FOOTBALL COLUMN: Liam Beckett talks...

It all started a few weeks back when I was contacted by Warren Currie from Hillsborough who is a real ‘die hard’ Northern Ireland fan. Warren was enquiring as to my availability to come along to be part of a new ‘song for Europe’ NI football anthem being recorded by the people from the ‘Oui Norn Iron’ group of supporters which was being recorded on Wednesday past.

I checked my diary and once I discovered I was free, and being a Northern Ireland fan myself of course, I contacted Warren and told him that he could count me in.

So on Wednesday morning I cleared the oul throat, got the RD on board and pointed the wagon towards County Down and set sail for the recording studios just outside Seaforde. Once I arrived it was obvious a lot of people had put an awful lot of hard work into making this happen. Coupled with the fact that the charity ‘Tiny Life’ were to be the benefactors of the proceeds of the CD sales then it was a no brainer that I be there and do all I could to help make it a success.

The recording studio in County Down is owned by Gerard Dornan of ‘Country Harmony’ fame and I must say Gerard really went out of his way to make us all extremely welcome. Incidentally this new song was written by none other than Vincent Soye who had also wrote (together with his late brother Maurice), the Northern Ireland song for the Mexico World Cup in Mexico ‘86’.

Once I got inside the recording studio the place was already packed with NI fans and very soon a Northern Ireland scarf was draped around my shoulders. It was a sea of green and white in there, shirts, scarves, hats, you name it. It was just like the old ‘kop’ stand at Windsor Park on international nights only this time condensed into an recording studio.

Ruth Gorman from UTV, Pete Snodden of Cool FM and myself were asked to front the recording and subsequently the three of us got pushed up there to where the main microphones were located. Big Paul McKenna of U105 and Andy Baird of Cool FM were also in there giving it ‘dixie’ and what a hoot that was.

Firstly Ruth started off in the key of ‘T’ (torture), and Pete sounded like a tired old chainsaw starting up on a frosty morning (only joking folks, but there again so they did). Eventually, after countless ‘takes’, a now profusely sweating Gerard Dornan signalled through the glass that he’d had enough, it was time to pull the plug.

To me that meant one of two things. Either we’d pretty much got it right or he’d simply had as much screeching as he could listen to for one day. I must admit I found the more we sang it the more I found it to be one of those catchy wee numbers which will hopefully take off.

I believe the finished CD is to be released within the next few weeks well in good time before the Euro Finals in France this coming June. If you like it then please buy it because the ‘Tiny Life’ charity is a very worthy benefactor of the proceeds.

Big thanks must go to Warren Currie and all the other NI fans who were present and to all of those who contributed in any way towards this new NI song which will hopefully be sung by all the Northern Ireland fans in France. I for one thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience and once again it showed me just how lucky we are in this wee country to have such good genuine football fans who really do have big kind hearts.

Well if Wednesday was a unique experience, the memory of the following day (Thursday) will probably live with me until the man above decides to give me the nod that my time is up.

Approximately two months ago I got a phone call to ask me if I would be available to host and conduct a chat show with the former Manchester United and Republic of Ireland star Roy Keane in the magnificent City Hotel Armagh.

Again a quick check of the diary confirmed I was free on that night and so the answer was an emphatic yes – after all opportunities like these don’t come around too often.

I was part of a similar event with my good friend Keith Gillespie in the very same hotel last year and it is one truly superb venue which when full has an incredible atmosphere.

I knew instantly during the meal when I was sat next to Roy that we have quite a lot in common. I was also a bad loser and again like him if anyone ever deliberately tried to hurt me on a football pitch (or off it), well then they had better be prepared for the consequences and for what was coming their way at the first opportunity.

Again we had many similarities in that Roy also prefers to speak his mind, regardless of who or where it might be and irrespective of how important a ‘figurehead’ that other person or persons may feel they are. If they need to be told a few home truths then so be it.

The packed conference centre in the City Hotel with over 600 paying guests were on their very best behaviour as Roy relived and gave his customary honest and forthright views and accounts on his entire life to date as a footballer, manager and coach.

Despite being a hero and absolute legend to thousands of fans around the world Roy also has more than his fair share of dissenters, people who have taken exception to his actions and forthright behaviour without really hearing his side of the story. But when I ran all of the most contentious and bizarre incidents past him during our chat, he never once attempted to duck the issue or the question – it’s simply not in his DNA to avoid confrontations.

Better still, he took whatever time necessary to clearly explain each and every one in detail. And do you know something, when he did that I couldn’t disagree with him. Even when I quizzed him on his bitter departure from Manchester United after what had been a glorious twelve and a half year career there, and on his seemingly soured relationship now with Sir Alex Ferguson (and also without the knowledge that Sir Alex’s brother, Martin, was also a guest in the audience), Roy gave his normal open and honest answers.

His stories from his Nottingham Forest days with Brian Clough, his experiences with the Republic of Ireland and in particular with Mick McCarthy, and his recollections of his time at Manchester United (where he is still the club’s most successful ever captain), were priceless.

He and I agreed to meet early the next morning for breakfast as he was flying out to America later on that day. Even at 7.30am Roy was still the same great company he was the night before. We exchanged telephone numbers and soon he was on his way to the airport.

However, the best was yet to come. Later on that day I was taking a walk up through the streets of Armagh as I was doing another function in the same hotel on the Friday night.

The Roy Keane event organisers rang me to meet them for a coffee back at the hotel. It transpires that when they sat Roy down before he left to pay him his appearance fee, flights and expenses, he refused to take any money whatsoever. Roy said he would forfeit his fee and pay for his own flights himself – he wouldn’t and didn’t take a penny.

The charity ‘Train to be Smart Juniors’ figurehead and very good friend of mine big Pat McGibbon and his committee were speechless. Roy had obviously liked the work Pat and his team are doing in the community for others who are not just so fortunate.

The Hotel manager also told me on Friday that they felt the audience with Roy Keane night was probably the best they’d ever had since the hotel opened some 15 years ago. That’s not a bad compliment for a Cork man and a Ballymoney man talking to each other for 90 minutes without a sub-title or an interpreter in sight!

Keano you were always a winner and you are still my friend.