John Anthony Devine (born 11 November 1958) is an Irish former

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

and manager/coach. Devine began his career with English club Arsenal along with a number of fellow Irish apprentices, He progressed through the youth ranks at Highbury and played in the 1980 FA Cup final defeat against

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

. In 1983, he signed for

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or The Yellows) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. The club competes in the EFL Championship following their relegation from the Premier League in the 20 ...

. He spent two years at Carrow Road making 69 appearances and was an unused substitute in the

1985 Football League Cup final The 1985 Football League Cup Final was won by Norwich City. The Canaries defeated Sunderland 1–0 at Wembley Stadium on 24 March 1985 with an own goal scored by Gordon Chisholm, who deflected Asa Hartford's shot past goalkeeper Chris Turner. La ...

. In the summer of 1985 he signed for Stoke City but after making 16 appearances he broke his leg. He later spent time abroad playing in Norway for

IK Start Idrettsklubben Start (or simply IK Start, translates to The sports club Start ) is a Norwegian football club from the city of Kristiansand that currently plays in the 1. divisjon, the second tier of the Norwegian football league system. The c ...

and in India with

East Bengal ur, , common_name = East Bengal , status = Province of the Dominion of Pakistan , p1 = Bengal Presidency , flag_p1 = Flag of British Bengal.svg , s1 = East ...

before returning home in 1989 to play for Shamrock Rovers. After his playing career he coached Shelbourne and was later head coach of

Sporting Fingal Sporting Fingal Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Fine Gall Spórtúil) was an Irish association football club based in Fingal. Between 2008 and 2010, the club played three seasons in the League of Ireland. During their first two seasons they ...

Playing career

Born in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

, Devine joined London club Arsenal in November 1974 as an apprentice. Part of a large young Irish contingent at Arsenal (which also included

Liam Brady William Brady (born 13 February 1956) is an Irish former footballer. He found success both in England with Arsenal, where he won an FA Cup in 1979, and in Italy with Juventus, winning two Serie A titles. Brady was capped 72 times for the Ireland ...

David O'Leary David Anthony O'Leary (born 2 May 1958) is a football manager and former player. His managerial career began at Leeds United, subsequently managing Aston Villa. He most recently worked as the manager of Al-Ahli Dubai. The majority of his 20-yea ...

and Frank Stapleton), Devine turned professional in 1976. A full back who preferred playing on the right, he made his debut for the Gunners on 22 April 1978 in place of

Pat Rice Patrick James Rice, MBE (born 17 March 1949) is a Northern Irish former footballer and coach. As a player, he made over 500 appearances for Arsenal, winning the Double, and later made a hundred more appearances for Watford. He also won 49 ca ...

. With the older Rice and

Sammy Nelson Samuel Nelson (born 1 April 1949) is a former footballer who played as a left back in the Football League for Arsenal and Brighton & Hove Albion. He was capped 51 times for Northern Ireland and played at the 1982 FIFA World Cup. Club career Ars ...

occupying the Arsenal full back positions of the time, Devine didn't break into the first team straight away, although he did play in the 1980 FA Cup final defeat against

in preference to Nelson, Devine was also a member the Arsenal squad for the Gunners'

Cup Winners Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tournam ...

final against

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. The wider urban area al ...

. After Rice left for

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, and ...

in the summer of 1980, Devine stepped up to become Arsenal's regular right-back, playing 44 times in 1980–81. However, his tenure there didn't last, after Devine was out of the side with a serious injury,

John Hollins John William Hollins (born 16 July 1946) is an English retired footballer and manager. He was initially a midfielder who, later in his career, became an effective full-back. Hollins, throughout his footballing career, featured for clubs such a ...

was moved back into defence as cover, and Devine could not reclaim his place once he had regained fitness. He joined

in the summer of 1983 and played 69 games in two seasons for the "Canaries", and was a member of the squad in the

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

final win. However, in the league Norwich suffered relegation in the

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

and Devine left for Stoke City in November 1985. At the

Victoria Ground The Victoria Ground was the home ground of Stoke City from 1878 until 1997, when the club relocated to the Britannia Stadium after 119 years. At the time of its demolition it was the oldest operational ground in the Football League. History ...

Devine had the unenviable task of filling in for the retired Alan Hudson and made a good start as on his debut Stoke beat

Oldham Athletic Oldham Athletic Association Football Club is a professional football club in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The history of Oldham Athletic be ...

4–2. He scored his only goal for Stoke in a 1–0 win over Fulham on 18 February 1986. His Stoke career was ended when he broke his leg after being tackled by

Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club (), commonly referred to simply as Brighton, is an English professional football club based in the city of Brighton and Hove. They compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league ...

