Kevin Deery - 'Derry City have a great young manager - I'd love to see him win a League'

On the face of it Kevin Deery and Ruaidhri Higgins should be rivals.

One manages Derry’s biggest club, the other its little brother.

Except there is no envy, no snide remarks, no feeling of them-against-us

And that stems back to what they went through together.

Once they were team-mates, as well as rivals, for the same place in the team. Born a few months and a few miles apart, they first came across one another in the mid-90s, before two became one in 2005.

That was the year Higgins joined Derry as a player, and the year Stephen Kenny embarked on the most dramatic turnaround in fortunes a club has known this century. Pre-Kenny, Derry were a mess, a relegation threatened side.

Under him they won three Cups, finished runner-up in the League twice, and then embarked on a European run that ended in the Parc des Princes with a narrow defeat to Paris Saint Germain.

“We learned so much from Stephen,” Deery says. “Like no disrespect to the other coaches who came before him in Derry, but it was two nights a week training, roll your sleeves up stuff. With Stephen the emphasis was on expressing yourself, on believing in yourself.

“He signed Ruaidhri. I’ll never forget it. Derry fans were asking, ‘who is this kid?’

“But I knew what Stephen was at. Ruaidhri never panicked. Give him the ball in tight spaces and he wouldn’t lose it. Those games in Europe, against Gothenburg, Gretna, PSG, they were made for Ruaidhri.

“We were a player driven team. Stephen facilitated a really healthy environment. We knew when to have a laugh and a joke, when to get serious. Twice we went to the final day of the season with a chance of winning the league, losing on goal difference in 2006, by a point to Cork in 2005.

“Who’d have thought then the club would still be waiting for another league title? They’re hard won.”

That’s why he is pleading for fans to be patient.

Being a Creggan boy, he’s heard the moans and groans, the fear that another year will slip by without Candystripe colours decorating the League of Ireland trophy.

Yet this is where the loyalty digs in.

As manager of an Institute side who he has remodelled in his own image, a different character would be subtly undermining his old team-mate, knowing his name will inevitably be in the frame if a vacancy were to arise in the Brandywell.

But that’s not his style.

He says: “I would genuinely love it for Ruaidhri if Derry did it this year.

“You could see the excitement that was generated when we won the FAI Cup a couple of years ago.

“That’s the impact the club can have on a city and a community.

“Ruaidhri knows that. He is conscious of what it means to people.

“But my request is for fans to be patient.

“This is a great young manager. He has a great young team.

“But they have had terrible luck with injuries.

“Once they get everyone fit, they are going to be a force to be reckoned with.

“So be patient with them.

“Back them.”

That support will be needed across the next four days.

First up, it is Shamrock Rovers tonight in the Brandywell.

Then, on Monday, it is St Pat’s - Cup holders joining the defending champions in their attempts to rattle City.

“It is the biggest weekend of the season so far,” says Deery.

In any case, he knows how hard management can be.

“It’s different to when we were players,” he says, bearing in mind he is still only 39.

“What I mean by that is that when we started out, we were told what to do by a manager. Now the manager has to explain things.

“You must have principles, yes.

“But you have to relate to players in a way the managers of the 1990s would not have needed to.

“In a sense, that is one of the reasons why Stephen (Kenny) did so well in Derry.

“He was ahead of his time in terms of his thinking.

“He was a brilliant communicator.

“His knowledge of the game was good.

“We all learned from him.”

And Higgins’ education continued as a player and then coach under Kenny at Dundalk.

Deery said: “Ruaidhri is his own man but Kenny would have been an influential figure, no doubt about it.

“He has done a great job.”

But the next four days and two games have the potential to shape his Brandywell legacy.

“Massive games,” Deery said.

No one doubts it.

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