with Jonny Hayes

Decisions, decisions…

Being a footballer might seem pretty straightforward. You show a talent for the game, a club spots you, offers you a chance to play for them and you go from strength to strength thereafter. The truth is, as usual, a bit more complicated than that, as Jonny Hayes can tell you.

A footballer’s life, like anyone else’s, is filled with decisions, from the smallest to the biggest. On the field, they are making a decision in almost every moment of the 90 minutes. Do I make that run, should I lay the ball off, which pass, should I go in with the tackle or hold off, do I go past the extra man? But away from the game itself, the decisions are often bigger, heavy with implications, and often made at the youngest of ages – would you fancy your chances of picking the right club from a dozen options as teenager?

That was the dilemma that faced Jonny Hayes when he was growing up in Dublin as a football mad kid. “All I did then was play football. I was not interested in playing computer games. As soon as I got home from school, I would be out playing football. I would then come in and have my dinner, watch “Power Rangers” and then go straight back out and play football again! The next door neighbour had a really big garden, the size of an 18 yard box, and we would play there the minute we came home from school until bed time.

“I was a Liverpool fan growing up, mainly because my dad and my brother were Manchester United fans! I remember for my fifth birthday, my dad bought me a United top, the one with the laces around the collar. By my sixth birthday I was getting a Liverpool top with Fowler on the back! Every Christmas or birthday after that, I was given a new Liverpool kit up until I was about 14.

“I played football for Cherry Orchard. They were one of the better schoolboy teams in the Dublin area. Their pitch where we played was literary a hundred yards from my house, although I was still the last one there for training! They were a good club and they looked after us – plenty of my family members also played for them over the years. From my age group, two of us went away to play professionally but from the year above me, Stephen Quinn is now at Hull, Gary Dicker is at Brighton, Keith Fahey, Willo Flood, Andy Reid, Glenn Whelan and a good number of others have also gone on and made it in the game, so it is definitely one of the more successful schoolboy football teams in Ireland.

“When I was coming through as a player, I had the best part of a dozen offers. I blossomed quite late because for most of my early career I was a left-back, though my dad was telling the coaches that I should be playing further forward. Then one day, all the strikers were injured and suspended so I was played up front and did ok. I was given one more game up there and I scored four! The week after, there were trials for the Ireland national under age team. I went there thinking I would be playing left-back but they threw me upfront and in the last 20 minutes I scored a hat-trick and we won 3-1. I have been a forward player ever since.

“I then had a lot of scouts offering me trials – I went to some and not others. Cherry Orchard has a partnership with Manchester City so they had first refusal, but I ended up going to about twelve different clubs on trial, playing games and then narrowed it down. I actually did not want to go to Reading – I remember the night before I went over thinking it would be between Spurs and Celtic but I went over anyway and I met Brendan Rodgers. He was the Academy Director at Reading and I spent six days in London with him. When I left to return home, I had made up my mind, I was going to sign for Reading. Brendan was brilliant. He went out of his way to make me feel welcome. He is one of the nicest guys I have come across in football. They offered me a deal at the end of the six days, but I played it cool and said I wanted to go home and discuss it with my parents, but I had already made up my mind. I was due to go on trial at Sunderland and Leeds but I did not want to go anywhere else. I had my heart set on playing at Reading with Brendan.

“I did really well in my first year but then we had a dispute over my contract and there was talk of me leaving as a few clubs were interested. But I resolved my problems and signed a two year professional contract. About a week after putting pen to paper, Brendan left and joined Chelsea to go and work with Jose Mourinho at the Chelsea Academy. He said to me that if I had not signed a professional contract, he might have taken me with him, and two or three players did go with him to Stafford Bridge. By all accounts, he transformed the Chelsea Academy. Even after he left, I still kept in touch with him and would go round to his house for a cup of tea. I remember my first birthday away from home, he invited me round to be with his family and he went and bought a cake. Things like that stick with you. Just speaking to him every day about football, you knew that he would go on to big and better things.