's Eric Young. Devine then spent the

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Bicenten ...

season with

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

club Start helping the side gain promotion to 1. divisjon. He returned to Ireland with Shamrock Rovers in 1989 making his debut on 9 August in the

Leinster Senior Cup (association football) The Leinster Senior Cup is an association football cup competition organized by the Leinster Football Association. It is currently contested by LFA affiliated League of Ireland clubs, Leinster Senior League Senior Division clubs and invited teams ...

. He played in the first game at the

RDS Arena RDS Arena is a multi-purpose sports stadium, owned by the Royal Dublin Society (RDS) and located in the Dublin suburb of Ballsbridge, Ireland. The arena was developed to host equestrian events, primarily the annual Dublin Horse Show, which was ...

on 30 September 1990 and helped Rovers to the FAI Cup final in 1991. He made a total of 41 appearances scoring 7 goals for the "Hoops". His last game was on the opening day of the 1991–92 season on 1 September. Devine also spent a season in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

with

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

giants

East Bengal FC East Bengal Club, commonly referred to as East Bengal (), is an Indian professional multi-sport club based in Kolkata, West Bengal. It is best known for its professional men's football team that competes in the Indian Super League, the top fli ...

. From 1987 to 1988, he appeared in 18 matches for the ''Red and gold brigade'' in

Calcutta Football League The Calcutta Football League (CFL) is a ladder-based football competition in the Indian state of West Bengal, organised by Indian Football Association (WB), under state football leagues in India. Due to sponsorship reasons, the league is offi ...

and

Durand Cup The Durand Football Tournament, commonly known as Durand Cup, is an annual domestic football competition in India which was first held in 1888 in Shimla. Hosted by the Durand Football Tournament Society (DFTS) and All India Football Federation ...

, scoring a goal. He was in East Bengal's 1987

All Airlines Gold Cup The All Airlines Gold Cup was a domestic football tournament organised by the Indian Football Association The Indian Football Association, abbreviated as IFA, is the organisation that administers association football in the state of West Be ...

and 1988

winning squad. Thus he became one of the greatest foreign recruits in the history of the club.

International career

Devine was capped for the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern ...

at every level, winning thirty caps in all, with thirteen of those coming for the senior side. He made his senior debut on 26 September 1979 against

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

, and his last cap came against

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

on 17 October 1984. He never played in a

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

or European Championship finals, as Ireland did not qualify for any tournaments during that time, although most of his caps were won in European and World Cup Qualifying games.

Coaching career

He became head coach and then caretaker manager at Shelbourne after

Eamonn Gregg Eamonn Gregg (born 28 March 1953 in Dublin) was an Irish soccer, football player during the 1970s and 1980s. Playing career He played for Shamrock Rovers, Bohemian FC, Bohemians, VfB Lübeck, Dundalk F.C., Dundalk, St Patrick's Athletic and K ...

was sacked in November 1994. Devine was head coach at

for three seasons from 2008 to 2011, during which time the Club won promotion two years in succession and won the 2009 FAI Cup final against Sligo Rovers. He worked for 10 years at Manchester United's academy as the club's Irish Academy director. Devine worked for the Football Association of Ireland as a Tutor/Assessor, and recently as a senior consultant for the player development program for Ireland and currently serves as the Technical Director for Almaden Soccer in the Silicon Valley. He is also TD for GPS/Bayern Munich for West Coast USA.http://www.almadensoccer.org/home

Career statistics

Club

Source:

International

Source:

Honours

As player

; Arsenal *

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

runner-up: 1980 *

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tourn ...

runner-up: 1980 ; Norwich City * Football League Cup winner:

; IK Start * 2. divisjon champions:

; Shamrock Rovers * FAI Cup runner-up: 1991 ; East Bengal *

champions: 1988 *

champions: 1987

As head coach

; Sporting Fingal * FAI Cup winner: 2009

Sources

* ''The Hoops'' by Paul Doolan and Robert Goggins ()

References

External links

*
Photograph and biography
at sporting-heroes.net

{{DEFAULTSORT:Devine, John 1958 births Living people Republic of Ireland men's association footballers Men's association football fullbacks Arsenal F.C. players Norwich City F.C. players Stoke City F.C. players IK Start players Eliteserien players Irish expatriate sportspeople in Norway Expatriate men's footballers in Norway Irish expatriates in Norway Shamrock Rovers F.C. players Association footballers from Dublin (city) League of Ireland players Expatriate men's footballers in India Irish expatriate sportspeople in India League of Ireland managers Republic of Ireland men's international footballers Republic of Ireland men's under-21 international footballers Republic of Ireland men's youth international footballers East Bengal Club players Expatriate men's footballers in England English Football League players Sporting Fingal F.C. non-playing staff Republic of Ireland association football managers Calcutta Football League players