Sick man of Leeds puts faith in northern grit
By Rick Broadbent
The Times
IT’S GRIM up North, which is why Shaun Derry likes it. The incumbent of the Leeds United hard-man role is champing at the bit ready for tomorrow’s £30 million Coca-Cola Championship play-off clash with Watford while championing the merits of the North-South divide. "It’s a different ball game up here," he said with relish.
This 28-year-old is different. A pivotal figure in a season that will end in a winner-takes-all contest for Barclays Premiership
status in Cardiff, he is the piratical indie rocker who forms a timeline back to teak-tough Tykes such as Bobby Collins, Billy Bremner and David Batty.
He is the cliché killer who manages to be sick as a parrot and over the moon at the same time, his habit of vomiting before matches once turning Peter Crouch’s stomach. "The big man didn’t like it," Derry said of his erstwhile Portsmouth team-mate. "It’s an adrenalin rush that turns to a sickly feeling. It’s horrible and it’s happened on the pitch before. Certain players won’t come near the toilets when I'm in there at ten to three."
The midfield player has become a cult hero at Leeds. When his side trailed in the first leg of the play-offs semi-final against Preston North End, it was Derry who scorched the turf and exhorted the fans to become even more febrile.
When his mission was accomplished, he pondered the irony of facing a Watford team managed by Adrian Boothroyd. It was 1997, during Derry’s Notts County days, when an accidental clash between the pair left Boothroyd with a career-ending broken leg. "I don’t remember much about it but he’s a great bloke and has the respect of everyone at Leeds," Derry said. "There are no hard feelings." Boothroyd has since said the collision was the best thing that ever happened to him.
"When you play for a northern club, they appreciate hard work and the physical side of the game. Down South they prefer flair. It’s the northern mentality and I love it. I’d be lying if I said that doesn’t drive me on. It’s great to be appreciated as a player but also as a person."
Derry is not a dirty player but he is hard. It has ever been thus with Leeds. The second-leg triumph over Preston came with eight yellow cards and two reds for Leeds, a broken leg and fractured cheekbone for Preston. Billy Davies, the Preston manager, took the defeat on the chin and refused to condemn Leeds for their physical prowess, but there is an uncompromising element to their success.
That was evident after the brouhaha in the tunnel away to Burnley last October. Derry clashed with Micah Hyde and emerged with a black eye. Steve Cotterill, the Burnley manager, called it a kerfuffle. "There’s a number of players from all divisions who get scores settled off the pitch, but I came out on top at Turf Moor," Derry, the king of the kerfuffle, said. "I’m not a cocky person but I outplayed Micah Hyde."
When he was sent off against Queens Park Rangers last season, he suggested that Kevin Gallen, the opposing striker, pay half his fine for his role in the dismissal.
It was the Derry way, a brutally down-to-earth approach that led him to take a pre-match meal of beans and scrambled egg in a greasy spoon near Leeds market before his home debut against West Ham United.
"I probably had about ten Lambert & Butler cigarettes too with all the smoke," he said. That afternoon he scored.
"I want us to be in the top six of the Premiership and I want to be playing there," he said. "I want to stick around and make a mark, because the last time I got into the Premiership with Crystal Palace I was just a bit-part player. That still hurts even to this day.
"Everyone has their own aspirations and dreams and they were taken away from me. Now I’ve moved on and moved up, even though I’ve had to move down to do it."
Derry’s wife, Jolene, sings in The Masqueraders, a successful covers band, while he loves The Stone Roses. "Footballers have bad taste in music and can get stereotyped, like they’re all out of the same basket," he lamented. Not Derry. "I’m different." The sick man of Leeds hopes to complete his unique path to the top tomorrow.
By Rick Broadbent
The Times
IT’S GRIM up North, which is why Shaun Derry likes it. The incumbent of the Leeds United hard-man role is champing at the bit ready for tomorrow’s £30 million Coca-Cola Championship play-off clash with Watford while championing the merits of the North-South divide. "It’s a different ball game up here," he said with relish.
This 28-year-old is different. A pivotal figure in a season that will end in a winner-takes-all contest for Barclays Premiership
status in Cardiff, he is the piratical indie rocker who forms a timeline back to teak-tough Tykes such as Bobby Collins, Billy Bremner and David Batty.He is the cliché killer who manages to be sick as a parrot and over the moon at the same time, his habit of vomiting before matches once turning Peter Crouch’s stomach. "The big man didn’t like it," Derry said of his erstwhile Portsmouth team-mate. "It’s an adrenalin rush that turns to a sickly feeling. It’s horrible and it’s happened on the pitch before. Certain players won’t come near the toilets when I'm in there at ten to three."
The midfield player has become a cult hero at Leeds. When his side trailed in the first leg of the play-offs semi-final against Preston North End, it was Derry who scorched the turf and exhorted the fans to become even more febrile.
When his mission was accomplished, he pondered the irony of facing a Watford team managed by Adrian Boothroyd. It was 1997, during Derry’s Notts County days, when an accidental clash between the pair left Boothroyd with a career-ending broken leg. "I don’t remember much about it but he’s a great bloke and has the respect of everyone at Leeds," Derry said. "There are no hard feelings." Boothroyd has since said the collision was the best thing that ever happened to him.
"When you play for a northern club, they appreciate hard work and the physical side of the game. Down South they prefer flair. It’s the northern mentality and I love it. I’d be lying if I said that doesn’t drive me on. It’s great to be appreciated as a player but also as a person."
Derry is not a dirty player but he is hard. It has ever been thus with Leeds. The second-leg triumph over Preston came with eight yellow cards and two reds for Leeds, a broken leg and fractured cheekbone for Preston. Billy Davies, the Preston manager, took the defeat on the chin and refused to condemn Leeds for their physical prowess, but there is an uncompromising element to their success.
That was evident after the brouhaha in the tunnel away to Burnley last October. Derry clashed with Micah Hyde and emerged with a black eye. Steve Cotterill, the Burnley manager, called it a kerfuffle. "There’s a number of players from all divisions who get scores settled off the pitch, but I came out on top at Turf Moor," Derry, the king of the kerfuffle, said. "I’m not a cocky person but I outplayed Micah Hyde."
When he was sent off against Queens Park Rangers last season, he suggested that Kevin Gallen, the opposing striker, pay half his fine for his role in the dismissal.
It was the Derry way, a brutally down-to-earth approach that led him to take a pre-match meal of beans and scrambled egg in a greasy spoon near Leeds market before his home debut against West Ham United.
"I probably had about ten Lambert & Butler cigarettes too with all the smoke," he said. That afternoon he scored.
"I want us to be in the top six of the Premiership and I want to be playing there," he said. "I want to stick around and make a mark, because the last time I got into the Premiership with Crystal Palace I was just a bit-part player. That still hurts even to this day.
"Everyone has their own aspirations and dreams and they were taken away from me. Now I’ve moved on and moved up, even though I’ve had to move down to do it."
Derry’s wife, Jolene, sings in The Masqueraders, a successful covers band, while he loves The Stone Roses. "Footballers have bad taste in music and can get stereotyped, like they’re all out of the same basket," he lamented. Not Derry. "I’m different." The sick man of Leeds hopes to complete his unique path to the top tomorrow.
