Former Republic of Ireland and Millwall goalkeeper David Forde told David Hennessy about his new book looking back on his career ahead of this Friday night’s launch at The Claddagh Ring.
The Republic of Ireland Soccer Supporters Club (London) host former Republic of Ireland goalkeeper David Forde at the Claddagh Ring this week.
David will be interviewed and sign copies of his new book, Being the One.
Proceeds on the night go to the charity HACS.
David Forde, from Galway City, played for Millwall from 2008 to 2017.
It was during his time at the South East London club that Forde broke into the Irish set- up. He would travel to Euro 2012 as back up to Shay Given and become Republic of Ireland number one under Giovanni Trapattoni and remain in situ under the management of Martin O’Neill and Roy Keane.
Forde began his career at Galway United and also had stints with Barry Town, West Ham, Derry City, Cardiff City and Cambridge United where he finished his career in 2019.
More than just a book about his football career, the book is a story of self- discovery and transformation.
It also details his family background and difficult subjects such as his alcoholic father and his sister’s teenage pregnancy.
The book also details Forde’s explosions of anger.
Although he is not known as a volatile character, he talks about bust ups with team mates, managers and even Roy Keane on international duty.
David Forde spoke to the Irish World ahead of the Claddagh Ring event with the RISSC.
What was it like to look back for the book?
“It was a phenomenal experience.
“It was initially done for cathartic purposes and the healing element that came with that and also to document the legacy for my own family, for my children, my grandchildren and for the generations that I won’t get to meet.
“It was an amazing experience and I’d recommend everybody to do it.
“It’s been an absolute rollercoaster.
“It ebbs and flows and the book naturally takes on that wave pattern of extreme highs and crushing lows on that whole journey.
“It’s not just a football story.
“It’s not just about my career.
“It’s about where I grew up on the west coast of Ireland.
“It’s about my ancestors coming to the UK.
“I talk about it in the book: Chapters of my grandparents coming for work in Birmingham.
“They were bus conductors.
“They wake up one morning after the Luftwaffe peppering the city and their bus is in a crater.
“So looking back at what they’ve gone through to get me here, to look at a generational game also and to look back on what I was carrying and what I needed to do, what enhanced me and what debilitated me and letting go of that stuff and holding on to the values of what my ancestors have passed down through the lineage.
“My dad working in London, me following in his footsteps coming over to East London and then making a football career for myself and talking about the clubs I was at and the impact certain individuals, certain coaches, managers and people had upon my life and upon my career.
“It’s a story of resilience.
“It was prescriptive, it was cathartic and it was catalytic as well in terms of what I want to do for my future.”
You were nine years with The Lions and you felt at home at Millwall almost from the beginning, isn’t that right?
“Yeah, I did a book signing at the weekend and a lot of Millwall fans came out.
“One of the Millwall fans asked me what was one of my favourite games at Millwall?
“I said probably the (2010 league one play- off) semi- final versus Huddersfield at The Den, before we even got to Wembley.
“And he said, ‘Yeah, I remember you after, the interview’.
“You said, ‘What a club, what a place to earn your living and your livelihood’.
“It was just such a great time. Once I came to Millwall, that’s when I felt really, really at home in my career.
“It was after the club were going through some tough, tough years.
“And John Berylson (Chairman, RIP), God bless him, came in took over.
“Kenny Jackett had come in (as manager).
“And I can’t remember if I was the first or second signing under them.
“They had great dreams and aspirations to get out of league one and get back into the championship and one day get into the Premier League.
“That was the dream, that was the ambition and we almost got there but first and foremost it was like, ‘Right, get out of League One’.
“And in our first year, we get to the play-offs.
“We get to the play-off final and we lose against Scunthorpe.
“And then we go back the following year and that night, that night against Huddersfield at The Den was absolutely electric.
“Tuesday night under the lights: It doesn’t get much better than that.
“Millwall was the club where I excelled.
“I established myself as being the number one and that’s basically why I call the book Being the One.
“It’s a bit of a double, triple entendre in terms of being the one to have the bravery and the courage to step out in front of thousands of people playing for Ireland, being the one to hold their hand up when you get it wrong, being the one to look back at yourself with the right eyes, with kindness and forgiveness.
“There’s so many layers to the book, it’s like an onion.”
It was your form at Millwall that brought you to Giovanni Trapattoni’s attention.
