 Brady in 2021 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | William Brady | ||
| Date of birth | (1956-02-13)13 February 1956 (age 69) | ||
| Place of birth | Dublin, Ireland | ||
| Height | 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)[1] | ||
| Position | Attacking midfielder | ||
| Youth career | |||
| St. Kevin's Boys | |||
| 1971–1973 | Arsenal | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1973–1980 | Arsenal | 235 | (43) |
| 1980–1982 | Juventus | 76 | (15) |
| 1982–1984 | Sampdoria | 57 | (6) |
| 1984–1986 | Internazionale | 58 | (5) |
| 1986–1987 | Ascoli | 17 | (0) |
| 1987–1990 | West Ham United | 89 | (9) |
| Total | 532 | (78) | |
| International career | |||
| 1974–1990 | Republic of Ireland | 72 | (9) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 1991–1993 | Celtic | ||
| 1993–1995 | Brighton & Hove Albion | ||
| 2008–2010 | Republic of Ireland (assistant) | ||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
William Brady (born 13 February 1956) is an Irish former footballer and pundit. He found success both in England withArsenal, where he won anFA Cup in 1979, and in Italy withJuventus, winning twoSerie A titles. Brady was capped 72 times for theRepublic of Ireland national team.[2][3][4]
Brady was a talentedattacking midfielder renowned for his left foot and elegant technical skills such as his high-quality passing, vision and close control, which made him an excellentplaymaker.
Brady went on to manageCeltic andBrighton and Hove Albion. He was the assistant manager of theRepublic of Ireland national football team from 2008 to 2010 and also held the post of Head of Youth Development at Arsenal from 1996 to 2013. He began his media career as a television pundit in 1990 with theBBC, before moving toRTÉ Sport in 1998. In June 2023, Brady announced that he would step down from his punditry duties with RTÉ after 25 years.
Brady was born and raised inDublin in a footballing family, with both his great uncleFrank Brady Sr. and older brotherRay Brady winning senior international caps. Of his other brothers,Frank won theFAI Cup withShamrock Rovers in 1968 and made two appearances in theUEFA Cup Winners' Cup, whilePat played withMillwall andQueens Park Rangers. Liam attendedSt. Aidan's C.B.S., leaving before hisIntermediate Certificate. He alleged at the time that he had been expelled for missing a schoolGaelic football match to play a schoolboy soccer international; the school denied this.[5][6]
Brady started his career atArsenal, moving to London to join the side on schoolboy forms in 1971, at the age of 15. He turned professional on his 17th birthday in 1973, and made his debut on 6 October 1973 againstBirmingham City as a substitute forJeff Blockley, and put in an assured performance. However his next match, in aNorth London derby againstTottenham Hotspur, Brady had a poor match, and Arsenal managerBertie Mee decided from then on to use the young Irishman sparingly for the time being. Brady ended the1973–74 season with 13 appearances (four of them as substitute) to his name.[2] While at Arsenal, and particularly early in his career, Brady was nicknamed "Chippy", not for his ability to chip the ball but for his fondness forfish and chips.[7]
In1974–75 Brady was a first-team regular at Arsenal, and shone as a rare light in a side that hovered close to relegation for a couple of seasons in the mid-1970s. With the appointment ofTerry Neill as manager and the return ofDon Howe as coach, Brady found his best form. His passing provided the ammunition for Arsenal's front men such asMalcolm Macdonald andFrank Stapleton, and Arsenal reached threeFA Cup finals in a row between 1978 and 1980. Arsenal won only the middle of the three, againstManchester United in the1979 final, with Brady starting the move that ended inAlan Sunderland's famous last-minute winner.[2]
Brady was at the peak of his Arsenal form by now, as shown by one of his best goals for Arsenal; having dispossessedPeter Taylor he flighted a looped curled shot from the edge of the penalty area into the top corner, in a 5–0 win against Tottenham Hotspur on 23 December 1978. During this time he was voted the club's player of the year three times, and chosen as thePFA Players' Player of the Year in 1979. Being from Ireland, he was the first foreign player to win the award.
