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WORLDLY TRAVELLER'S TALES PLAYED OUT ON MANY A FIELD FAR FROM HOME
Sunday Herald, UK
Oct 8 2006
Stewart Fisher catches up with Ian Porterfield long enough to hear
the much on-the-move former Aberdeen boss sing the praises of his
Armenian national squad
IAN Porterfield must be approaching life membership of the managerial
mercenaries' club.
After following in the football footsteps of Dr David Livingstone
to Zambia and Zimbabwe, diverse international detours to Trinidad &
Tobago and Oman, and significant if short-lived club stints at Saudi
Arabian giants Al-Ittihad and South Korean club side Busan Icons, the
60-year-old former Aberdeen and Chelsea manager alighted at another of
football's less-heralded outposts, Armenia, this August. One suspects
that Anghel Iordanescu, Bora Milutinovic and even our very own Stuart
Baxter would be nodding with approval right now.
Porterfield's winning goal for Sunderland against Leeds in 1973 FA
Cup final is usually referred to as his 15 minutes in the limelight,
but there have been no shortage of memorable moments in the 12 years
he has been away from these islands. His 20 months in Zimbabwe included
dealing with Robert Mugabe's nephew Leo as FA president, not to mention
taking his team to play South Africa in a tribute match on they day
of Nelson Mandela's inauguration. Yet, if anything, his time there
pales against the earlier spell at Zambia, which started with him
being forced to rebuild a national squad after the first team were
lost in a plane crash in 1993, and ended after his rebuilding was
endorsed by an appearance in the African Cup of Nations final and
him being given the freedom of the country.
"When I got my first opportunity to go to a foreign country it was
Zambia," Porterfield told the Sunday Herald . "I was a bit apprehensive
because I had just left Chelsea but I decided to go and, amazingly,
since then things have gone really well. Things went well for that team
so I started to get a bit of recognition outside of my own country and
people started to give me work elsewhere. I work hard at my job. It
is my life and my hobby ."
Then came Trinidad and Tobago, for a World Cup qualifying near miss
which preceeded this summer's success. His time there included
giving debuts to players such as Luton's Carlos Edwards , not to
mention handing a young blood called Marvin Andrews the captaincy,
and gaining himself a Trinidadian wife. "It was really wonderful to
see them qualify for the World Cup," Porterfield said, "even if it
was because they changed the ruling and got in on the play-off. I
had blooded many of the young boys who played in that tournament and
brought them in."
The boundaries of modern day Armenia are thought to include the
site of the Garden of Eden, and the little state nestling between
Europe and Asia can lay at least partial claim to such luminaries
as David Dickinson and Garry Kasparov . The football team, however,
suffers from a shortage of big names, a problem when you are stuck in
a European Championship qualifying group along with Belgium, Serbia,
Portugal and Finland, and with a poverty-stricken domestic league.
They went into yesterday's home tie with the Finns with a 1-0 defeat
from Belgium in their only game of the section to date.
"We lost 1-0 against Belgium but I worked with the players for 10
days and it was smashing to be able to do that," he said. "Belgium
have got a lot of good players from good European teams, but we only
lost 1-0 to a long throw scored by the big boy from Bayern Munich
[Daniel van Buyten]. The performance was excellent.
"Armenian football is relatively new, and we have only eight teams
in the league, but three are trying to set up soccer academies. So I
think the future, although maybe not the immediate future, is bright
. It would be an unbelievable feat for us to finish in the top two,
but I would like us to be respectable."
Porterfield's time at Aberdeen, coming hot on the heels of Sir Alex
Ferguson's departure in 1986, elicits mixed memories from almost all
those involved. His was a surprise appointment in the first place,
and a cup final defeat and successive qualifications for Europe were
not exactly what the fans had bargained for, not to mention that the
job found him in the midst of a turbulent period away from the pitch.
"I think if you look at the facts I think I lost nine games at Aberdeen
in all the time I was there," Porterfield said. "I was following up
not only the best manager that Aberdeen ever had, but maybe the best
manager Manchester United ever had . They had such great success when
Sir Alex was there, but things were changing. I also went to Aberdeen
at what was a fairly difficult time in my life and sometimes things
happen for a reason."
In my heart I am Scottish and I am proud of it, and I think I have
created goodwill and a good image for Scotland in coaching and
different things, but some things up there disappointed me. I feel
that some people let me down , the press cut me to ribbons and 90%
of it had no foundation ."
One man sticks in Porterfield's memory, that of former Aberdeen
chairman Dick Donald. "I have been all over the world, and worked with
many different people - including Nelson Mandela on the day of his
inauguration, but one of the best men I ever met was Mr Dick Donald -
he epitomised what Aberdeen was all about."
Porterfield, who has a home in Surrey and a flat in Yerevan, feels
he has around four or five years of travelling left. Unless, that is,
he gets a better offer.
