A Republic of Ireland’s linch-pin, Paul McGrath is still widely considered to be one of the greatest defenders of all time!
After developing a growing football career, he was playing regularly for St Patrick's Athletic, in the League of Ireland, earning the nickname "The Black Pearl of Inchicore" and winning the PFAI Players' Player of the Year award in 1982. Born in Middlesex, in England, to a Nigerian father and Irish mother, Paul was raised in foster care, which was arranged and carried out by the Catholic Crusade members in Dublin.
Mom, Betty (McGrath) gave him up for fostering in Ireland when he was four weeks old. But, after a while, Paul would, later on, return home to his paternal mother, before she felt it necessary to put the mercurial child into an orphanage.
During that time being known as Paul Nwobilo, his return to his mother meant him living a second Black child, his younger sister, Okune. He remained in a variety of foster care around Dublin until he turned 18 – when he was able to reconcile with his mother and maternal grandfather.
Suffering a major mental breakdown, that lasted for over a year, and placed in the psychiatric hospital, he was eventually able to recover from his episode and develop what was to be an expanding career in sport. Attracting major interest in England, Paul moved to Manchester United, where he became a regular in the centre of their defence under Ron Atkinson.
Come 1986, however, under new manager Alex Ferguson, he wasn’t as much a regular member of the first team as before. His Ireland career was intrinsically linked with Jack Charlton.
In the acclaimed documentary, ‘Finding Jack Charlton’, one of the most powerful and heartbreaking scenes shows the former Ireland manager, then suffering from dementia, looking at old videos when he suddenly recognises a player on the screen. “Paul McGrath,” says Charlton, before looking up and smiling.
By the 1988–89 season, and struggling with knee injuries, his relationship with Ferguson was becoming strained. After then signing for Aston Villa in 1989, McGrath played some of the best football of his career, despite recurrent problems in his knees.
McGrath's performances continued to impress with him becoming a regular in the Villa lineup. By the time Ron Atkinson took over, in the early Premier League era, Aston Villa again finished as runners-up - behind Manchester United.
Paul won the PFA Players' Player of the Year award whilst there. He played his final game as a professional, for Sheffield United, against Ipswich Town in November 1997, just before his 38th birthday.
Despite approaching his 65th birthday, Paul McGrath, who is still widely considered to be one of the greatest defenders of all time, continues to carry the frame of a man cut from a block of granite. He continues to live in Wexford, in Ireland, and while he watches “a bit too much” sport these days, he has no interest in getting actively involved with a team in the future.
‘Respect Is Due’… to "The Black Pearl of Inchicore" during this Black History Month!