At the age of 15, Niall Quinn was offered a two-week trial at then-Third Division club, Fulham.
Quinn excelled in a number of sports as a youngster and, football-wise, was performing well as a centre half at that time. But as his fortnight at Craven Cottage back in 1982 drew to an end, ex-Arsenal forward Malcolm Macdonald – who was Fulham manager at the time – told the young Irishman that he “wouldn’t make it as a footballer”. “And with that, I kind of gave up on the idea,” says Quinn.
But a second opportunity to forge a career in the game came along just a year later. Encouraged to play as a centre-forward by his teacher John Molloy, Quinn shone in a schools final, in which he scored two goals. Watching on that day was Arsenal’s Dublin-based scout Bill Darby, who invited Quinn to attend a trial with the club.
After impressing manager Terry Neill and youth development officer Steve Burtenshaw, Quinn was offered an initial three-year contract with Arsenal.
It heralded the start of a nearly two-decade-long professional playing career that saw him make over 550 appearances for us, Manchester City and Sunderland, while he won nearly a century of appearances for the Republic of Ireland, whom he represented at UEFA Euro 1988 as well as at the 1990 and 2002 FIFA World Cups.
What memories do you have of coming to Arsenal on trial?
I was a bit apprehensive about attending a trial at Arsenal because of my past experience at Fulham. At the time, Fulham were one or two divisions lower than Arsenal and I was thinking: ‘If Fulham didn’t want to sign me, albeit as a centre-half, what are Arsenal, a few divisions higher, going to think?’
Half of me was worried but the other half of me was carefree. I was thinking: "This is going to be a great experience… I’m going to see all these top players." In my trial game, I played against Southall and I was in the same team as Paul Merson. I think we won 9-0 and Merse scored six and I got three. He came up to me after the game and said to me: ‘well, me and you are certainties to get contracts, Irish!’
After a week – it was meant to be a two-week trial – I was brought into the office by Terry Neill, and I was thinking: "Here we go – I’ve been here before." I thought I knew what was coming. But Terry said: "We’re going to offer you a three-year contract. You’re tall, you’re skinny and you’re going to need time to develop but we’re going to make a footballer out of you."
How easily did you settle in at Arsenal?
Things were hard when I first came to Arsenal. It’s not like I was a kid who had been in an academy for four or five years.
I was drifting towards other sports at the time. My first year wasn’t that productive. I was injured a lot – I kept twisting my ankles. There was great help around me though.
Arsenal has always had a strong Irish connection. In your early years, did you find that comforting or did it bring pressure given what your compatriots had achieved?
It was definitely a comfort. As well as having Irish teammates, we had an Irish groundsman, Paddy Galligan, who I built a friendship with. Our kitman Tony Donnelly and his wife Ethel were actually from the same part of Dublin as me. Having those Irish connections felt warm and welcoming to me.
What was it like making your first team debut against Liverpool on December 14, 1985 shortly after celebrating your 19th birthday?
I spoke to Don Howe early that December, who had become the manager by that point. He wanted me to go on loan to Port Vale to strengthen up and come back before the end of the season to push for a place in the first team. That was on a Wednesday and I got my tickets from the travel club to go up to Stoke on Thursday. When I arrived, the manager John Rudge thanked me for travelling up but said Arsenal had requested I return until the Monday as Tony Woodcock had got injured in training.
So, I went back and trained with the reserves On the Friday, you went in to see whose name was on what teamsheet for the following day, and I saw my name scribbled out on the reserve list and instead it was there in pencil on the bottom of the first-team list for the game against Liverpool.
"All of a sudden, I was a top-flight footballer scoring a goal."
There were 18 names and, in those days, there was only one substitute. So, I was thinking: "I’m not going to play but it’ll be great to experience a first-team matchday and see what goes on." I was fully expecting to be playing in the Fourth Division for Port Vale the following week.
Around 2pm on the day of the game, I was in the dressing room near the door ready to depart when Don Howe read the team out. He went through each player by number and then got to the number 9 and said: "put your hands together, the young lad from Dublin, we’re going to give him a debut today." And my name got called out. I couldn’t believe it!
I managed to help Charlie Nicholas give us the lead on the day. And then, lo and behold, a little while later, I followed in a Paul Davis strike, Bruce Grobbelaar fumbled it, and I was able to bundle it over the line. All of a sudden, I was a top-flight footballer scoring a goal.
Amazingly, it was the first English league match broadcast around Europe. By the Wednesday or Thursday, Tony Donnelly was handing me sacks of fan mail from Norway, Sweden, Belgium and all these places where the game had been shown. I can remember telling my mother, who was a teacher, and she said to me: "You’d better write back to each of those people personally." So that’s what I did!
You went on to score 20 goals in 94 appearances for Arsenal between 1985 and 1989. How do you look back on that time?
We got to the League Cup final in George Graham’s first season in charge in 1986/87. We beat Spurs at their place in two matches in the semi-finals, and then beat Liverpool in the final. I started both of those games. That season was perfect for me. And then Alan Smith came along!
I love Alan to bits but he never got booked and he never got injured. So, my gametime thereafter was limited. It was a frustrating time for me. I’d broken into the Irish setup by then. We qualified for the Euros in 1988 and I came on as a substitute against England in that tournament.
We qualified for the World Cup in 1990, and Jack Charlton laid it straight on the line for me and basically said: "If you’re not playing [for your club], I’m not bringing you." Essentially, I was in the position where I had to leave Arsenal to stand a chance of playing at the World Cup.
"Terry said: 'remember who you are, where you are and who you represent’. That really stayed with me"
I was glad George let me go in the end. I went to Manchester City. They were bottom of the league with nine games to go, but we had a good run through until the end of the season.
We won a good number of games and I scored in four of them and laid on a few as well. I went to a World Cup, got a game against Holland and scored in a World Cup. Unfortunately, I had to leave Arsenal for that to happen but that will never change my opinion on how lucky I had been to be at a club like Arsenal.
I’ll always remember Steve Burtenshaw and Terry Murphy, who was a great man behind the scenes at Arsenal, giving us a lecture about the meaning of the Latin under the Arsenal crest. And in that talk, Terry said: "Remember who you are, where you are and who you represent." That really stayed with me. Every time I pulled on the Arsenal jersey, I said that to myself.
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