It has often been said that you were the oldest player to make a competitive Republic of Ireland debut at 33.
Were there times when you thought the dream was gone?
“Actually yeah, it’s a big part in the book.
“I come to it one day and I just decide, ‘Right, that’s the end of Ireland’.
“It’s a true saying, the only way to gain anything is to lose it.
“I just had lost it in myself.
“I’d let it go and a certain level of freedom and a lack of inhibition and inability to express myself kind of came forth from that space.
“I wasn’t so uptight or so desperate to play for Ireland.
“So as a goalkeeper, it helped me in terms of, ‘Right, now I’ve surrendered to it. It’s not going to happen and now I can just play my football’.
“And then my performance levels started to go through the roof because now I wasn’t so uptight in my body, I was making those world class saves, those little fine details started to come into my game.
“And then Ireland comes calling.
“That was sweet especially after giving up the ghost.”
But then not only did you give up on your international dream but you even gave up on football earlier in your career.
After the West Ham experience where the team were relegated.
You turned down Torquay and returned home to Ireland. But you were done with football and planning on going back to college and instead of minding the soccer net, returning to GAA and playing centre midfield, isn’t that right?
“That’s correct, yeah.
“I had given up on football.
“Football was always a big grá for me and the drive to play for Ireland was always the number one goal.
“When I first got into the Ireland squad, I just wanted one cap and to live my dream 24 times was absolutely phenomenal.
“Those times playing for Ireland are held so close to my heart now and even when I think about them now, it’s like a dream.
“It’s kind of like, ‘Jesus. Did that happen?’
“It’s a lovely place to be able to come out after football and be so full of appreciation and gratitude for the career I’ve had.
“I drove it like I stole it.
“I didn’t leave anything behind.
“I have no regrets.
“I have no remorse.
“I did what I did and it’s such a nice place to be where I can come away from my football and actually go, ‘Right, that’s my football done’.
“I’m not waking up on a Saturday going, ‘I miss the changing room. I miss the games’.
“I’m so enjoying the work I do now around the mind and wellbeing and mental health and physicality and all those different elements.
“It’s been an amazing, amazing journey.”
Someone who helped you get your grá back and back on track to play for Ireland was someone who would end up managing the team.
It was under Stephen Kenny at Derry City that you rediscovered yourself, isn’t it?
“Exactly.
“It was quite ironic.
“Derry City are fondly known as The Candystripes.
“That’s really where I got my sweetness back for the game.
“It was just an epic time where we get beat on goal difference two years on the bounce, we win the FAI cup, we win the League Cup.
“We get one game away from Europe and a whole European Odyssey.
“It was a very magical time of the club and Stephen was starting off into his managerial career.
“I remember him saying to my wife, ‘One day David will play for Ireland’.
“And he said, ‘I’ll manage Ireland’.
“And you know what? It actually happened.
“It just got my grá back for the game.
“I was disillusioned, disheartened by the game and all those different parts in it but obviously, the game wasn’t done with me.
“It was a magical journey.
“I did come the alternative route. I was a builder, a baker, everything but a candlestick maker and it’s wild to look back at that.
“And then through exploring family dynamics and how they shaped me and formed me as a young man.”
When you did get called up for international duty, they must have been amazing times for being so long coming..
“They were amazing.
“Irish football was really struggling and Trapattoni managed to get us to a tournament and get us back being competitive and winning games.
“He was amazing for me.
“He came in and gave me my debut.
“He made me actually Ireland’s number one, at the time it was hard to even take that in.
“I had been watching Packie Bonner, Alan Kelly, Shay Given had been there for so long and absolute stalwart.
“All of a sudden, I’m part of a very short list of never mind Ireland goalkeepers but Ireland number one goalkeepers at such a ripe old age, it’s real Roy of the Rovers stuff.”
Was it a dream to be part of that Euro 2012 ride even though the results didn’t really go our way..
“Yeah, it was quite surreal.
“To get that call from Alan Kelly to say that I was included in the squad, my jaw just hit the floor and to get over to a major tournament like that.
“We were in the group with the finalists Italy and Spain.
“That Spain team, in my view, is the greatest team that ever has been: Two European Championships and a World Cup.
“They were exceptional, absolutely exceptional.
“They played us, I think, in second gear and that was amazing to witness.
