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Gary Deegan

A really nice guy, pleased he has got a move home and his health back.
I never understand the enmity from some at our clubs towards our own players for some odd reasons too often.
 
A really nice guy, pleased he has got a move home and his health back.
I never understand the enmity from some at our clubs towards our own players for some odd reasons too often.

Probably because Phil Brown signed him. By all accounts he was first in for training and last out. Bit of that attitude has been sadly lacking since we stupidly let Brown go.
 
While we are still waiting for something to happen in time for Tuesday ,some may be interested to see that the ex Southend "ChopperHarris" has a WHOLE PAGE devoted to him in today's Irish Independent
Just resigned for Shelbourne
Says best time of his ten years in the UK was with Southend under Phil Brown!!

This article? if so, it is a nice read.

'I had a lot of ups and downs' - Gary Deegan reflects on 10 tumultuous years in England and his return 'home' to Shels

Now 32 years old and back at Shelbourne, Gary Deegan looks back on his 10 years in UK, the trauma of having his jaw broken in an assault and the sepsis which almost left him paralysed

6Full1.jpg
Gary Deegan prepares to return to Shelbourne this season. Photo: Eoin Smith/Shelbourne FC

He joined the club as a 13-year-old kid, and now returns as a man, a father of two, with a lot of miles on the clock. And, in a crucial part of his back-story, more than a few scars.

Going back to Shelbourne, after a decade in the UK, is a big deal for midfielder Gary Deegan.
"Where I started has brought me back full circle and I want to see where it takes me now," says the midfielder, a two-time League of Ireland winner who is one of the main signings for Shels ahead of the 2020 season.

At pre-season training, he's in the company of players who were in primary school when Deegan was playing in the Champions League qualifiers for Bohemians a decade ago. Changed times but still a loyalty to the league.

"The League of Ireland gave me the platform, the tools, to go away and I am grateful to the league for that," Deegan says.

"A lot of that was down to Pat Fenlon, he gave me the real desire to push myself on, to set a high standard and keep it.

6Full2.jpg
With Pat Fenlon being awarded Player of the Month award in October 2008 during his earlier stint at the club. Picture credit: Brian Lawless / Sportsfile
"I went over to England as a young lad, I come home as a father, aged 32, I had a lot of ups and downs and if I can somehow help the young players at Shels know the standard you need to compete at a high level, I want to be that person."

Deegan is not overselling his career when he says he had "ups and downs". A broken ankle in pre-season of his first full season at Coventry (then a Championship side) kept him out for almost a year.

While at Coventry he made national headlines when a joke about the IRA, in the middle of what's called online banter with a team-mate, landed him in trouble.

Suffered

At Hibernian, his second cross-channel club, he suffered a broken jaw after being punched on a night out in the town. And last year, while at League Two side Cambridge United, he suffered from sepsis which threatened not just his career, but his long-term health.

"My life could have been taken away from me very quickly, the doctors told me I was hours away from being paralysed," says Deegan, who cut short his contract with Cambridge to come home to Dublin and join Shels.

"When you have such a traumatic time in your life you gain perspective, know where you want to go in life and this was the perfect time for me to come home, be around family. I have two young girls and I want them to be around family more.

"When you are close to a bad experience, as I was last year, you want to get the most out of life. I battled to get back into good shape, and I wanted to show that the league here has more to offer, I wanted to beat that drum, show that the league can be strong, that the league can produce players, can create excitement."

Deegan's story starts at his current stop, Shels, the club he joined at 13. First-team chances were limited but he was a willing student.

"Shels was a great place to learn, people like Alan Moore and Jim Crawford around you, Stuey Byrne and Alan Reynolds, senior pros, men who had high standards for themselves and they expected you to match them," he says.

"They didn't only tell me the good things. If I was slacking off they'd tell me very quickly. Pat Fenlon really drove me, he never let me drop my standards."

After Shels came his Discover Ireland tour (spells at Longford Town and Galway United) before a two-year stint at Bohs under Fenlon yielded two league titles and European football. English clubs were keen on Deegan and Coventry City won the race, in January 2010.

England started well, among the highlights a match-winning goal for Coventry in a Championship win over QPR, in front of 16,000 fans. But that broken ankle in the summer of 2010 scuppered his season before it started, and he would play just once more for Coventry.

Carelessness on social media made him famous outside Coventry. He was suspended by the club for tweeting 'Up the RA' to team-mate James McPake after he was called up by Northern Ireland.

"I was only new to social media and I learned that you have to be very careful. Social media is a minefield, I was immature with what I said but I learned and grew," he says.

"I see young lads now tweeting all sorts and I try and tell them to rein that in. You should worry about being a footballer, nothing else.

"It did get me into a spot of bother and I didn't realise the seriousness of it at the time. It was a big deal but I learned my lesson, after that I got my head down, got off social media and I haven't gone near it since.

