Paddy Mulligan recalls Jimmy Holmes horror story following Coleman’s calamity
Two full-backs – one right, one left - who suffered appalling leg injuries playing for the Republic of Ireland.
“I was screaming at Jimmy from the touchline,” recalls Paddy Mulligan, a substitute in Sofia that day 38 years ago.
“I could see what was coming down the tracks – the Bulgarian player was going for the ball with his studs showing.
“’Don’t go, Jimmy’ I shouted. It was never Jimmy’s ball, but he had made up his mind up to contest the tackle. He was too brave for his own good.”
Mulligan’s fears were realised as Ivan Illiev clattered into Holmes in the 58th minute of a European Championship qualifier.
The impact was shocking, and the aftermath devastating for the 25-year-old Dublin-born defender then in his second season with Tottenham Hotspur.
“It was an awful break. You could see the blood seeping through his sock,” says Mulligan, who took Holmes’s place for the remainder of the match, which Bulgaria won 1-0.
“It made matters worse for Jimmy that the plaster cast was applied too tightly to his leg in the hospital in Sofia. He was in agony on the flight home so we had to stop in Geneva to have the job re-done.”
Holmes underwent further surgery on the broken tibia and fibula in England as part of his recuperation. But he never played for Spurs again, and the club cancelled his contract in February 1981.
That same month, having joined Vancouver Whitecaps, Holmes earned his 30th and final international cap aged 27. His manager in Vancouver was John Giles, Ireland’s player-manager two years earlier in Sofia.
Holmes, who remains the youngest player to represent Ireland (17 years and 200 days on his début in 1971), signed subsequently for Leicester City, Brentford, Torquay United and Peterborough United before working as a player-manager for three non-league clubs.
The FAI granted him a testimonial match in 1985, attended by 10,000 fans at Dalymount Park. Former Tottenham team-mate Glenn Hoddle brought a star-studded line-up including Pat Jennings, Ossie Ardiles, Chris Waddle, Gerry Armstrong and Garth Crooks.
The Holmes XI featured Packie Bonner, Chris Hughton, David O’Leary, Tony Grealish and Tony Cascarino. After retiring from football Holmes became a policeman in Coventry, where he was honoured for bravery in 2007.
Earlier this year he published his autobiography. Its title: The Day My Dream Ended.
“You can be lucky or unlucky in football,” Mulligan reflects.
“I remember playing an international tournament in Chile where the tackling was vicious but nobody got badly injured. I think John O’Shea was very lucky not to suffer a broken leg against Wales on Friday night.
"Gareth Bale’s foot was off the ground and he went over the top. The referee was a coward in that moment. Bale is considered a clean player, but that wasn’t a clean tackle.
"If the referee had sent Bale off, the Coleman incident probably wouldn’t have happened. I’m sure medical science has improved a lot since the time of Jimmy Holmes’s injury, so although Séamus suffered a horrific break, I’m hopeful he’ll recover.”
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