper,” he says. “He was a US international at the time and asked if I’d be interested. I played a few games out there and I loved it. I was in the shape of my life after all the training in that heat and I was eating right too.”

Returning to Ireland, he signed for St Patrick’s Athletic under Pat Dolan but left after a disagreement with the Saints boss.

“One day in the gym, Pat pulled me aside and says ‘We’re going to have to find you a job to make up your wages’. I said ‘Nah, I don’t do work. I’m only in my late 20s and I’ve still got a bit to offer so I want to train full-time’. He told me that they couldn’t afford me. By then, I knew that Roddy had been coming to a few games and sniffing around.”

“I picked up the phone and said ‘Roddy are you ready to take me?’ He said he’d have me tomorrow so I told Pat ‘I’ll shake your hand now and thanks very much for what you did for me’.”

Nigel Winterburn and Paul Byrne 23/7/2000 Facing West Ham’s Nigel Winterburn (left) while at St Patrick’s Athletic. Source: Andrew Paton/INPHO

And his second spell at Bohs brought silverware, as they won a first league title in 23 years as well as the FAI Cup — although Byrne was cup-tied for the latter.

He jokes: “I had more clubs than Jack Nicholls, but what a team we had at Bohs the second time. We had a fantastic team. If someone was beating us 1-0, we’d go and win 4-2.”

Byrne would also play for Kilkenny City and Dundalk, and although his legs may have gone, the past 15 years has seen him line out for a variety of Leinster Senior League clubs.

The likelihood is that many reading this piece will have witnessed his stocky figure sit in midfield and ping balls around the pitch for the likes of St James’ Gate or Park Villa. Having got into the coaching and management side of things more recently, he’s currently involved with Oliver Bond and Dublin Celtic. Then there’s the media work he enjoys doing weekly on Sunshine 1068FM with ex-world snooker champion Ken Doherty.

“You just don’t want to stop playing,” he says. “You drop down the ranks but you’ve still got something to offer in your own head. It’s in your blood so the last thing you want to do is give it up. When LSL teams come along, I tend to say ‘Why not?’.”

Paul’s son, Kurtis, has carved out his own career in the game. Having joined Norwich City as a schoolboy, he went on to play for Hibernian, Ross County, Dundalk, Bohemians, St Patrick’s Athletic and Linfield. The 28-year-old is currently with The New Saints in Wales, having arrived last June.

“He’s back on the goal trail as he got one Wednesday and another last Saturday,” Byrne senior says. “He started over there with a couple of injuries and was a little bit behind from the deal going through at Linfield.

“Now he seems to have found his feet and he is in good nick. He has his own family, his own home and he’s back in Dublin this week so I’ll have a chance to see my grandson.”

The demons may never completely go away and he will always have to live with the regret of not working hard enough to get the most out of football, but Byrne says he has been trying to improve as a person in recent years for the sake of his children and grandchildren.

There were better players than me that have been there, done it and wore the t-shirt in terms of making the same mistakes I did,” he ends.

“It’s how you cope with that. This is where the mental side of it comes into it. Depression kicks in when players finish and if you’re not a strong character… a friend of mine took his own life and I know a few ex-footballers who have tried to end it because they couldn’t cope with life after football.

“It wasn’t easy finishing and you turn to drink and whatever else in your social circle. I took it out on the wrong people, it was just self-destruction but it was the people around me I was hurting too.

“That was the biggest disappointment for me. You can still hurt the people who you love today because every now and again it will go through your mind what could have been. You look at all these ex-players who have gone on to do well and they were probably no better than I was.”

‘Boredom leads to a lot of things and we ended up going to the pub and wasting ourselves’

Remembered best for scoring two goals in the Old Firm derby, ex-Celtic midfielder Paul Byrne has more than his fair share of regrets.
Oct 14th 2018, 9:31 PM 40,740 Views 7 Comments
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https://www.the42.ie/paul-byrne-celtic-bohemians-ireland-footballer-4283516-Oct2018/Image: EMPICS Sport

“MY CAREER WAS all ifs, buts and maybes,” admits Paul Byrne.

For a man who is still fondly-remembered by Celtic fans today for scoring, not one, but two goals in the Old Firm derby, it seems a strange statement on the surface.

