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Wednesday, May 18, 2016

Kevin Sheedy And His Time With Hereford

Part of an article in the Irish Independent about Kevin Sheedy, the former Hereford United player, looks back at his time with the Edgar Street club.

Now in charge of the Everton Academy, Sheedy has recently overcome bowel cancer.

Born near Builth Wells, Sheedy started playing football by kicking a football against the pub walls.

"It was a country pub. So I was self-taught, I spent all day kicking the ball against the walls of the pub. Looking back it was just loads of practice and repetition. That's how I ended up with a good left foot.

"It was street football, there were no academies in those days. I remember training for my first team Hereford United as a youngster and we used to train on the shale car park outside Hereford United's ground on a Tuesday and Thursday and all we did was play. It wasn't stopped or coached.

"You were self-taught."

Sheedy was only 16 when he made his debut for Hereford United.

"I was fortunate to have an excellent manager John Sillett, he went on to win the FA Cup with Coventry City, and he saw me and he asked me to leave school early so I used to go training as a 15-year-old, I was like full time as a 15-year-old. That gave me an added start and I made my debut at 16.

"I was playing against men in the reserves so I was able to handle the physical side of it.

"A long time ago but it was great, Hereford had won the Third Division championship, it was our last game of the season and Dixie O'Neill needed a hat-trick to equal Ronnie Moore as the top goalscorer and he scored a hat-trick on the night. Tremendous memories. Running out for your first professional game is something I'll always remember."

In 1978 Liverpool became interested in Sheedy.

"I was still a Hereford player and a friend of mine got two tickets for the European Cup final , Liverpool against Bruges and saw Kenny Dalglish score the winning goal and two weeks later I got a phonecall from the Hereford United chairman to say that they had accepted a £100,000 bid from Liverpool.

"I didn't really want to sign for Liverpool, I'd watched them first-hand and I'd seen the best midfield in Europe and I knew it was going to be difficult to break in.

"My chairman Peter Hill realised that I didn't really want to sign but £100,000 was a lot more then than it is now and if I didn't sign there was a probability that Hereford United might fold. He influenced me in that respect and I travelled up with my mum and dad, there were no agents at the time, and I signed a four-year contract."

The article goes on to look at the rest of his career. Read at:http://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/euro-2016/exclusive-kevin-sheedy-discusses-that-goal-his-cancer-battle-and-irelands-prospects-at-euro-2016-34723175.html