Let’s commence at the most appropriate place, the beginning;
Derry City F.C. were founded in 1928 out of the ashes of the defunct Derry Celtic FC which had folded in 1913. The years between the demise and foundation of the two clubs could be attributed to many historical events; the First World War, the turmoil following the Easter Rising, Civil War and partition of Ireland (which would lead to two football leagues – the IFA (Northern Ireland) and the FAI (the Republic, obviously). The founders of Derry City F.C dropped the ‘Celtic’ as they believed that this would alienate the Protestant population of the city and therefore undermine their determination that the club would be a non-sectarian entity, an ethos that still holds true today.
Stadium,
The club has been based at the Brandywell Stadium since 1929. The stadium itself now boasts such facilities as two covered stands, one primarily for season ticket/away fans, one for directors/sponsors etc. another seated area open to the elements and nothing much at both ends (oh, we have got a large screen on the back of a lorry at one end), two small toilets and the piece de resistance…a dog track around the diameter of the pitch. Eat your heart out at that Camp Nou et al.
Early Years,
In their first season in the Irish League (Northern), DCFC (allez allez allez), finished an admirable 5th. An early hero was Jimmy Kelly who scored an astonishing 218 league goals between 1928-1952 along with 193 in other competitions. Kelly had trained at Anfield, although I’m not sure if he played a senior game there.
In 1934 DCFC changed their colours to their now traditional red & white striped shirts, black shorts with white socks, this was in tribute to the then manager Billy Gillespie who had played for Sheffield Utd. This lead to the nickname of ‘The Candystripes’
In 1949 the club won the Irish Cup for the first time beating Glentoran 2-1. This was notable for Jimmy Kelly being taken off for concussion only to be sent back on 15 minutes later, remember there was no subs at this stage.
The 50s and 60s saw ups and downs as a club. The team played well in the cup competitions and then they finally won the Irish League for the first and only time in 1965, this was the conclusion of a 47 game unbeaten run.
60s-1985
Aaaaah ‘The Troubles’, (I’ll not go into the politics!). The Brandywell area of the city is in a Republican area. This combined with tensions between rival supporters/Police/British Army etc etc lead to crowd trouble with Linfield FC in particular refusing to play at the ground. The IFA forced DCFC to play their home games against Linfield at their ground of Windsor Park, this is in a staunchly Protestant area of Belfast. In 1972 the hijacking of Ballymena Utds team bus was unconnected to the club but if culminated with the IFA demanding that DCFC played their home games at Coleraine, 30 miles away. As you can appreciate this proved unsustainable. DCFC applied to IFA to return to the Brandywell (Police had now deemed the stadium no more dangerous than any other in the country). The IFA put it to the vote of the other clubs; Derry City lost the vote 6-5. On Friday the 13th of October 1972 the club withdrew from senior football.
1985
DCFC applied to play in the Republic’s League of Ireland. The IFA (probably bored with DCFCs annual application to rejoin the league) relented and agreed that DCFC should be licensed to the FAI (keep up at the back!).
In that year they won the First Division Shield. The following year they won promotion to the Premier Division.
In 1989 the managerial nous of Jim McLaughlin secured the club a majestic Treble of the League, the FAI Cup and the League Cup, I’m nearly in tears just thinking about it!
These teams included the international flare of Serbian (then Yugoslav) Alex Krstic, Brazilian Nelson da Silva and the genius of South African Owen da Gama.
2000 – now
In 2000 the club was hit with a tax bill of 180k. The club and the city (which can be apathetic towards the team) rallied. Co founder of the SDLP John Hume used his political clout as a result teams such as Barcelona, Real Madrid and, ahem Man Utd played friendlies which helped boost the coffers. Of note, The Undertones played a free benefit gig, the team runs out to the sound of ‘Teenage Kicks’.
Recent successes/catastrophes
In 2005 under the stewardship of Stephen Kenny DCFC finished 2nd in the league having lost a winner takes all final day of the season game against eventual winners Cork City.
This lead to the participation in the 2006 UEFA Cup. Glory days indeed, Derry beat the twice winners of the competition IFK Gothenburg 2-0 on aggregate. DCFC then beat Gretna (don’t laugh, Gretna at the time were bankrolled by a multi-millionaire) 7-3 over two legs, including a blistering strike you can find on YouTube from Kevin Deery. The club were then handed a somewhat difficult draw against the mighty PSG. Having held the European Heavyweights to an outstanding 0-0 at the Brandywell (the PSG players must have found the facilities a delight!). City didn’t embarrass themselves in the away tie, succumbing 2-0.
On the flip side Derry had been doing what is now probably known as a ‘Rangers’, namely playing some players dual contracts, and as a result, were relegated to the First Division, quite rightly to. To his credit Stephen Kenny and most of his side stayed intact, and with the introduction of some new blood they won the title and are now duly back in the top flight. We, along with the vast majority of Irish sides, North and South, are skint!
Legendary players? Amongst others,
Top goalscorer (in FAI times) was the stupendously talented Liam Coyle, a man who could have played at the top level if he didn’t have knees made of chalk. In the abovementioned game vs Barcelona he left tangle haired Charlie Puyol sitting on his arse.
Mark Farren, striker. Mark was diagnosed with a brain tumour and was out of the game for about a season and a half. He subsequently had the tumour removed and is happily back playing with the club. He wore one of those Petr Cech head guards for a while discarding it as soon as he could. Why does Cech still wear his?
Paddy McCourt, who despite his dribbling skills sadly has spent the last few years sitting on the Celtic bench.
Daniel Laverty, a young talented left back who joined Burnely last season.
James McClean. Someone who Liverpool should’ve taken a chance on at the start of last season. A gifted left winger who puts everything he has into making it to the highest level in football. Sunderland bought him for something ridiculous like 190k with other appearance fees built in.
Players to look out for – Stephen McLaughlin, left wing/striker. Ryan McBride, centre half.
Our new manager this season is Declan Devine, it’s been pretty average so far but we’ve no money and a young side. I’ll update a few of the recent results soon.