“I remember one day going to speak to him after a training session and asking him why we were doing what we did today. He brought me into his office to explain exactly why and what technique it would improve. He even gave me a demonstration, although his playing career was cut short because of injury, what he could do with his left foot was still frightening. He then sat down and showed me exactly what sessions we would be doing each day for the next four weeks and why we were doing it. He had everything organised to give the players the best development they could get in the game. Every little detail was planned out. You hear the stories of Mourinho, I think Brendan had the nickname at Chelsea of ‘mini Mourinho’. He has never changed his methods. I watched the documentary on Liverpool and he still had all his notes on what he was doing. He is the best coach I have worked with and I am sure every player who has worked with him would say the same thing.

“As a Liverpool fan I was delighted to see him get the job at Anfield. At Reading he was the best coach at the club. The management team would come and ask him for advice. He did well at Watford in his first job as manager but for whatever reason, things did not work out for him when he went back to Reading. I think he is the type of manager who needs time to stamp his mark on a football club, like he did at Swansea. They have gone from strength to strength.

“After he left Reading, my time there was ok, but I couldn’t break into the first team and I needed to play football, so during my six months of my deal I went on loan to MK Dons. Martin Allan was the manager, but he knew he was getting the Leicester job and he asked me if I wanted to go with him. They were obviously a big club and it appealed to me because I knew the manager and would not have to go somewhere else to try and impress.

“Leicester were far bigger than I realised. Even when we got relegated to League One, there were 30,000 people at our game. It was a bit like Aberdeen in many ways, a sleeping giant. They have a massive stadium and the facilities are second to none. I got injured in the first game and was out for four months. That first year, I got quite a lot of injuries – I also did my ankle ligaments and was out for another four months. Because of the way things went, I did regret going there. I had an offer on the table from MK Dons and I remember the Chairman speaking to my parents and saying it did not matter who the new manager would be, they wanted me at the club. As it was, Paul Ince came in the following season. My dad advised me not to go to Leicester and to sign for the Dons, to learn my trade because I had only played a dozen games up to that point. I wish I had listened to people and stayed in Milton Keynes and I do regret it, but then again I might have gone to the MK Dons and got injured and not played. You just don’t know so there is no point in looking back.

“Martin only lasted a few months in the job at Leicester before Gary Megson arrived, then he went to Bolton after about six weeks. Ian Holloway then came in and he was brilliant. He put me out on loan for a few games, but I also played under him. I loved him. You see the quotes he comes out with in the press, that is what he is like in real life. The first day he walked in and said we were not allowed to call him boss or gaffer, we have to call him Ollie because he was our mate. His enthusiasm was second to none. He made a head tennis court next to the gym and would get all the young boys in at 8am so they could improve their touch. He would be there every morning at 8am to play against them. I think he was unbeaten because he was really good!

“Unfortunately it did not work out for him and he was sacked – that Leicester squad really underachieved. We had something like four managers in one season, all trying to stamp their authority on the players. We got relegated on the last day of the season. It was a shame Ollie got sacked because I think I would have got a chance under him.

“Then Nigel Pearson came in and my face did not fit. I was rather naive and did not get my head down and work my socks off. That is the one piece of advice I would give to the young players at Pittodrie. If you’re not in the frame, work harder at your game. I did not do that. I was quite happy just training and then going home afterwards. I then realised it is not just about training. You have to play games. If I could have turned back the clock, I would have put a lot of extra time into my game and into my gym work. It wasn’t working out and though I had a three year deal. I left by mutual consent after two.

“I had a good offer to go to America but decided to come to Scotland instead. When I went to Inverness, I had no idea where it was, I did not even know what league they were in! I wasn’t bothered, I just wanted to get out and play football. I really enjoyed my time there. The first season we won promotion and I kick started my career. I will always be very grateful to Terry Butcher for giving me that opportunity. I cannot speak highly enough about Terry.He was great to work with and was like a father figure for me. A few times I was on the end of his hair dryer treatment, but I never held it against him. It was the hardest phone call I have ever had to make, to tell him I was joining Aberdeen, such is the respect I have for him”.