“And the Irish fans were magical. They were absolutely amazing, the joy they had even though the results weren’t going well but the Irish spirit still shone through.”
You had the disappointment of missing out on the World Cup in Rio. Although it looked like qualification was on for Ireland, they would miss out again. Was that hard?
“Yeah, I look back at that.
“I think, ‘Right, we’re on the way to Rio’.
“We get a great result away to Sweden even though we drew with Sweden at home and then we’re 1-0 up against Austria with a few minutes to go.
“I remember the moment really, really well.
“It plays around nearly every day.
“Paul Green gets the ball in the corner flag and instead of just running into the corner flag and killing time, he tries to square it into the box to Robbie. Robbie gets dispossessed.
“Austria break up the middle of the park.
“David Alaba drives up the pitch, unleashes a left foot and I’m right behind it.
“I’m like, ‘Right. I’m all over this. I’m absolutely saving it’.
“I felt so comfortable.
“Sean St Ledger, in his attempt to block, it comes off his knee, ricochets, spins up over me, goes into the top corner.
“That result probably put the nails in the coffin for going to Rio.
“We were actually very close and that’s professional sport and elite sport, the fine margins.”
You also had the disappointment of, having lost your number one jersey, not being brought to Euro 2016 at all. Was that hard to take?
“Yeah, it was heartbreaking after playing such a big part in the qualification process.
“It was devastating.
“I speak about it in the book and how I managed to transform one of my biggest displacements into a personal success.”
It was during a game against Scotland in Celtic Park that David ran to the sidelines for a fiery exchange with new assistant manager. Having made a mistake, Keane let Forde know about it but he snapped and gave it back.
Was there no going back after that?
“It was done in the heat at the moment.
“Looking back, was it wise?
“It was what it was.
“I reacted.
“We’re two fiery men.
“Little did I realise there would be such consequences after it
because shortly after that, I lose my position and my place.”
There was another incident at Millwall where you were set to go for manager Kenny Jackett, are these hard to look back on?
“They’re things I wasn’t proud of.
“I think everybody can look back at their life and they have a choice in it, either to look at it and learn from it, or actually look at it and push it away.
“At some stage or another, they’re going to have to face it.
“And I found that very liberating.
“It can be great freedom like taking an emotional ball and chain away from my ankles.
“In that way, it allowed me to empower myself and actually take full ownership and full responsibility for it.”
Was it very sad to leave Millwall after nine years?
“It was absolutely heartbreaking.
“And to be honest I gave that club absolutely everything in terms of blood, sweat, tears, fears, I’d given absolutely everything.
“It had a profound effect in terms of what the club has given me and my family on a personal and professional level.
“Plus the relationships you build along the way, like Veronica Quinn, who’s an absolute Irish hero.
“She’s 40 years at Millwall now and she’s an absolute Lioness.
“So many different relationships.
“And then all of a sudden that comes to an end after such a long time: That was a difficult, difficult time.”
What was the hardest chapter of the book to write?
“The hardest chapter to write in it was about the relationship with my father and his relationship with alcohol and the impacts and effects of alcoholism on myself and my family and my siblings.
“There’s also the part in it where I speak about my sister getting pregnant 17 years of age, the impact that had on me as a young man and the impact that had on my family.
“They were major, big, big, big, big moments in the views of one as a young boy, looking through the eyes of an 11, 12- year-old seeing his sister getting pregnant.
“And then there’s looking through the eyes of a mature man trying to understand and comprehend my dad, why he drank and to come out the other side of it and not to be bitter with my dad. When he died and he passed away, I might not have heard my dad say he was proud of me but I can say now today that I’m actually proud of him.”
What was the sweetest chapter to write?
“I think the really sweet, really heartfelt moments were my children being born.
“They were major moments.”
You’re going to join the Republic of Ireland Soccer Supporters Club at The Claddagh Ring. You spoke about the fans before, does their support reach you when you’re in camp?
“At the end of the day I’m just a massive fan.
“I think of ’88, ’90, ’94.
“Those were epic times and what it did to the Celtic Tiger and what it did to the nation and the spirit of Irish people.
“Getting into Ireland I so understood the impact of Irish football and the impact it had on the fans.
“So it’s great to hear the fans’ perspective.
“It’s amazing really.”
David Forde joins the Republic of Ireland Soccer Supporters Club (London) at The Claddagh Ring 8pm on Friday 20 June.