THEY don’t make them like Gary Kelly any more. I remember listening to BBC 5 Live way, way back in the 1991-92 season when he came on to make his debut for Leeds United as a winger-cum-striker against Scunthorpe.
The Drogheda native made a couple of appearances that season when Leeds won the last Division One title before it became the Premier League.
Kelly changed too.
He had drifted into the reserves until manager Howard Wilkinson recognised him as more ‘reactive’ than ‘proactive’ and converted him into a right-back and Kelly prospered spectacularly, going on to play 531 games for Leeds over 16 seasons with the Yorkshire club.
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He won 52 caps for the Republic of Ireland too and played at the 1994 and 2002 World Cup finals. He still looks like he could tear up the wing like a whippet.
“You haven’t changed a bit,” I tell him.
“Oh, I have!” he replies.
“I’ve been training hard. I’m in the gym in the morning at half-five, I go every morning early. I’m not a great sleeper, so I go to bed early and get up early and go to train. It’s great for the head.”
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Kelly was at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin to launch Leeds United’s pre-season friendly against AC Milan on Saturday (3pm). Last time ‘the Whites’ came up against the ‘Rossoneri’ was in the group stage of the Champions League in 2000 and Kelly was the Leeds captain.
Leeds won at Elland Road to progress to the second group stage and after locking horns with Barcelona and Real Madrid they eventually got to the semi-final of the competition before they lost to Valencia.
“Looking back at it now, where did the time go?” says Kelly.
“I got my debut in the Premier League away to Man City and then you finish up at home 15 years later against Barnsley… It’s just crazy. Great times, highs and lows, I went through every emotion at Leeds.
Former Leeds United players Tony Dorigo, left, Gary Kelly, centre, with former Ac Milan player Daniele Massaro during the event to promote the upcoming friendly match between Leeds and AC Milan at the Aviva Stadium. Photo by Shauna Clinton/Sportsfile
Former Leeds United players Tony Dorigo, left, Gary Kelly, centre, with former Ac Milan player Daniele Massaro during the event to promote the upcoming friendly match between Leeds and AC Milan at the Aviva Stadium. Photo by Shauna Clinton/Sportsfile(Shauna Clinton / SPORTSFILE/SPORTSFILE)
“When someone says: ‘Can you remember this?’ You go: ‘No, I can’t’ but then you remember and you think: ‘I actually did that’. You forget an awful lot on the road because you’re doing it day-in, day-out.
“You forget a little bit, but I was blessed, I was one of those lucky players who came through and was able to provide for my family.”
When it was good at Leeds, it was very, very good. That 2000 season under the management of David O’Leary – Ireland’s Italia 90 penalty hero – was the pinnacle.
O’Leary had a great thing going until the over-extended purse strings finally snapped and Leeds went into an Icarus-like freefall that saw them plunge down to League One.
“We had a lot of good squads,” says Kelly.
“The David O’Leary era and the Champions League run... Yeah, it was sort of the pinnacle, everyone was sort of in their prime, I think I was around 26-27 then.
“We were fit young lads and we were well able for the likes of AC Milan, we gave Real Madrid a game, Barcelona at home... We gave all them big teams a game and we were pushing Man United and Arsenal, challenging hard for the Premier League to qualify for the Champions League and all that.
“It was an amazing squad David O’Leary had and he built the squad with two players for every position so if one got injured we had cover.
“If I got injured, Danny Mills would be in. If Rio (Ferdinand) or Lucas (Radebe) got injured Dom (Matteo) or Danny could move in. We had a great squad, a great band of brothers and the fans could see that as well.”
With 531 appearances he sits eighth on the all-time list of Leeds legends, in between Eddie Gray and Johnny Giles. Not bad company.
“They couldn’t get rid of me,” he half-jokes (Leeds, in financial turmoil in his final season, did try to off-load him).
“It’s an honour to be asked to play for Leeds never mind having done so many games. Great days but time waits for no one.”
Gary Kelly played 531 games for Leeds and is now a season ticket holder
Gary Kelly played 531 games for Leeds and is now a season ticket holder
THE youngest of a family of 13, Kelly was nurtured at Dublin’s Home Farm before Leeds offered him a trial and then a contract. Like now, the club had only recently returned to England’s top flight and Kelly had other offers but he liked what he saw at Leeds and signed on as an apprentice.
“They weren’t going that well when I went over first but they still had the fan base in Ireland and all that,” he recalls.
“I remember just feeling at home at Leeds even though I was still a little bit homesick. But I just said: ‘OK, if I’m going to leave home, I’ll go to Leeds’. Because it was only 50 minutes on an aeroplane and I could go home any time I wanted to and then I fell in love with Leeds.
