Dave Langan

LEAD

SOCCER: The World Cup is up and running at last but first it is time for a story about Irish footballers past and present and modern day travel, private and cheap.

On Wednesday night a group of six Ireland internationals boarded a mini-bus outside Podgorica’s City Stadium to make their way to the local airport after their team’s satisfying if scoreless draw with Montenegro.

Waiting for them at a small airport some 10 miles away was a brand new gulfstream private jet, hired by a handful of Premier League clubs to bring their top stars back home quickly and safely.

Shay Given, Richard Dunne, Kevin Kilbane, Steven Reid, Robbie Keane and Steve Finnan, technically no longer a Liverpool player, are used to such things.

They have mostly lived and worked in the cocoon that is the English Premiership for the duration of their professional lives to date and consequently they are used to being well looked after by their clubs and their sponsors.

Not one of them, millionaires all, will ever have to worry about working for a living when they hang up their boots in the coming years.

Good luck to them. They are all decent human beings in their own way and they deserve whatever riches they can muster for their undoubtable talents.

It is not their fault that clubs in England and Spain want to pay them handsomely for their services nor should they be expected to hand the money back at the end of the week or turn down the contract offers that come their way.

Now fast forward less than 48 hours and sit yourself down in the foyer of Dublin’s Burlington Hotel at lunchtime on Friday as the FAI prepared to host a press reception to announce details of a tribute night for Dave Langan next month.

Just in case you didn’t know, Langan, capped 26 times for his country, played at the highest level in England for Birmingham City, Derby County, Oxford and Peterborough.

He was, in his day, a favourite of the old South Terrace at Lansdowne Road, a player who ran up and down the right wing with his socks around his ankles and his heart clearly visible on his sleeve.

Sadly, today Dave Langan barely resembles the hero of yesteryear. Today he is a former footballer so crippled by the aftermath of an injury picked up playing for Ireland against France in a famous Lansdowne win that he can’t even put on his own shoes and socks.

On Friday, as he awaited the formal launch of a dinner that is the result of years of pressure on the FAI to award Langan a testimonial of some sort, the great man had to stand up while those around him sat down.

The pain shooting from his back into his knees and down into his ankles simply makes it impossible for Langan to sit for any great period of time.

His body is now so used to the painkillers that can ease his discomfort that they are basically ineffective.

And the pain in his knee could be eased by a joint replacement but he can only have two of them before they cut his left leg off!

Dave Langan also had an aeroplane story as we chatted before the formal announcement of some FAI recognition that has been long overdue for a player now official registered as handicapped in the UK where he still lives.

On Thursday Dave flew to Dublin on a Ryanair jet from Stansted like so many others happy to fly with the bargain basement airline.

The flight was cosy enough even for a man with an absolute dread of the idea that he can travel from one country to another through the air.

He then spent Thursday night at home with his mum in Ringsend, switched on the telly and caught the news when one item in particular jumped out at Dave Langan.

The tail of the same plane he had flown to Dublin on had hit the runway on its way back to London! It is apparently a common enough occurrence across the world according to one aviation expert on RTE even though the hundred or so passengers on board didn’t seem to find it comforting.

Certainly the news did little to allay Dave’s fears of flying but the story did offer a stark contrast to the private jet world now inhabited by those who have followed Langan into the Irish team.

Dave Langan will never have the money to fly on a private jet. Homeless a year ago and living in the basement of Peterborough City Hall where he works, he at least has the support of a new wife Dawn now and the prospect of some much needed funds coming his way from this dinner.

God knows he needs the help. God knows he deserves it at a time when modern footballers are pampered as the queue to leave Podgorica airport last Wednesday night proved yet again.

If you can help Dave Langan out in any way possible please do so as he needs as much support as he can get.

More details on the tribute dinner are available at www.fai.ie/davelangan

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OFF-LEAD

SOCCER

SEVEN REASONS TO BE CHEERFUL AFTER TRAP’S WORLD CUP START

1.   Ireland had a decent shape and game plan against both Georgia and Montenegro

2.   John O’Shea and Richard Dunne have discovered how to really play together

3.   Glenn Whelan did everything that was asked of him by the Trap Schema and then some

4.   Kevin Doyle is back to the form that should guarantee him a move to the Premier League in January

5.   Shay Given is back to full fitness and back to world class form

6.   The Irish players are finally going around with a smile on their faces again

7.   Damien Duff should be fit for the home clash with Cyprus next month

SEVEN REASONS TO BE FEARFUL AFTER TRAP’S WORLD CUP START

1.   Trapattoni was happy to settle for a draw in Podgorica when Italy will go there to win

2.   Ireland only created three chances of real note on Montenegro, one of them a legitimate penalty appeal

3.   Italy are already two points ahead of Ireland in the Group Eight table

4.   Trapattoni will have to abandon his cautious tactics at home, can he?

5.   What happens if injuries hit key players as Trap is reluctant to change his personnel