MONAGHAN SOCCER MOURNS PASSING OF BILLY BAGSTER

The passing at St James’s Hospital in Dublin on Sunday last, October 6 of Billy Bagster has evoked deep sadness among the followers of soccer in Monaghan. Rightly described this week as “a Monaghan United legend” by the club he led to First Division promotion in 1993 and subsequently to a top six finish in the Premier League, the man from Terenure was one of the most iconic characters in Irish soccer, deeply knowledgeable about the worldwide game, charmingly idiosyncratic and individual, erudite and dryly witty and instantly recognisable in his long coat, rakish hat and weakness for Gitanes cigarettes, skin always improbably sunburnished even though his touchline backdrop was often one of wind, rain and even snow.

A lounge at the Monaghan United clubhouse at Gortakeegan is named in his honour, fitting testament to the transformative effect on the club’s fortunes he had when he took over as manager in the 1990s, adding astutely to the squad thanks to his e n c y c l o p a e d i c knowledge of League of Ireland players and bring the Mons from the relative obscurity of First…