He was the most talented player in what was then a promising young Arsenal side, which was looking to consistently challenge for honours such as theDivision One title. Despite this, by the1979–80 season rumour was rife that Brady would be leaving the club in search of a fresh challenge.[2]
That season, Arsenal reached theCup Winners' Cup final (losing toValencia onpenalties), having beatenJuventus 2–1 over two legs in the semi-finals. Brady's performance in the tie impressed the Italian giants and in the 1980 close season they signed him for just over £500,000, becoming the first foreign player to sign for the club since the Italian borders were re-opened for foreign transfers in 1980.[8] He is remembered as one of Arsenal's all-time greats, playing 307 matches for the Gunners, scoring 59 goals and setting up many more.
Brady spent two seasons with Juventus, wearing thenumber 10 shirt,[9] and picking up twoItalian Championship medals, in 1981 and 1982; Brady scored the only goal (apenalty) in the 1–0 win againstCatanzaro that won the 1982 title.[3] After the arrival ofMichel Platini in summer 1982, Brady moved toSampdoria, allowing him to take the number 10 shirt and team up withTrevor Francis. Brady moved on after two years in which Sampdoria failed to finish higher than sixth place, and went on to play forInternazionale (1984–1986). At theSan Siro, Brady teamed up withKarl-Heinz Rummenigge, reaching aUEFA Cup semi-final and a third place finish domestically, but failed to win any major honours. In 1986, Brady joinedAscoli, where his career in Italy reached a sour conclusion. A year spent arguing over failed payments of wages with club president Costantino Rozzi, marked the end of what was a much celebrated chapter of his career.[10]
Brady, at the age of 31, returned to London in March 1987, for a transfer fee of £100,000, to play forWest Ham United, where he scored 10 goals in 119 games in all competitions.[4] He was a member of the side relegated from the First Division in 1989 and played one season in the Second Division before finally retiring as a player in 1990.[4] His last game came on 5 May 1990, a 4–0 home win againstWolverhampton Wanderers, a game in which he scored.[11]
Brady made his debut for Ireland on 30 October 1974, in a 3–0 win against theSoviet Union atDalymount Park in aEuropean Championship qualifier.[12]Brady has claimed his favourite international goal was that against Brazil in 1987.
Due to a suspension accrued beforeEuro 88 he was not eligible to play within the tournament.[13] During qualification forItalia 90 Brady retired from the international game. As Ireland got to the World Cup for the first time ever he declared himself available to play once again. However,Jack Charlton went on to declare that only those who played in the qualifiers would make the trip to Italy.[13]
He won 72 international caps for theRepublic of Ireland with 70 within the starting line-up, scoring nine goals.[13]
After retiring from playing in 1990, he managedCeltic between 1991 and 1993, and thenBrighton & Hove Albion between 1993 and 1995. Neither spell was particularly successful, and at both clubs Brady's tenure was overshadowed by the respective clubs' financial problems. At Celtic, Brady failed to win a single trophy in his two-year tenure, which included a 5–2 defeat on aggregate byNeuchâtel Xamax in the 1991–92UEFA Cup.
Brady had no greater success with Brighton, departing following a disagreement over the way the club was being run.[14] He later led an unsuccessful bid by a consortium to buy the club.
