Book review

SCOUTING FOR GLORY, written and published by Fred O'Donoghue, with a foreword by Sir Alex

Ferguson, £9.99

FRED O'Donoghue must be due a long-service medal for services to North-West football clubs.

Instead he is still pounding the scouting beat.

And his 'nest-egg' will have to come either from the sale of one of the proteges he introduced to professional football, or possibly the proceeds from his book 'Scouting for Glory' which he has just republished.

O'Donoghue, who worked for Blackburn Rovers for almost 15 years to earn a testimonial from the club in 1985, before joining the staff at Preston North End and then Blackpool, has written his life story in football, which offers a vastly different insight into the game than the majority of glamorous autobiographies on the shelves this Christmas.

O'Donoghue's is a tale of endless hours of searching for the next big thing, of working for next to nothing, and doing almost every job under the sun at cash-strapped clubs for his love of the game.

Not that he would do it for exactly nothing, however. He left Ewood Park when after retiring from his 'day-job' in the traffic management section at Blackburn Town Hall, Rovers wanted him to work on a daily basis for expenses only. His principles also led him to quit Preston North End when Walter Joyce was sacked, and he almost left Blackpool when they reduced the scouting staff to cut costs.

He has hung in there at Blackpool, though, and even at 72 and after a couple of major health scares, he is keeping his eyes peeled for young prospects who he feels will make the grade.

The book is a fascinating tale of life behind the scenes, of the unsung heroes at football clubs and some big names not always seen at their best.

O'Donoghue's time at Ewood Park, following his appointment as chief scout by Ken Furphy, relates to a different Rovers from the one today.

Money was tight and the club was still trying to climb up the divisions.

O'Donoghue also took charge of the 'A' team, collected new managers Jim Smith and Howard Kendall off the train at Preston, and brought the likes of John Bailey, Simon Garner, Simon Barker, Mark Patterson, David May, Jason Wilcox and Franz Carr through the ranks.

A lot of people owe a lot to O'Donoghue, and he has many a tale to tell.

PETE OLIVER

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.