Pat Devlin (footballer)

Pat Devlin (born 23 April 1953) is an Irish former football player and manager who is current director of football of Bray Wanderers.

Pat Devlin
Personal information
Full name Patrick Devlin
Date of birth (1953-04-23) 23 April 1953
Place of birth Dublin, Ireland
Position(s) Forward
Youth career
1966–1970 St Joseph's Boys
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1970–1971 Shamrock Rovers 0 (0)
1971–1973 T.E.K. United
1973–1974 St Patrick's Athletic
1974–1976 T.E.K. United
1976–1977 Dalkey United
1977–1985 T.E.K. United
1987–1988 Bray Wanderers 5 (1)
International career
1970 Republic of Ireland U17 1 (0)
Managerial career
1986–1990 Bray Wanderers
1991–1992 Athlone Town
1992–1993 Drogheda United
1995–2006 Bray Wanderers
2010–2011 Bray Wanderers
2012–2013 Bray Wanderers
2015–2016 UCD
2017–2021 Cabinteely
2022 Bray Wanderers
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Playing career

Devlin was born in Dublin. For a short spell during his T.E.K. tenure he played for Dalkey United, where he achieved a career highlight by scoring the winning goal against Limerick in a 1976 FAI Cup tie at the Market's Field.[1]

Management career

As player-manager he made his League of Ireland debut for Bray on St Patrick's Day 1988 in a 3–0 home win over Sligo and his only goal came at Richmond Park (football ground) on 1 April where he was also sent off.[2]

Devlin departed just before Christmas 1990 to link up with Noel King at Shamrock Rovers by becoming their Technical Director. However his tenure at the RDS Arena didn't work out and Devlin moved to manage Athlone Town. After a season at Drogheda he moved back to Bray in 1995 and steered them to winning the League of Ireland First Division Shield and the League of Ireland First Division title. On the back of this he was appointed manager of the League of Ireland First Division XI and the following season in charge of the League of Ireland XI.

In January 2002 Devlin celebrated his 500th game in charge of The Seagulls. In May 2004 he was appointed manager of the National League Under-21s. He stepped down from Bray in March 2006 to take charge of the Republic of Ireland B national football team.

Under Devlin Bray are the only team in history to have entered both the Cup Winners' Cup (1990) and UEFA Cup (1999) while playing at the second level domestically.

Ahead of the 2017 season, Devlin was appointed Director of Football and First team Manager of Cabinteely FC. He returned to Bray Wanderers in December 2021.

Return to Bray Wanderers

Since Devlin's return to Bray Wanderers the relationship with supporters has been poor. Incidents have included Devlin telling loyal fans not to support the team or attend matches on local radio station East Coast FM, threatening to issue lifetime bans to anyone criticising his style of management, and approaching Bray fans in an away fixture against Wexford Youths.[3]

Managerial statistics
As of match played 14 October 2022
Team From To Record
GWDLWin %
Republic of Ireland Athlone Town 1991 1992 33 6 11 16 018.18
Republic of Ireland Drogheda United 1992 1993 32 7 13 12 021.88
Republic of Ireland Cabinteely 2017 2021 127 49 22 56 038.58
Republic of Ireland Bray Wanderers 2022 Present 32 6 9 17 018.75
Note: Games included are league games only.

References
  1. https://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/archive/1976/0123/Pg003.html#Ar00300:1BD2261ED23D3981733E318D1E118E22E1AA5C93BC5FB3D342461745862732B6973686B333817338B18D17F18E1D41AA36028539229D4822194B423143025246226A3DA31A40E33158A3BC5BD3D343D5A84705BF3D8617410627 (subscription required)
  2. "The Irish Times - Saturday, April 2, 1988 - Page 011". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 21 February 2011.
  3. "Stewards forced to intervene as Pat Devlin and Bray fans in ugly exchange". 2 May 2022.
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