But the Dubliner is abundantly aware that his professional playing days could have — and should have — amounted to so much more.

The natural talent was never in doubt, but problems with drinking, gambling, weight and general ill-discipline contributed to his shortcomings.

We all know a fella down the local pub who will tell you he was destined to be the next big thing in Irish football.

In Byrne’s case, they are legitimate claims. Many players would bite your hand off to achieve what he did in the game, but it’s hard not to feel that the 46-year-old ultimately wasted his God-given abilities.

Six months out from the 1994 World Cup, The Irish Times made comparisons (both positive and negative) with him and another gifted Paul — England star Gascoigne. The piece went on to suggest that he could potentially make an impact with Ireland similar to what Gazza had done four years previously at Italia ’90.

As you’ll read later, that never transpired and there would be no senior international cap despite him featuring in squads under Jack Charlton.

Even two decades on, the feeling of ‘what might have been’ weighs significantly on his shoulders. Byrne accepts that his behaviour has been far from exemplary over the years and, as a result, relationships with family and loved ones have suffered at times.

“I still struggle with it,” an affable Byrne tells The42 this past week. “I wouldn’t call it a deep depression but I self-destruct sometimes. I don’t become a very nice person when I do that. It’s something that I want to deal with and try to cope with.

“It’s difficult. You hurt the people around you and sometimes it’s too late to mend the bridges. I’m spending my time trying to fix things with my kids and the people I love.”

Soccer – World Cup Italia 1990 – Semi Final – West Germany v England – Stadio Delle Alpi He was compared to Gazza (pictured) in 1994. Source: EMPICS Sport

Like so many young footballers in Dublin (and one particularly high-profile one from Cork) around the 1980s and 90s, Byrne was spotted by renowned scout Noel McCabe while lining out for his local side Bluebell United at the age of 13.

He and his team-mate, current Dundalk manager Stephen Kenny, were sent across for trials with Oxford United and the youngster liked what he saw despite interest from elsewhere.

“Back then, they had the likes of Davy Langan, Ray Houghton, John Aldridge, Billy Hamilton and Jeremy Charles were playing in the first team,” Byrne says.

There were a couple of other clubs sniffing around including Liverpool, but Oxford just appealed to me. I felt that if I went to a lesser club, even though they were in the old First Division, I would have a chance.”

That proved to be the case and he would make his first-team debut at the age of 17.

“It was brilliant,” he remembers. “In my first game, I came on against Barnsley and then I started against Middlesbrough, which was great. I was introduced as a substitute against Spurs, when Glenn Hoddle came to play at the Manor Ground. A couple of years previous to that, my father would have kept me up to watch Match of the Day and all of a sudden you’re on the same field as some of these players. It was incredible.”

Oxford v Arsenal. Ray Houghton, Billy Hamilton and John Aldridge of Oxford United with the Milk Cup in 1986. Source: PA Archive/PA Images

There was a strong Irish presence at Oxford and Byrne often cleaned the boots of Aldridge and Houghton, while he says the likes of Steve Foster, Jim Magilton and Paul Kee helped him settle.

But it wasn’t long before he began to find himself in trouble.

Mark Lawrenson, who managed the club in 1988, proclaimed at the time that “Paul Byrne’s biggest problem is Paul Byrne”, while his replacement Brian Horton was far from pleased when the teenager went to visit his girlfriend and young son in Ireland — only to fail to return for several weeks.

“There was no doubt about my ability and I was given the chance,” he accepts. “I could have taken it a lot better than I did, but I was young and I was away from home. Once I started breaking into the first team, I began to get sidetracked by the things I shouldn’t have been doing.

My addiction started when I was at Oxford. A lot of people know the things I did — not going back for pre-season training, staying home for three months and stupid stuff like that.

“It was all down to discipline. I was very young to be achieving what I was starting to achieve. You ask any ex-professional footballer in and around my age group, and they will tell you it’s not like today.”

He adds: “Karl Wilson, whose son Tyreke plays for Manchester City, is a very good friend of mine. I’ve been watching him over the last few years and Willo has been telling me about his progress. Clubs gives the players pocket-money out of their wages, and the rest goes into a savings account until they are of an age that they know exactly what they want to do with it.

