McGrath: Dunne deserves captaincy
“Richard Dunne, for me, has been the best Irish player for the last six years or so, more or less since Kevin Keegan gave him that stern talking to,” says McGrath.
“If the ball needs to kicked into Row Z, he does it. If something needs to be broken up, he does it. And even though he’s a big lad, I’ve never seen him lost for pace.
“I admire him. I’ve always said that Richard Dunne would be a better captain. You can see much more of the pitch from the back.
“But, I suppose, as a centre-half, I would say that.”
Like McGrath, Dunne was forced to leave Manchester and take up in employment in Birmingham and, while the former proved Alex Ferguson wrong by going on to win the Players’ Player of the Year award for Aston Villa in 1993, Dunne’s top-notch performances at the same club are now making Manchester City’s decision to off-load him look decidedly ill-conceived.
“The one thing I wanted to do at Aston Villa was prove that Manchester United were wrong,” says McGrath. “I was thrilled when Richard went to Villa. And I know Martin O’Neill will get on so well with him and bring him to another level again. I can’t understand why City let him go. I’ll say it straight out: I don’t think the Everton boy who went to City, Joleon Lescott, is a better player than Richard. No way.”
50-year-old McGrath, who starred for Ireland at Euro ‘88 and in the World Cups of 1990 and 1994, says he is still angry about the manner of Ireland’s failure to qualify for this year’s World Cup in South Africa.
“I blame Henry, I blame the officials, I blame FIFA, I blame everyone, it was a disgrace,” he says. “For Ireland to be out of the World Cup because of that is tragic.”
But even though the Irish fell at the final hurdle in Paris, McGrath says that he has been hugely impressed with Giovanni Trapattoni’s stewardship of the players at his disposal..
“To be honest with you, I think he’s done a remarkable job with the team we have,” says McGrath. “He’s got players playing above their station. We have people in certain positions who are really, really good and a few others who aren’t up to that mark. I didn’t think we’d do as well as we did do, so to get so close with that team was impressive. And I think that going into the European Championships, the team will be stronger for that.”
Perhaps not surprisingly, McGrath sees similarities in the way that Trapattoni and, his old boss, Jack Charlton, go about their jobs.
“They both have this belief that they can get the best out of their best players but also out of the lads who wouldn’t be world-beaters,” he reflects. “People criticised Jack’s tactics, but the way he had us playing won us games. We didn’t let in goals and we bullied people. I mean, (Italy’s) Franco Baresi was one of my heroes but, when we played them, I saw Baresi scared for the first time. We chased him everywhere, and he didn’t know which way to turn. He was frightened on the ball.”
On the club front, McGrath says that he is enjoying a Premiership season in which none of the big guns have been able to take the championship by the scruff of the neck. But, speaking ahead of last night’s League Cup clash between United and City, he said that, irrespective of the result of that game, he doesn’t foresee a changing of the guard in Manchester.
“The Glazers have spoiled things but United will be always be bigger, because of the history and everything else,” he observes.
“They’ll always have that aura. And you can’t buy that.”
As for the outcome of this year’s title race, even though this boyhood Chelsea supporter is impressed with the team under Carlo Ancelotti, McGrath reckons his old club will still have the final say.
“Yeah, I still think it will be Man U. They always seem to do it. They have that habit of annoying people at the end of the season,” he laughs.
Paul McGrath was speaking ahead of a guest appearance yesterday at the ‘Legends In Your Lunchtime’ series in the College of Ireland in Dublin.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
