‘The gang goes to Tamangos’
Neil Ruddock would be the first to admit he was not always the virtue of sheer, bloody-headed professionalism during his long and storied football career. Although he lacked the athletic physique of, say, Michelango’s David, ‘Razor’ had a pretty decent career, including stints at Tottenham and Liverpool, and a 1994 cap for England.
Ruddock was in Dublin to promote Setanta Sports’ extensive FA Cup coverage this weekend [details below] and took time out to tell us all about his crazy nights in the Fair City, during his Liverpool days, that fostered a close bond between the players.
‘We had a Tuesday Club at Liverpool,’ he says. ‘If you didn’t drink, you’d still go along and have a Diet Coke and then go. Because we were mates, on and off the pitch. The manager knew where you were. You’d have your club; get it out of your system. They knew where you were, you didn’t have anyone sneaking off (on other nights). So, on Wednesdays we’d run it off.’
If Liverpool played on a Saturday, those that started would be excused from Sunday training sessions. That, invariably, led to the occasional Sunday tipple that ended up with last orders in Ireland. ‘We’d say ‘Where will we go?’. One lad would say Dublin and you’d go ‘No, no’.
‘I used to love Dublin. You’d be over in 22 minutes. There were no passports to show back then, you’d ring John Lennon Airport and ask when the next plane was – ‘Okay, 10 of us will be there in the next hour’.
“You’d do The Big Tree,” he adds, ‘Roundabout (in Artane), then Tamangos. The gang goes to Tamangos. Then Temple Bar. Ahh, it was too close.’
’11 o’clock at night you’d be out in Temple Bar and you’d get a call…
‘Alright darling, where are you?’
‘Dublin’
‘What?!’
‘When are you coming home?’
‘Tomorrow’
He continues, ‘You’d be straight into training on a Monday morning after the red-rye (flight). Trollied. Dublin was too close to Liverpool. Great times.’
Ruddock explains that midweek nights out often doubled as a talk-shop, for players to air grievances against team-mates.
‘We’d go around the table and sort it out on our own. If anyone ever had a problem with another lad, you’d sort it out. I played judge a few times. It never came to fisticuffs or anything like that. It was banter. It was only when they got really drunk that they were really horrible with each other.’
Asked about Arsenal’s recent fondness for taking dressing room selfies, Ruddock declares, ‘No, we wouldn’t have had that. No way. We wouldn’t have had headphones either. That’s what I don’t like now, when they all walk off the pitch with headphones on. That’s camaraderie isn’t it? On the coach, going to the game with headphones on? No… I can’t believe they’re going to the games, listening to music with their headphones on. They should be talking football, about the team they’re playing against.’
*Ruddock was joined by Manchester United legend, Norman Whiteside at an event in Dublin, today, to highlight the upcoming FA Cup fixtures on the Setanta Sports pack. The sports broadcaster has six live FA Cup matches on show this weekend, beginning with Manchester United’s away date with Cambridge United on Friday [coverage from 7:55pm].
Setanta, and BT Sport, will also feature Manchester City versus Middlesborough, and Bolton’s trip to Liverpool, on Saturday. Sunday’s live games are Aston Villa versus Bournemouth and Brighton’s home clash with Arsenal, the cup holders. The weekend coverage could wrap up with a giant-killing, on Monday, as Stoke City visit Rochdale.