“We didn’t have anything like that back then, so we went astray. We would have an odd game of golf, or you would be playing pool, having a few pints or doing a couple of bets when you should have been going out for second training sessions in the afternoon, working harder and keeping your head down.

“We started at 10 and we were finished at half 12. What else are you going to do when you’re away from home? Boredom leads to a lot of things and we ended up going to the pub and wasting ourselves.”

PA-1091780 Ex-Ireland and Liverpool defender Mark Lawrenson was manager of Oxford United for a spell. Source: PA Archive/PA Images

Free to leave Oxford, Arsenal offered him six months to impress in their reserves. Byrne played regularly but there were plenty of top players in front of him and a deal didn’t materialise that summer.

“George Graham bought Jimmy Carter from Liverpool for something like a million pounds [£800,000] and he felt he had to play him. There was no place for me in terms of contract for the second season.

I’ve met George a couple of times since then and he has said it was a big mistake letting me go because he felt he could have worked on me.

“I remember my last day at the club, they were playing in the European Cup and I was sitting beside Ian Wright as Arsenal had just signed him. Sadly, that was my last encounter there.”

Ex-Ireland international Theo Foley was assistant manager at Northampton Town and there was a chance to go there, but Byrne opted to join Bangor in the Northern Irish League instead.

And he became an instant hit with the Seasiders, leading them to the 1993 Irish Cup final before scoring the winner against Ards with the last kick of the game after two replays were needed. That strike at Windsor Park was his 21st of the season, and remains the most famous goal in the club’s history.

“I’m just back from Bangor as it was their 100-year centenary dinner and I was up their all weekend,” says Byrne, who took part in a Q&A session with other Bangor legends such as Gerry Armstrong at the event.

At the end of that season, he cleaned up on awards night — winning senior and young Northern Ireland PFA Player of the Year as well as senior and young Football Writers’ Association of the Year.

“It was never done before and it will be never done again because they don’t give them out like that anymore. I won the four awards and George Best presented me with my trophies.”

“We’re inside the last 2 minutes. Chipped forward. McCreadie…BYRNE!
Has the man who’s on his way to @CelticFC won the cup for Bangor?”

The greatest moment of our 100 years.

Paul Byrne put the ball in the Ards net in 93 and he’ll be a special guest at our Centenary Dinner. pic.twitter.com/dKbwF42l1L
— Bangor FC (@bangorfc) September 13, 2018

Source: Bangor FC/Twitter

Having got his career back on track, Byrne’s stock was high once again and a £70,000 switch to Glasgow beckoned.

“Man City and a couple of other clubs were in at the time,” he explains. “Celtic were the last club to show interest, but I just felt when they came in that nothing else mattered.”

Aware of his disciplinary history, Hoops manager Liam Brady — one of Ireland’s greatest-ever players — even took Byrne in to live with him and his family for his first six months.

They didn’t get off on the best foot as he arrived “two stone” overweight, but the 20-year-old was determined to make his dream move work.

“Looking at the Celtic team at the time, I felt I had a real chance once I got myself fit,” he says. “Living with Liam helped me greatly to get used to what life in Scotland was going to be like.

“It’s just mad, it’s hectic. Everyday, you’re trying to please one half and you’re a ‘b’ to the other half. It’s a goldfish bowl, and you had to watch what you did, where you went and who you spoke to. It was difficult at times to cope with the pressure up there and Celtic were going through a bit of a bad time and we went through a couple of managers.”

Soccer – Scottish Premier League – Celtic v Partick Thistle Brady (left) as Celtic manager. Source: EMPICS Sport

Byrne made his league debut for the Hoops as a substitute in a 2-1 loss to St Johnstone. A day later, Brady stepped down after failing to end a barren period that saw them without a league title since 1988. Lou Macari replaced caretaker boss Frank Connor, and, although he wasn’t always first-choice, the midfielder did bag himself two goals in the biggest fixture of the season — the Old Firm derby with Rangers. His second, at Ibrox in January 1995, was a beauty (see video below, skip to 3:10 in).

