Gareth Farrelly
by Ciaran McNulty
Evertonians can be hardened cynics, these days. There can be an air of horrible pessimistic and aggressive expectancy directed towards the club from those who support it.
Some will tell you that the 70s were a woeful time for the club. As if the 90s and early 2000s were that glory-filled. Others will bemoan a scoreless draw at Crystal Palace or an unlucky defeat with 10 men to Sunderland, because after several wins and a fantastically attractive change to our footballing style, clearly this means we’re Barcelona now and can accept nothing less than a 3 point rout over any opposition we deem as beneath us.
And then there’s a certain kind of Evertonian who will tell you how Gareth Farrelly was shit and only scored one league goal. Wow. Coz God forbid you allow yourself to get bogged down by the romantic notion of a boyhood blue saving his club from relegation with the only goal of his Everton career. Christ. What have you done lately that’s better than that?
Gareth Farrelly is a rare type of Everton player. It’s not uncommon for a boyhood Evertonian to represent the club. But in this country, where the fickle Irish fan chases trophies and trades in Chelsea shirts for City shirts, it’s hugely uncommon for an Irishman, who reaches the standard to participate in the Premier League, to have whistled Z-Cars in his childhood. As much as we love them, I somehow doubt Coleman or Gibson were boyhood blues! On the other hand, Gareth Farrely was, is and and always shall be an Evertonian.
Playing his youth career coincidentally with Home Farm but leaving 3 years before that youth team made it’s connections with Everton, Farrelly was wrenched from Whitehall and across the Irish sea at the age of 16, when Aston Villa and the English Premier League beckoned. And boy, if people think his Everton career up until that dramtic day in 1998 was unremarkable, then they should take a look at the man’s time at Villa. 8 league appearances and no goals came during a period when there was a distinctly Irish flavour at the Birmingham club. All this eventually saw him loaned to Rotherham before his dreams came true- against all odds- when his boyhood club came knocking at the door.
It speaks volume about the dip in fortunes and ambitions of Everton in that era, that Farrelly became a first team player at Goodison at all. There had been and would be periods for Everton where, I’m sorry to say, a lad like Gareth wouldn’t even be looked at by the Blues.
But times were rough and the £700,000 purchase was soon playing first team football for the Toffees but unfortunately, in the midst of a dire season where we were fighting for our lives. And thusly, in may 1998, the great old club found itself in the sorry position once again, of having to secure top flight status with one game.
Nothing less than a point would save us. But, we knew that, should Bolton win, it wouldn’t even matter what our result was- we’d still go down. It was grim.
Farrelly, of course, proved equal to the task, doing what Nick Barmby(*spits*) could not, by putting the ball in the net. With one League Cup goal in his time at Everton as well, Farrelly’s only league goal wasn’t just our most significent goal of that season and, indeed, for some years, it was also pretty damn good. A sweet half-volley from some distance out, smashing into the Park End goal with some appropriately placed tri-colours resting behind the net, as if to urge Gareth on.
Sure enough, it was the peak of what, on paper, was an unremarkable career. But for we Irish Evertonians, imagine the feeling it gave Gareth Farrelly. Whilst you’re not lifting silverware but, in fact, playing at the club’s lowest possible ebb, you- a boyhood Evertonian- have just scored the goal that has saved your club. No matter what we say about the rest of his career- that’s fairytale stuff.
After Everton, he bounced down into lower league football and found himself back home as player/manager of Bohemians. During this period, I desperately wanted to get to a Bohs game to try and get him to sign my 97/98 jersey(I still call that ugly light blue thing the Farrelly shirt!) but alas, my home town team Dundalk were out of the top flight at the time and unless I was watching Dundalk, I saw no reason to head down to Dalymount!
In May 2008, a decade on from his ‘Great Escape’ heroics, Farrelly had to have a pancreatic tumour(which generally has a 90% fatality rate) removed in a very dangerous operation, but he came through it with flying colours. Another great escape for the man.
Since then, he’s knuckled down, gotten himself a degree and becoming a sports lawyer for Liverpool firm Hampson Hughes, based at Albert Dock. So, don’t be surprised if you spot his face at Goodison once in a while.
So, are the cynical naysayers right? Despite the importance of his one league goal, is it still not enough to make him someone worth honouring?
Here’s what the man himself had to say about it, when recently interviewed by the Former Players’ Foundation:
“There’s a misconception in the modern game that everyone’s a legend. And you mention Howard (Kendall) and people that were part of the successful teams, and my story is a different one. My story relates to a relegation fight. So, I’m not a ‘Legend’; I’m just someone who was lucky enough to do something once.”