"I don't do Twitter or Facebook, and that's a good thing. I don't get sucked into the carry-on of other people."

Fenlon took Deegan to Hibernian in 2012 but after a good start to the season, his world was ruptured in October 2012 when he was struck during a night out and suffered a broken jaw (in 2014 the other party in the incident was found not guilty of assault).

"That was another life lesson. I got punched, simple as that. It happened and I had to deal with it, it was more character-building for me. You have to move on quickly, you can't think 'why me?'. I dealt with it, worked really hard to get myself back into the team," he says.

"If someone wants to act stupid on a night out, what I can do? I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. I didn't get away lightly, I broke my jaw in three places, had it wired shut for eight weeks, so it was severe.

"But as a person I always look forward, and every now and again it's nice to look back and I think: I came back from a broken ankle, a broken jaw, a tweet that got me into a heap of s***e, I overcame sepsis, that's all character-building."

After Hibs, Deegan headed south, lining out for Northampton Town, Southend United (his best spell, winning promotion under Phil Brown), Shrewsbury Town and Cambridge United.

The last-mentioned club was the location of the most serious chapter in his story, a bout of sepsis last year.

"It could have been from an open wound or it could have been lying dormant in my body, they couldn't explain it," he says.

"I had two weeks in hospital. That was character-building. You are in a hospital bed and can't do anything for yourself, you can't walk, can't **** for yourself.

"I could easily have stepped back. People said I wouldn't play this year, that I shouldn't think about getting back this year.

"But I stayed positive, pushed myself hard. I knew I could not only get back from the sepsis, but play at a competitive level.

"People ask how it felt to battle back and I can only say it takes a lot of mental strength. The sepsis told me to go and be brave, it has added to me as a person."

Deegan was still under contract with Cambridge, but home was calling and he moved back to Shels. Last week's pre-season friendly against Wexford was his first outing in the red shirt of Shels since 2006.

"I am excited to get going and I am optimistic about what the league has to offer," he says. "Shels have had their ups and downs since I was last here but winning helps.

"They have gone up as First Division champions, they have come off a year where they are used to winning. Now it's a test for their young lads to do that in the Premier, but I sense a good feeling around the place. There are a lot of young lads at Shels with potential. But that's all it is, potential. You can't rely on that, you need a standard, an energy, you need to show you are serious and I'd love to help these boys a bit.

"I am excited for the league and the Dublin derbies will be great, Friday nights under the lights. I enjoyed that 10 years ago and damn sure I will enjoy that again.

"Rovers and Bohs at home, playing Friday nights, not Saturday afternoons like in England, I can't wait for that."

Full Story in the Irish Independent
 
This article? if so, it is a nice read.

'I had a lot of ups and downs' - Gary Deegan reflects on 10 tumultuous years in England and his return 'home' to Shels

Now 32 years old and back at Shelbourne, Gary Deegan looks back on his 10 years in UK, the trauma of having his jaw broken in an assault and the sepsis which almost left him paralysed

View attachment 10813
Gary Deegan prepares to return to Shelbourne this season. Photo: Eoin Smith/Shelbourne FC

He joined the club as a 13-year-old kid, and now returns as a man, a father of two, with a lot of miles on the clock. And, in a crucial part of his back-story, more than a few scars.

Going back to Shelbourne, after a decade in the UK, is a big deal for midfielder Gary Deegan.
"Where I started has brought me back full circle and I want to see where it takes me now," says the midfielder, a two-time League of Ireland winner who is one of the main signings for Shels ahead of the 2020 season.

At pre-season training, he's in the company of players who were in primary school when Deegan was playing in the Champions League qualifiers for Bohemians a decade ago. Changed times but still a loyalty to the league.

"The League of Ireland gave me the platform, the tools, to go away and I am grateful to the league for that," Deegan says.

"A lot of that was down to Pat Fenlon, he gave me the real desire to push myself on, to set a high standard and keep it.

View attachment 10814
With Pat Fenlon being awarded Player of the Month award in October 2008 during his earlier stint at the club. Picture credit: Brian Lawless / Sportsfile
"I went over to England as a young lad, I come home as a father, aged 32, I had a lot of ups and downs and if I can somehow help the young players at Shels know the standard you need to compete at a high level, I want to be that person."

Deegan is not overselling his career when he says he had "ups and downs". A broken ankle in pre-season of his first full season at Coventry (then a Championship side) kept him out for almost a year.

While at Coventry he made national headlines when a joke about the IRA, in the middle of what's called online banter with a team-mate, landed him in trouble.

Suffered

At Hibernian, his second cross-channel club, he suffered a broken jaw after being punched on a night out in the town. And last year, while at League Two side Cambridge United, he suffered from sepsis which threatened not just his career, but his long-term health.