Sunday Herald, UK
Oct 8 2006
Stewart Fisher catches up with Ian Porterfield long enough to hear
the much on-the-move former Aberdeen boss sing the praises of his
Armenian national squad
IAN Porterfield must be approaching life membership of the managerial
mercenaries' club.
After following in the football footsteps of Dr David Livingstone
to Zambia and Zimbabwe, diverse international detours to Trinidad &
Tobago and Oman, and significant if short-lived club stints at Saudi
Arabian giants Al-Ittihad and South Korean club side Busan Icons, the
60-year-old former Aberdeen and Chelsea manager alighted at another of
football's less-heralded outposts, Armenia, this August. One suspects
that Anghel Iordanescu, Bora Milutinovic and even our very own Stuart
Baxter would be nodding with approval right now.
Porterfield's winning goal for Sunderland against Leeds in 1973 FA
Cup final is usually referred to as his 15 minutes in the limelight,
but there have been no shortage of memorable moments in the 12 years
he has been away from these islands. His 20 months in Zimbabwe included
dealing with Robert Mugabe's nephew Leo as FA president, not to mention
taking his team to play South Africa in a tribute match on they day
of Nelson Mandela's inauguration. Yet, if anything, his time there
pales against the earlier spell at Zambia, which started with him
being forced to rebuild a national squad after the first team were
lost in a plane crash in 1993, and ended after his rebuilding was
endorsed by an appearance in the African Cup of Nations final and
him being given the freedom of the country.
"When I got my first opportunity to go to a foreign country it was
Zambia," Porterfield told the Sunday Herald . "I was a bit apprehensive
because I had just left Chelsea but I decided to go and, amazingly,
since then things have gone really well. Things went well for that team
so I started to get a bit of recognition outside of my own country and
people started to give me work elsewhere. I work hard at my job. It
is my life and my hobby ."
Then came Trinidad and Tobago, for a World Cup qualifying near miss
which preceeded this summer's success. His time there included
giving debuts to players such as Luton's Carlos Edwards , not to
mention handing a young blood called Marvin Andrews the captaincy,
and gaining himself a Trinidadian wife. "It was really wonderful to
see them qualify for the World Cup," Porterfield said, "even if it
was because they changed the ruling and got in on the play-off. I
had blooded many of the young boys who played in that tournament and
brought them in."
The boundaries of modern day Armenia are thought to include the
site of the Garden of Eden, and the little state nestling between
Europe and Asia can lay at least partial claim to such luminaries
as David Dickinson and Garry Kasparov . The football team, however,
suffers from a shortage of big names, a problem when you are stuck in
a European Championship qualifying group along with Belgium, Serbia,
Portugal and Finland, and with a poverty-stricken domestic league.
They went into yesterday's home tie with the Finns with a 1-0 defeat
from Belgium in their only game of the section to date.
"We lost 1-0 against Belgium but I worked with the players for 10
days and it was smashing to be able to do that," he said. "Belgium
have got a lot of good players from good European teams, but we only
lost 1-0 to a long throw scored by the big boy from Bayern Munich
[Daniel van Buyten]. The performance was excellent.
"Armenian football is relatively new, and we have only eight teams
in the league, but three are trying to set up soccer academies. So I
think the future, although maybe not the immediate future, is bright
. It would be an unbelievable feat for us to finish in the top two,
but I would like us to be respectable."
Porterfield's time at Aberdeen, coming hot on the heels of Sir Alex
Ferguson's departure in 1986, elicits mixed memories from almost all
those involved. His was a surprise appointment in the first place,
and a cup final defeat and successive qualifications for Europe were
not exactly what the fans had bargained for, not to mention that the
job found him in the midst of a turbulent period away from the pitch.
"I think if you look at the facts I think I lost nine games at Aberdeen
in all the time I was there," Porterfield said. "I was following up
not only the best manager that Aberdeen ever had, but maybe the best
manager Manchester United ever had . They had such great success when
Sir Alex was there, but things were changing. I also went to Aberdeen
at what was a fairly difficult time in my life and sometimes things
happen for a reason."
In my heart I am Scottish and I am proud of it, and I think I have
created goodwill and a good image for Scotland in coaching and
different things, but some things up there disappointed me. I feel
that some people let me down , the press cut me to ribbons and 90%
of it had no foundation ."
One man sticks in Porterfield's memory, that of former Aberdeen
chairman Dick Donald. "I have been all over the world, and worked with
many different people - including Nelson Mandela on the day of his
inauguration, but one of the best men I ever met was Mr Dick Donald -
he epitomised what Aberdeen was all about."
Porterfield, who has a home in Surrey and a flat in Yerevan, feels
he has around four or five years of travelling left. Unless, that is,
he gets a better offer.