From St Pat’s to the Bundesliga

An impressive snapshot. It’s the mid-1970s. Flanked by two of Germany’s greatest ever players, Franz Beckenbauer and Gerd Muller, Noel Campbell strides towards the dressing rooms.

There’s a laser-beam focus, the eyes not giving anything away despite the pinch-yourself moment. For a kid from Kimmage on Dublin’s southside, it had been quite a journey.

“I played against that great Bayern team in the league and, previous to that, we had played against them in a two-legged cup game. In Germany at the time, most of the teams had big names, but Bayern were the big stars with Beckenbauer, Muller, Maier, Hoeness.