Liam Brady

Brady started his career at Arsenal, moving to London to join the side on schoolboy forms in 1971, at the age of 15. He turned professional on his 17th birthday in 1973, and made his debut on 6 October 1973 against Birmingham City as a substitute for Jeff Blockley, and put in an assured performance. However his next match, in a North London derby against Tottenham Hotspur, Brady had a poor match, and Arsenal manager Bertie Mee decided from then on to use the young Irishman sparingly for the time being. Brady ended the 1973–74 season with 13 appearances (four of them as substitute) to his name. While at Arsenal, and particularly early in his career, Brady was nicknamed "Chippy", not for his ability to chip the ball but for his fondness for fish and chips. In 1974–75 Brady was a first-team regular at Arsenal, and shone as a rare light in a side that hovered close to relegation for a couple of seasons in the mid-1970s. With the appointment of Terry Neill as manager and the return of Don Howe as coach, Brady found his best form. His passing provided the ammunition for Arsenal's front men such as Malcolm Macdonald and Frank Stapleton, and Arsenal reached three FA Cup finals in a row between 1978 and 1980. Arsenal won only the middle of the three, against Manchester United in the 1979 final, with Brady starting the move that ended in Alan Sunderland's famous last-minute winner. Brady was at the peak of his Arsenal form by now, as shown by one of his best goals for Arsenal; having…

Brady made his debut for Ireland on 30 October 1974, in a 3–0 win against the Soviet Union at Dalymount Park in a European Championship qualifier. Brady has claimed his favourite international goal was that against Brazil in 1987. Due to a suspension accrued before Euro 88 he was not eligible to play within the tournament. During qualification for Italia 90 Brady retired from the international game. As Ireland got to the World Cup for the first time ever he declared himself available to play once again. However, Jack Charlton went on to declare that only those who played in the qualifiers would make the trip to Italy. He won 72 international caps for the Republic of Ireland with 70 within the starting line-up, scoring nine goals.

After retiring from playing in 1990, he managed Celtic between 1991 and 1993, and then Brighton & Hove Albion between 1993 and 1995. Neither spell was particularly successful, and at both clubs Brady's tenure was overshadowed by the respective clubs' financial problems. At Celtic, Brady failed to win a single trophy in his two-year tenure, which included a 5–2 defeat on aggregate by Neuchâtel Xamax in the 1991–92 UEFA Cup. Brady had no greater success with Brighton, departing following a disagreement over the way the club was being run. He later led an unsuccessful bid by a consortium to buy the club. He rejoined Arsenal in July 1996, as Head of Youth Development and Academy Director. Although he was linked to the manager's post after the departure of Bruce Rioch, Brady stated he was not interested in the role and Arsène Wenger eventually took up the post. Under Brady, Arsenal's youth sides won the 1998 FA Premier Youth League, the FA Premier Academy League U17 title in 2000 and the FA Premier Academy League U19 title in 2002. Under his watch they also lifted the 2009 and 2010 FA Premier Academy League U18 titles, together with the FA Youth Cup in 2000, 2001 and 2009. After the sacking of Steve Staunton as Republic of Ireland manager in 2007, Brady became an assistant to new manager Giovanni Trapattoni alongside former Juventus teammate Marco Tardelli in 2008, while continuing to work as Director of the Arsenal Youth Academy. He stepped down from the Republic of Ireland post…

Brady was born and raised in Dublin in a footballing family, with both his great uncle Frank Brady Sr. and older brother Ray Brady winning senior international caps. Of his other brothers, Frank won the FAI Cup with Shamrock Rovers in 1968 and made two appearances in the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, while Pat played with Millwall and Queens Park Rangers. Liam attended St. Aidan's C.B.S., leaving before his Intermediate Certificate. He alleged at the time that he had been expelled for missing a school Gaelic football match to play a schoolboy soccer international; the school denied this.