He rejoined Arsenal in July 1996, as Head of Youth Development and Academy Director. Although he was linked to the manager's post after the departure ofBruce Rioch, Brady stated he was not interested in the role andArsène Wenger eventually took up the post. Under Brady, Arsenal's youth sides won the 1998FA Premier Youth League, theFA Premier Academy League U17 title in 2000 and the FA Premier Academy League U19 title in 2002. Under his watch they also lifted the 2009 and 2010 FA Premier Academy League U18 titles, together with theFA Youth Cup in2000,2001 and2009.[15]
After the sacking ofSteve Staunton asRepublic of Ireland manager in 2007, Brady became an assistant to new managerGiovanni Trapattoni alongside former Juventus teammateMarco Tardelli in 2008,[16] while continuing to work as Director of the Arsenal Youth Academy. He stepped down from the Republic of Ireland post in April 2010 when his contract expired.[17] He stated he would have gladly stayed on with Ireland were it not for his Arsenal commitments.[18]
On 30 January 2013, Arsenal announced that Brady would leave his role as Director of the Arsenal Youth Academy in May 2014.[19]
Brady has served as an ambassador of The Arsenal Foundation since 2017.[20]
Brady first worked as a pundit for the BBC at the1990 and1994 World Cups before moving for the 1998 tournament toRTÉ Sport. He joined what became a long-running studio team with fellow punditsJohnny Giles andEamon Dunphy and presenterBill O'Herlihy.[21] They were parodied by theAprès Match sketches in which Brady was portrayed byBarry Murphy.[22] Brady remained an RTÉ television analyst, appearing on coverage of the2018 World Cup,UEFA Euro 2020 and2022 World Cup.[23][24]
Brady was involved in an Irish anti-drugs campaign in the early 1990s, called "give drugs the boot", which encouraged young boys to play sport as a healthy pastime.
In February 2023, a documentary about his life calledLiam Brady: The Irishman Abroad aired onRTÉ One.[25]
On 19 June 2023, Brady announced that he would step down from his punditry duties with RTÉ Sport after 25 years. His final match as an analyst was the 3–0 win againstGibraltar.[26][27][28]
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Republic of Ireland | 1974 | 2 | 0 |
| 1975 | 5 | 0 | |
| 1976 | 5 | 1 | |
| 1977 | 4 | 1 | |
| 1978 | 3 | 0 | |
| 1979 | 5 | 0 | |
| 1980 | 6 | 0 | |
| 1981 | 3 | 0 | |
| 1982 | 6 | 1 | |
| 1983 | 4 | 3 | |
| 1984 | 5 | 0 | |
| 1985 | 8 | 1 | |
| 1986 | 4 | 1 | |
| 1987 | 7 | 1 | |
| 1988 | 0 | 0 | |
| 1989 | 4 | 0 | |
| 1990 | 1 | 0 | |
| Total | 72 | 9 | |
| No. | Cap | Date | Venue | Opponent | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 8 | 24 March 1976 | Dalymount Park, Dublin, Ireland |  Norway | 3–0 | Friendly |
| 2 | 14 | 30 March 1977 | Lansdowne Road, Dublin, Ireland |  France | 1–0 | 1978 FIFA World Cup qualification |
| 3 | 36 | 30 May 1982 | Arima Municipal Stadium, Arima, Trinidad and Tobago |  Trinidad and Tobago | 1–2 | Friendly |
| 4 | 42 | 12 October 1983 | Dalymount Park, Dublin, Ireland |  Netherlands | 2–3 | UEFA Euro 1984 qualification |
| 5 | 43 | 16 November 1983 | Dalymount Park, Dublin, Ireland |  Malta | 8–0 | UEFA Euro 1984 qualification |
| 6 | ||||||
| 7 | 50 | 26 March 1985 | Wembley Stadium, London, England |  England | 2–1 | Friendly |
| 8 | 58 | 10 September 1986 | Heysel Stadium, Brussels, Belgium |  Belgium | 2–2 | UEFA Euro 1984 qualification |
| 9 | 64 | 23 May 1987 | Lansdowne Road, Dublin, Ireland |  Brazil | 1–0 | Friendly |
| Team | From | To | Record | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| M | W | D | L | Win % | |||
 Celtic | 19 June 1991 | 7 October 1993 | 116 | 66 | 26 | 24 | 056.90 |
| Brighton & Hove Albion | 15 December 1993 | 20 November 1995 | 100 | 33 | 30 | 37 | 033.00 |
| Total | 216 | 99 | 56 | 61 | 045.83 | ||
Arsenal[13]
Juventus[13]
Republic of Ireland
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
