'The Irishman of Turin is fabulous'

In the RTÉ documentary The Irishman Abroad, broadcast this week to great acclaim, Liam Brady revisited the Italian leg of his great career. Trevor Stynes dug into the archives to explore how Turin and Italy took the Dublin maestro to their hearts.

THE ITALIAN JOB: Liam Brady with Wojciech Szczęsny in An Irishman Abroad

"Welcome mister Brady." This was the headline in La Stampa newspaper on August 1st, 1980, as they covered Liam Brady’s arrival in Turin. Manager Giovanni Trapattoni was there to greet him at the airport, and a photo showed the smiling Dubliner on the shoulders of delirious Juventus fans. This was the beginning of the Irishman’s love affair with Italy.

He joined his new teammates at their training camp, and as the Corriere Della Sera announced, "It’s Brady Time." Pre-season preparations attracted thousands of Juventus fans, along with attention from the press. A practice match against their youth team was enough to see Liam make the front page of Italy’s largest sports paper La Gazzetta Dello Sport, on August 11th. Readers were told ‘Brady re-awakens Juve’.