Mr. Farrelly, I respectfully disagree. You utter fucking legend.
Some will tell you that the 70s were a woeful time for the club. As if the 90s and early 2000s were that glory-filled. Others will bemoan a scoreless draw at Crystal Palace or an unlucky defeat with 10 men to Sunderland, because after several wins and a fantastically attractive change to our footballing style, clearly this means we’re Barcelona now and can accept nothing less than a 3 point rout over any opposition we deem as beneath us.
And then there’s a certain kind of Evertonian who will tell you how Gareth Farrelly was shit and only scored one league goal. Wow. Coz God forbid you allow yourself to get bogged down by the romantic notion of a boyhood blue saving his club from relegation with the only goal of his Everton career. Christ. What have you done lately that’s better than that?
Gareth Farrelly is a rare type of Everton player. It’s not uncommon for a boyhood Evertonian to represent the club. But in this country, where the fickle Irish fan chases trophies and trades in Chelsea shirts for City shirts, it’s hugely uncommon for an Irishman, who reaches the standard to participate in the Premier League, to have whistled Z-Cars in his childhood. As much as we love them, I somehow doubt Coleman or Gibson were boyhood blues! On the other hand, Gareth Farrely was, is and and always shall be an Evertonian.
Playing his youth career coincidentally with Home Farm but leaving 3 years before that youth team made it’s connections with Everton, Farrelly was wrenched from Whitehall and across the Irish sea at the age of 16, when Aston Villa and the English Premier League beckoned. And boy, if people think his Everton career up until that dramtic day in 1998 was unremarkable, then they should take a look at the man’s time at Villa. 8 league appearances and no goals came during a period when there was a distinctly Irish flavour at the Birmingham club. All this eventually saw him loaned to Rotherham before his dreams came true- against all odds- when his boyhood club came knocking at the door.
It speaks volume about the dip in fortunes and ambitions of Everton in that era, that Farrelly became a first team player at Goodison at all. There had been and would be periods for Everton where, I’m sorry to say, a lad like Gareth wouldn’t even be looked at by the Blues.
But times were rough and the £700,000 purchase was soon playing first team football for the Toffees but unfortunately, in the midst of a dire season where we were fighting for our lives. And thusly, in may 1998, the great old club found itself in the sorry position once again, of having to secure top flight status with one game.
Nothing less than a point would save us. But, we knew that, should Bolton win, it wouldn’t even matter what our result was- we’d still go down. It was grim.
Farrelly, of course, proved equal to the task, doing what Nick Barmby(*spits*) could not, by putting the ball in the net. With one League Cup goal in his time at Everton as well, Farrelly’s only league goal wasn’t just our most significent goal of that season and, indeed, for some years, it was also pretty damn good. A sweet half-volley from some distance out, smashing into the Park End goal with some appropriately placed tri-colours resting behind the net, as if to urge Gareth on.
Sure enough, it was the peak of what, on paper, was an unremarkable career. But for we Irish Evertonians, imagine the feeling it gave Gareth Farrelly. Whilst you’re not lifting silverware but, in fact, playing at the club’s lowest possible ebb, you- a boyhood Evertonian- have just scored the goal that has saved your club. No matter what we say about the rest of his career- that’s fairytale stuff.
After Everton, he bounced down into lower league football and found himself back home as player/manager of Bohemians. During this period, I desperately wanted to get to a Bohs game to try and get him to sign my 97/98 jersey(I still call that ugly light blue thing the Farrelly shirt!) but alas, my home town team Dundalk were out of the top flight at the time and unless I was watching Dundalk, I saw no reason to head down to Dalymount!
In May 2008, a decade on from his ‘Great Escape’ heroics, Farrelly had to have a pancreatic tumour(which generally has a 90% fatality rate) removed in a very dangerous operation, but he came through it with flying colours. Another great escape for the man.
Since then, he’s knuckled down, gotten himself a degree and becoming a sports lawyer for Liverpool firm Hampson Hughes, based at Albert Dock. So, don’t be surprised if you spot his face at Goodison once in a while.
So, are the cynical naysayers right? Despite the importance of his one league goal, is it still not enough to make him someone worth honouring?
Here’s what the man himself had to say about it, when recently interviewed by the Former Players’ Foundation:
“There’s a misconception in the modern game that everyone’s a legend. And you mention Howard (Kendall) and people that were part of the successful teams, and my story is a different one. My story relates to a relegation fight. So, I’m not a ‘Legend’; I’m just someone who was lucky enough to do something once.”
Mr. Farrelly, I respectfully disagree. You utter fucking legend.
Gareth Farrelly is in here somewhere!