"My life could have been taken away from me very quickly, the doctors told me I was hours away from being paralysed," says Deegan, who cut short his contract with Cambridge to come home to Dublin and join Shels.

"When you have such a traumatic time in your life you gain perspective, know where you want to go in life and this was the perfect time for me to come home, be around family. I have two young girls and I want them to be around family more.

"When you are close to a bad experience, as I was last year, you want to get the most out of life. I battled to get back into good shape, and I wanted to show that the league here has more to offer, I wanted to beat that drum, show that the league can be strong, that the league can produce players, can create excitement."

Deegan's story starts at his current stop, Shels, the club he joined at 13. First-team chances were limited but he was a willing student.

"Shels was a great place to learn, people like Alan Moore and Jim Crawford around you, Stuey Byrne and Alan Reynolds, senior pros, men who had high standards for themselves and they expected you to match them," he says.

"They didn't only tell me the good things. If I was slacking off they'd tell me very quickly. Pat Fenlon really drove me, he never let me drop my standards."

After Shels came his Discover Ireland tour (spells at Longford Town and Galway United) before a two-year stint at Bohs under Fenlon yielded two league titles and European football. English clubs were keen on Deegan and Coventry City won the race, in January 2010.

England started well, among the highlights a match-winning goal for Coventry in a Championship win over QPR, in front of 16,000 fans. But that broken ankle in the summer of 2010 scuppered his season before it started, and he would play just once more for Coventry.

Carelessness on social media made him famous outside Coventry. He was suspended by the club for tweeting 'Up the RA' to team-mate James McPake after he was called up by Northern Ireland.

"I was only new to social media and I learned that you have to be very careful. Social media is a minefield, I was immature with what I said but I learned and grew," he says.

"I see young lads now tweeting all sorts and I try and tell them to rein that in. You should worry about being a footballer, nothing else.

"It did get me into a spot of bother and I didn't realise the seriousness of it at the time. It was a big deal but I learned my lesson, after that I got my head down, got off social media and I haven't gone near it since.

"I don't do Twitter or Facebook, and that's a good thing. I don't get sucked into the carry-on of other people."

Fenlon took Deegan to Hibernian in 2012 but after a good start to the season, his world was ruptured in October 2012 when he was struck during a night out and suffered a broken jaw (in 2014 the other party in the incident was found not guilty of assault).

"That was another life lesson. I got punched, simple as that. It happened and I had to deal with it, it was more character-building for me. You have to move on quickly, you can't think 'why me?'. I dealt with it, worked really hard to get myself back into the team," he says.

"If someone wants to act stupid on a night out, what I can do? I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. I didn't get away lightly, I broke my jaw in three places, had it wired shut for eight weeks, so it was severe.

"But as a person I always look forward, and every now and again it's nice to look back and I think: I came back from a broken ankle, a broken jaw, a tweet that got me into a heap of s***e, I overcame sepsis, that's all character-building."

After Hibs, Deegan headed south, lining out for Northampton Town, Southend United (his best spell, winning promotion under Phil Brown), Shrewsbury Town and Cambridge United.

The last-mentioned club was the location of the most serious chapter in his story, a bout of sepsis last year.

"It could have been from an open wound or it could have been lying dormant in my body, they couldn't explain it," he says.

"I had two weeks in hospital. That was character-building. You are in a hospital bed and can't do anything for yourself, you can't walk, can't **** for yourself.

"I could easily have stepped back. People said I wouldn't play this year, that I shouldn't think about getting back this year.

"But I stayed positive, pushed myself hard. I knew I could not only get back from the sepsis, but play at a competitive level.

"People ask how it felt to battle back and I can only say it takes a lot of mental strength. The sepsis told me to go and be brave, it has added to me as a person."

Deegan was still under contract with Cambridge, but home was calling and he moved back to Shels. Last week's pre-season friendly against Wexford was his first outing in the red shirt of Shels since 2006.

"I am excited to get going and I am optimistic about what the league has to offer," he says. "Shels have had their ups and downs since I was last here but winning helps.

"They have gone up as First Division champions, they have come off a year where they are used to winning. Now it's a test for their young lads to do that in the Premier, but I sense a good feeling around the place. There are a lot of young lads at Shels with potential. But that's all it is, potential. You can't rely on that, you need a standard, an energy, you need to show you are serious and I'd love to help these boys a bit.

"I am excited for the league and the Dublin derbies will be great, Friday nights under the lights. I enjoyed that 10 years ago and damn sure I will enjoy that again.

"Rovers and Bohs at home, playing Friday nights, not Saturday afternoons like in England, I can't wait for that."

Full Story in the Irish Independent
Nice article yes,but hold your horses —Growler has told us Deegan has RESIGNED at Shelbourne!
 
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