“I loved the digs in Beeston and Elland Road was a 10-minute walk. The training ground used to be down there at Fullerton Park and then you’d walk up to 1 Preston Parade (his digs) and you had a pizza shop, a chip shop and all that.
“You’re walking down there every morning and going home after tidying the stadium after the first team had trained down there. Great memories.
“Would I do it all again? No, I wouldn’t. I’ve done it, I’ve been there and I’ve done it with Leeds and really enjoyed it but everything’s changed now. It’s got a little bit more serious and more professional. I think we just got out at the right time before all the cameras started coming out and social media and all that.
“We were just at a good era where you could enjoy yourself as well as play football.”
Republic of Ireland's Gary Kelly is challenged by Germany's Carsten Ramelow during the 2002 World Cup group game in Japan.
Republic of Ireland's Gary Kelly is challenged by Germany's Carsten Ramelow during the 2002 World Cup group game in Japan.(Toby Melville/PA)
HE has no hesitation in naming Howard Wilkinson as the biggest influence on his career. It was Wilkinson, who later had a short spell as England manager, who gave him his first contract, his senior debut and transformed him from a struggling frontman to an international class defender.
Wilkinson spotted Kelly’s potential and also the fun-loving, “wild-child” side of the Louth native.
“He took me under his wing and wouldn’t let me room with the young lads,” Kelly recalls with a chuckle.
“My first roommate was Gordon Strachan for a few years (17 years Kelly’s senior and by then a vastly-experienced international star) so there was a bit of a wild child in me.
“At the time the boys were having the craic and I’m watching Countdown, you know? But Howard was amazing and he’s still an amazing man. He said: ‘The rewards are there if you work hard’ so I’m very grateful to him.”
Another influential manager was Jack Charlton. Charlton had already led Ireland to their first World Cup (Italia 90) when Kelly burst onto the scene at Leeds and went on to form a third of the ‘Three Amigos’ in the Republic’s squad for the 1994 World Cup in the USA along with Jason McAteer and Phil Babb.
“We played Russia at the old Lansdowne Road and I came on and the game finished 0-0,” he says of his debut.
“I played all the friendlies and ended up going over to the World Cup. Fifty-two caps for Ireland, two World Cups… Great times.
“In Jack’s era we were allowed to have a beer and still enjoy our football so everyone loved coming over and they were amazing times. Jack was amazing and then Mick McCarthy (Charlton’s successor as manager) was amazing and all the boys got on great.”
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Leeds United manager Daniel Farke led his team to the Championship title last season(Steven Paston/PA)
LEEDS have returned to the Premier League after a couple of seasons in the Championship. The football landscape has changed dramatically since Kelly’s days and survival will be the first target for Daniel Farke team’s this season.
Leeds begin their season against Everton at Elland Road on August 18 and Kelly and his son Lee will be there to cheer them on.
“I go over every home game,” he says
“I’ve had a season ticket now for 15 years.
“The most important thing they can do now is just stay in that league for five years. That’s the target, just stay in it, stay amongst it, grow and win something.
“Look at Palace winning the FA Cup last season. They won it because they’ve stayed in among it in the Premier League.
“They didn’t have the prettiest of seasons but they got there and Leeds have to stay in that Premier League because that’s where it’s all at.
“Look at this game against AC Milan and all the media attention… You don’t get that if you’re in the Championship so it’s important for us now to stay there and Daniel (Farke) will have his targets. He’s done a great job and I hope he’s under no pressure going into the Premier League.
“He has to be shrewd. Leeds are going to expand Elland Road and they have a massive fan base and you need to be in the Premier League, you don’t want to be in the Championship.”
Unfortunately, there isn’t a single Irish player in Farke’s squad. Back in Kelly’s day the Leeds roster had a green tinge that also included his nephew Ian Harte and Robbie Keane, Stephen McPhail, Alan Maybury, Nicky Byrne (who later found fame with Westlife), Henry McStay…
“Leeds have a good Academy up there, but I think the one thing that has gone is the connection between Leeds United and Ireland,” says Kelly with a trace of sadness.
“There used to be scouts over here the whole time but you don’t hear Irish lads going over now.
“At one stage there was around 18 to 20 of us over there at once, you had loads of Irish lads in the youth team and all that.
“Now there’s no-one sending them over and I think Arsenal are getting them all.
“You don’t hear about Irish lads going to Leeds anymore, so they want to get that scouting system up and going again.
“There’s always someone there, but you just have to do the work and find them.
“If Leeds United want me to be a scout for Ireland, there’s no problem – they just have to ask.”