Grogan’s second coming
“Grogan, get up here!” AlexFerguson didn’t have to shout, it was — and still is — a voice that instilled fear at any pitch.
Once inside the manager’s office, the Dublin-born 15-year-old found himself in a headlock, a machete to his throat.
“I’m the boss,” the future knight of the realm helpfully informed him as if it needed clarifying.
Once the mock-threatening formalities were complete, Grogan was told he had a future in the game.
Keep working hard, he was told by the gaffer, and he’d have a contract in his hand for his 16th birthday.
As Grogan left the office, Ferguson asked him who he supported. His Liverpool response provoked another flash of the machete and a repeat of the question — a second chance, so to speak.
“You are one of us now son,” he added with a smile.
It was all very promising but years of torment lay on the horizon.
Grogan sat his Junior Cert in 1997, spent his transition year as an apprentice at United and eventually signed a three-year contract in 1998, just before he left to join the Brian Kerr-led European U16 Championship winning Ireland squad in Scotland.
When he returned to United that July, he started getting problems with his groin, hip and pelvis and underwent his first two major operations.
He got back playing with the youths but the pain returned too and, to the horror of his doctors, bone erosion was discovered in his pelvis.
Although rest was recommended, the U17s were going for the league so he was given several cortisone injections to keep him on the pitch. They won the title while his rehab companion Teddy Sheringham made it to Barcelona to help secure the Champions League with the big boys.
The following season things came to a head.
Grogan decided against a risky operation favoured by his club and instead joined UCD in the League of Ireland, taking a diploma in sports management at the same time.
He had left on good terms and the prospect of a return to United was on the cards but in early 2001, the injuries started coming back.
He was told by a specialist he would never play again so he decided to have the operation.
This yielded another season of football with UCD and then acontract at Millwall.
Just as he was about to break into the first team under manager Mark McGhee, the pain returned. It was over.
He walked away, head held high, knowing he had given everything for his dream.
Grogan lives in Queens now.
He moved here three and a half years ago having been forced into coaching at a relatively young age.
He runs Metro Soccer, offering coaching camps and clinics around the five boroughs of New York as well as Long Island and Pennsylvania.
“I was lucky enough to work under some great coaches,” the 30-year-old recalled yesterday.
“Steve McClaren, Brain Kerr, Noel O’Reilly. I like to think I have something to pass on.
“Given my experience with injury, it’s always been my philosophy to work on the tactical and technical side of football.
Young players are naturally fit so there’s no point in pushing the physical side of the game.
“I got into coaching for negative reasons — my career ended too early — but I have managed to turn it into a positive.
“I’m still quite young so I can relate to players. I think that’s the most important trait of all.
“And if I come across elite players, I can offer them advice and a pathway to make the most of their talents.”
Of course he still retains an affection for his old club — indeed it was Ferguson whose glowing reference helped him apply for a visa to work in the States.
“Winning the league last season was an incredible achievement and that was all down to Ferguson.
“And I think they have enough experience to do it again this year.”
Footnote: All yesterday morning as my deadline approached, I was frantically ringing around Boston and Fredericton, New Brunswick in Canada.
Today is the 54th anniversary of Willie O’Ree’s first game in the National Hockey League.
I wanted to find out if he had any Irish ancestry. Alas, nothing definitive. But he is still worthy of mention.
A decade after Jackie Robinson became the first black baseball player since the turn-of-the-century, O’Ree broke down a similar barrier in ice hockey and remains a hero to this day, especially at the Boston Bruins — current Stanley Cup champions and pioneers for their sport.
* john.w.riordan@gmail.com; Twitter: JohnWRiordan