Latching onto John Collins’ cross-field ball after excellent work from the former Scotland international, Byrne arrived late to volley home a stunning equaliser on the hour-mark.

Source: WILLIE COLLOW/YouTube

“It’s just amazing the way people still treat me today because of it [the goal],” he reveals. “Myself and the missus have been to a couple of functions over the last few weeks for Q&As with Frank McAvennie, Jackie McNamara and John Hartson. It’s great to be remembered.

“I felt I played my part for Celtic at that particular time. I felt if I had stayed that extra one or two years and got my head down to work that little bit harder, I could have been part of the league-winning team, but what I have to live off now is the two goals I got against Rangers. I think that’s more than enough because people in Scotland never let you forget it.”

127144 Byrne & McCall Byrne and Stuart McCall of Rangers. Source: EMPICS Sport

Byrne had represented Ireland at every level when he received his first call-up to the senior squad from Jack Charlton.

“I played for the Ireland U21s when Roy Keane made his debut at that level over in Malta,” he recalls. “I had to go and play right-full so Roy could play in the centre of the park. Jack must have seen something in me that I could play outside right, full-back or central midfield and maybe he said ‘I’m going to give this kid a chance’.

“I was sort or hot property at Celtic at the time, scoring goals in the first-team and playing in Europe, so I was holding my own at one of the biggest clubs in the world. That’s why Jack gave me my chance.”

Having qualified for the ’94 World Cup, the Boys in Green were preparing for their trip to the States with a number of friendlies early that year. They faced Russia at Lansdowne Road in March, and although Byrne made the bench, he wasn’t handed a debut in the 0-0 draw.

Jack Charlton 3/6/1994 Former Ireland manager Jack Charlton. Source: INPHO

He feels that the general perception may have been that he was left out for allegedly climbing out a team hotel window the night before the game — a claim made in a newspaper article that he refutes.

“I was meant to be sitting in my local pub Kelly’s drinking alcohol when I wasn’t,” he says. “That story would have stuck in a lot of people’s minds but it couldn’t be further from the truth.

“If Jack Charlton thought for one minute that I was climbing out a hotel window, he wouldn’t have put me on the bench at all. I spoke to Jack and he said he hadn’t heard anything. How stupid would that be when I had every chance of getting onto the field, showing him what I could do and possibly be part of the World Cup? I was nuts but I wasn’t that nuts!”

For whatever reason, there was no place for Byrne in Charlton’s final squad for the finals, and not to have represented his country at senior level remains a major disappointment.

“I was looking at the likes of Jason McAteer, no disrespect to him, Gary Kelly, who’s a good friend, and Phil Babb. They were no better than me when I was in my peak playing in Celtic’s first team.

“I felt that because I didn’t get on Packie Bonner at Celtic, as I wasn’t doing the extra training that he wanted me to do in order to be that thorough professional, there was a little bit of a conspiracy against me.

He was a good friend with Mick McCarthy and that’s maybe why Mick never gave me my chance, because he gave everyone else one. I was good enough for Jack Charlton’s squads, so why wasn’t I good enough for one of his to show what I could do instead of listening to other people?”

Back at club level, his time at Parkhead appeared to be ending as Brady offered an exit route to Brighton. “I was still at Celtic and I went out on loan to Brighton as Chippy was there. I think I played eight games, then Celtic called me back. Who knows what would have happened if I had stayed at Brighton. My career was all ifs, buts and maybes. If I had got onto the pitch with Ireland in 1994, just before the World Cup, maybe I could have been part of that. That was another if. If I had looked after myself a little bit better who knows what I could have achieved.”

Soccer – Endsleigh League Division One – Birmingham City v Southend United At Southend. Source: EMPICS Sport

Byrne then went on to spend three years at Southend United under Ronnie Whelan before winding up at Glenavon in 1998. One season later, he was back in Dublin to link up with Roddy Collins at Bohemians.

“Roddy had been a good friend of mine over the years,” Byrne says. “I felt he was a good man and a good character for me. Maybe he was the type of manager that I needed. Roddy was a super motivator, and he had Liam O’Brien doing the coaching. His sessions were very good, and it was good cop, bad cop sort of thing. When Roddy said something, you sat up and listened… otherwise, he would give you a dig.”

