Welcome to a new episode of the My Sporting Hero podcast, part of Nutmeg FC. The home of brilliant football stories – made in Scotland.
So far this month, Nutmeg FC subscribers have enjoyed....
Brian Lee’s article on the fascinating connection between fans of Morton and Serie B outfit Reggiana
Daniel Gray’s latest Slow Match Report on Rangers’ heroic draw with Athletic Bilbao in the Europa League quarter-final
And still to come....
The exclusive column from our tactics guy Adam Clery comparing Lewis Ferguson with Liam Henderson
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This time on My Sporting Hero, our guest is Michael O’Neill.
Portadown-born Michael played as a midfielder for several British clubs, including ones in Scotland where he is best remembered for spells at Dundee United and Hibernian. As a young man he set top-flight Newcastle ablaze with a stunning opening season. He moved to Tannadice and eventually fell out with notoriously thrawn United managerial legend Jim McLean. He also played over 30 times for Northern Ireland.
Michael started out in management at Brechin City, made Shamrock Rovers Irish champions and led them into Europe, before taking the reins at Northern Ireland. He achieved the nation’s first-ever qualification for the European Championship and progression to the second round of the finals in France in 2016. He also rescued Stoke City from relegation danger when he first joined the Potters.
Michael is currently enjoying his second spell as Northern Ireland manager.
His sporting hero is ‘Superbrat’ and all-round tennis genius/guru John McEnroe.
It was harder to know a sportsperson back then, but John McEnroe did open himself up to the public. I just liked everything about him: he had the headband, he was into his rock music. When I was a kid, whenever Wimbledon was on, everyone played tennis and we would be glued to the Championships on the television. And when McEnroe came along, this American kid with attitude and wild, curly hair (I actually had wild, curly hair as a kid as well!) he just brought something different to the sport. The whole energy he brought to the court with his confrontational attitude and his brilliant play – you just couldn’t take your eyes off it.
At that time Bjorn Borg was the man to beat and he was the total opposite of McEnroe, and it was just captivating to watch those contrasting characters. Wimbledon in particular has a strict set of rules that you must abide by, and that was always going to be challenging to McEnroe. He was clearly a very bad loser, and I could relate to that because as a kid I was a bad loser, too, and I still am, really. It’s part of sport having that competitive nature. McEnroe had such a desire to win that he would challenge the officials, push the boundaries, but at the same time play some amazing tennis. In terms of mental strength, we’ve seen some amazing players like Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray recently. I felt McEnroe carried all of that wrath with him through his matches, yet it didn’t seem to upset his concentration and his quality of play. It was as though the more confrontation there was in a match, whether it was with the opposition player or with the officials, it made him play even better.
He had the ability to play shots that very few other players could play. Borg was more of a baseline player, whereas McEnroe was more serve and volley and his range of shots and his touch around the net meant that you could watch him for three and a half hours and it never felt like that. McEnroe’s touch and strength and inventiveness was exceptional, and he had an ability to get to balls that looked impossible to reach. He was unbelievably quick across the court and he always played on the front foot, taking the game to his opponent. He made himself vulnerable at the net, but then was able to play an amazing volley game, and amazing passing shots. He had everything, and although he didn’t win the French Open or the Australian Open, he often had to overcome Borg to win the seven Majors that he did win, and I still believe he is one of the all-time greats.
When McEnroe talks about tennis, in my opinion he’s better than anyone else on television. He’s got great knowledge of the game, and he understands the current players. He’s very forthright, but I think it’s hard to disagree with a lot of what he says. He played from such a young age and the fact that his father and his brother played helped him, as did the fact that he was a great doubles player as well, which people forget. McEnroe talked about his relationship with his father and how his father was tough on him. I think he was trying to please a father who was never going to be fully pleased.
I remember the 1980 Wimbledon final which he lost to Borg, I was about 10 years of age at the time and I’ve rewatched it since. It was an incredible game, with McEnroe winning the famous tie-break to take it to a final set. He couldn’t hide his emotions throughout that match or at the end. You had the ice-cool Swede and this young American who just had this attitude to do everything possible to win.
Because he didn’t conform, the crowd did turn against him, but I think a modern-day McEnroe would be much more appreciated by the crowd. You could tell that Jimmy Connors and McEnroe didn’t like each other. Connors was this older player who’d been amazing, the main American player, and here was this young upstart. But McEnroe had no fear of Connors’ reputation and didn’t let that intimidate him on the court. Or if it did, he didn’t show it. Connors had built a relationship with the Wimbledon crowd over the years, and here was McEnroe, who the Wimbledon crowd were turning against. To me, that drama is part of sport, and when you have that in an arena like that it adds to the event. I think the crowd at Wimbledon and the people who run it sometimes only appreciate those players when they’re not there. We don’t want blandness in any sport. When you look back and compare tennis then with tennis today, to me, it just doesn’t have the same excitement in it or the same personalities. The modern players are amazing and technology has advanced everything such as rackets, whereas the likes of McEnroe were playing with wooden rackets, and to be able to hit the range of shots that the players in those days were able to play is phenomenal.
You wouldn’t have thought that McEnroe was the type of player to build relationships within the locker room, but clearly he must have done, because he captained the Davis Cup team – which meant a great deal to him, plus he played doubles. He’s the type of player you would want in your team. The physical side of tennis is huge, but they have a lot more science, data and information for players nowadays. Yet you see players withdraw from doubles at times, which is a bit disappointing after they’ve entered. But McEnroe was committed to his partner regardless of what was happening in the singles tournament. He played with his brother at times as well, and playing doubles fine-tuned his touch around the net and he probably felt it was a benefit for him to play doubles as well.
I’ve seen tennis exhibitions, and if McEnroe came to say Glasgow or Edinburgh to play, I’d be desperate to go and see him even now. It’s great when you have an older sportsperson who still has that appeal. Certainly his interaction with the crowd nowadays is on a much more humorous basis than it was back in the day! But he’s not lost an ounce of his personality. And I think that that’s something that sport needs. So yeah, it’s brilliant when you see that.
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