Eoin Hand

Eoin Hand (born 30 March 1946 in Dublin, Ireland) was a footballer and football manager. As a player, his normal position was centre-half. He currently works as a TV and radio football commentator for RTÉ in Ireland. [ [http://www.rte.ie/about/pressreleases/2006/1109/sportnov2006.html "RTÉ Sport shows unparalleled commitment to Eircom League"] , RTÉ, 9 November 2006]

Playing career

Hand played schoolboy football with the noted nursery Stella Maris in Drumcondra. As a 17 year old Hand was signed by Swindon Town but the move did not work out and he quickly returned to Ireland. He started his League of Ireland career with short spells for Dundalk F.C. and Shelbourne F.C. but it was with Drumcondra F.C. that he found most success.

After a series of outstanding displays, he was signed by Portsmouth F.C. for a transfer fee of £8,000 in October 1968. Hand would impress enough at Portsmouth to earn a call up to the Republic of Ireland national football team and went on to earn 19 caps for his country. He stayed with Portsmouth until being released at the end of the 1975/76 season. After a brief spell in South Africa, Hand was persuaded back into football by Shamrock Rovers but after only nine games, returned to Portsmouth FC. He left again in 1979, after playing a total of 277 times in the league for them.

Managerial career

In 1979 Hand was appointed player-manager of Limerick United. He immediately sparked a revival in Limerick's fortunes and they won the League of Ireland in Hand's first season. They landed a plum European Cup tie with Real Madrid and Hand was rewarded with the Irish national team manager's job. Hand was the 1980 "Soccer Writers' Association of Ireland" "Personality of the Year". [ [http://www.swai.ie/?q=node/41 "SWAI Personality of the Year"] , Soccer Writers' Association of Ireland, "retrieved 3 May 2008"] For a short time he tried to combine both jobs but with business commitments in Dublin, he left Limerick and concentrated on the Ireland job.

In Hand's first World Cup qualifying campaign, Ireland narrowly lost out to France on goal difference. Ireland conceded a late goal to Belgium after having what most commentators describe as a 'perfectly good goal' disallowed. The image of Hand on the bench with his head in his hands post match is widely shown in Ireland as one of Irish sport's most heartbreaking images.

Ireland finished an unremarkable 3rd in the qualifying campaign for Euro 84 and shortly after Hand agained combined club and international management when he was appointed manager of St Patrick's Athletic FC, however he lasted only one season with the Dublin club. After failure to qualify for the 1986 World Cup Hand was sacked by the FAI and replaced by Jack Charlton.

In 1988, Hand was appointed manager of Huddersfield Town and remained there until 1992. ["99 Years & Counting" Volume 1, Alan Hodgson, Ian Thomas, Gwen Thomas and John Ward, Huddersfield Town, 2007.] Hand also briefly managed Shelbourne during the 1993-94 season. [ [http://planet_shels.tripod.com/history/clubhistory.html "THE HISTORY OF SHELBOURNE F.C."] , Planet Shels, "retrieved 3 May 2008"]

Personal life

Hand successfully underwent an operation for pancreatitis in 1997, after which he gave up smoking and drinking. [ [http://archives.tcm.ie/carlownationalist/2000/01/28/story5941.asp "Giving young soccer stars a guiding Hand"] , Carlow Nationalist , 28 January 2000]

References