Paul Byrne/Martin Russell 1/101/1999 Byrne lining out for Bohs against Pat’s midfielder Martin Russell. Source: Lorraine O ‘Sullivan/INPHO

At the turn of the Millennium, an opportunity to join Philadelphia Union arrived on his doorstep through a friend.

“There was a lad I knew from the States named Michael Lapper,” he says. “He was a US international at the time and asked if I’d be interested. I played a few games out there and I loved it. I was in the shape of my life after all the training in that heat and I was eating right too.”

Returning to Ireland, he signed for St Patrick’s Athletic under Pat Dolan but left after a disagreement with the Saints boss.

“One day in the gym, Pat pulled me aside and says ‘We’re going to have to find you a job to make up your wages’. I said ‘Nah, I don’t do work. I’m only in my late 20s and I’ve still got a bit to offer so I want to train full-time’. He told me that they couldn’t afford me. By then, I knew that Roddy had been coming to a few games and sniffing around.”

“I picked up the phone and said ‘Roddy are you ready to take me?’ He said he’d have me tomorrow so I told Pat ‘I’ll shake your hand now and thanks very much for what you did for me’.”

Nigel Winterburn and Paul Byrne 23/7/2000 Facing West Ham’s Nigel Winterburn (left) while at St Patrick’s Athletic. Source: Andrew Paton/INPHO

And his second spell at Bohs brought silverware, as they won a first league title in 23 years as well as the FAI Cup — although Byrne was cup-tied for the latter.

He jokes: “I had more clubs than Jack Nicklaus, but what a team we had at Bohs the second time. We had a fantastic team. If someone was beating us 1-0, we’d go and win 4-2.”

Byrne would also play for Kilkenny City and Dundalk, and although his legs may have gone, the past 15 years has seen him line out for a variety of Leinster Senior League clubs.

The likelihood is that many reading this piece will have witnessed his stocky figure sit in midfield and ping balls around the pitch for the likes of St James’ Gate or Park Villa. Having got into the coaching and management side of things more recently, he’s currently involved with Oliver Bond and Dublin Celtic. Then there’s the media work he enjoys doing weekly on Sunshine 1068FM with ex-world snooker champion Ken Doherty.

“You just don’t want to stop playing,” he says. “You drop down the ranks but you’ve still got something to offer in your own head. It’s in your blood so the last thing you want to do is give it up. When LSL teams come along, I tend to say ‘Why not?’.”

Kurtis Byrne Formerly of St Pat’s and Dundalk, Kurtis is now with TNS in Wales. Source: Gary Carr/INPHO

Paul’s son, Kurtis, has carved out his own career in the game. Having joined Norwich City as a schoolboy, he went on to play for Hibernian, Ross County, Dundalk, Bohemians, St Patrick’s Athletic and Linfield. The 28-year-old is currently with The New Saints in Wales, having arrived last June.

“He’s back on the goal trail as he got one Wednesday and another last Saturday,” Byrne senior says. “He started over there with a couple of injuries and was a little bit behind from the deal going through at Linfield.

“Now he seems to have found his feet and he is in good nick. He has his own family, his own home and he’s back in Dublin this week so I’ll have a chance to see my grandson.”

The demons may never completely go away and he will always have to live with the regret of not working hard enough to get the most out of football, but Byrne says he has been trying to improve as a person in recent years for the sake of his children and grandchildren.

There were better players than me that have been there, done it and wore the t-shirt in terms of making the same mistakes I did,” he ends.

“It’s how you cope with that. This is where the mental side of it comes into it. Depression kicks in when players finish and if you’re not a strong character… a friend of mine took his own life and I know a few ex-footballers who have tried to end it because they couldn’t cope with life after football.

“It wasn’t easy finishing and you turn to drink and whatever else in your social circle. I took it out on the wrong people, it was just self-destruction but it was the people around me I was hurting too.

“That was the biggest disappointment for me. You can still hurt the people who you love today because every now and again it will go through your mind what could have been. You look at all these ex-players who have gone on to do well and they were probably no better than I was.”

Read other interviews in the LOI Legends series here

“Someone rang the club and said that I had five grand on Rangers to beat us,” Celtic Star