Since arriving at Pittodrie, Jonny has been faced with another season of ups and downs, the curse of injury having fallen upon him again.

“It has not been a great season from a team or a personal point of view. At the start, we were playing some nice football but then we got a lot of injuries. We managed to weather the storm a bit and keep in contention, but after Christmas we did not kick on, individually and as a group.

“Before signing for the club I spoke to Craig Brown quite a lot and he really sold it to me. If we had done better, he maybe would not have retired. Things obviously did not go plan and the season has not been good enough, nowhere near it to be honest. I spoke to a friend after being here for a few days and told him we would finish second in the SPL. Just looking at the squad we had, the technical ability of the players, the camaraderie in the dressing room, the balance of experienced pros like Gavin and Russell, middle lads like myself and Niall, then the younger lads like Declan and Cammy who are coming through, I felt we had a really good team. I can’t put my finger on what went wrong. There were so many games where we deserved more and a few games where we were not good enough. We lost seven points to Inverness and Ross County. No disrespect to them, but I think we have a better squad than either. Maybe we needed more time to gel. Hopefully with the new manager, we can gel better next season.

“It is all fine margins. You look at some of the 0-0 games at home. We battered some teams, and even if we had just turned just one or two into wins, things would look very different. There is a lot more expected of us in the home games. It is hard when teams come here and play 4-5-1. We struggled to break teams down. When I came here with Inverness we deliberately tried to frustrate Aberdeen and the fans. Playing away from home is a lot easier because we can counter attack and we have the players who can do that at pace.

“There were not many games where we were lucky to get a result, maybe the 3-3 against Motherwell, the 1-0 over Hibs at Easter Road, but there are a lot more games where we deserved to get something. You can’t blame the whole season on luck, but we haven’t had much! We have not scored enough goals really though. I would have liked to have scored more. A few of the boys in the dressing room feel the same. The hardest thing in the game is sticking the ball into the net and we have struggled to do that this season. Niall’s goals have bailed us out on too many occasions. If any of us attacking players had contributed even just four or five goals, the picture could look very different.

“Things on the park have not gone the way I would have wanted but off the pitch I have settled in very well. My girlfriend is also very settled. I have been on the move my whole life, but for her it is different and people have gone out of their way to make her feel welcome.

“I could not say a bad word about anyone at this club and this is the only club I have been at where I could say that. Everyone has been fantastic. No matter what you want, from posting letters, to looking at cars, to buying a house, everybody tries to help out. So life is good, but obviously things would be better if we had had a better season, if we were in the top six. Now I’m now just looking forward to ending this season on a high and starting next season the same way.

“I cannot speak highly enough of the new management team. I knew Derek McInnes a little bit from speaking to him before when he tried to sign me a few years back for St Johnstone. I remember speaking to him and I really liked his ideas. I was keen to work with him but I had only played one season in Inverness and I felt I owed it to Terry Butcher to stay longer, but it meant I half knew what to expect when he came in a couple of weeks ago. You also have Tony Docherty as the coach who I have heard good reviews about.

“The training has been top notch, very organised. The intensity has been very high. It has been tough but very good. They both get involved, the gaffer will take a drill and then Doc will take one and then the manager again. You can also see that they still have a bit of ability when they join in! They do like to get involved although it would be a brave player who puts a strong challenge in on them! Obviously they want to put their own stamp on the club and it will probably take until pre-season to do that. It will take time for them to tell us how they want us to play.

“I am just glad I am here now and playing. I am 25 now and I feel I will come back next season stronger and quicker. Being a professional footballer is the best job in the world and every day I realise how fortunate I am. Getting to train everyday, even though it is cold and windy, is something you would do for free. If I was not a professional footballer, I would be playing five-a-sides every night with my mates. As a footballer, you sometimes get a bit of stick but that comes with the job.I look forward to playing for as long as possible”.