Aidan Fitzmaurice
speaker
604 appearances
3 recordings
1 series
first heard Mar 2026
last heard 4d ago
Aidan Fitzmaurice’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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recordings per month · last 12 monthsRecordings per month over the last 12 months — 3 in all, peaking in Sep 2026 with 1.
Appearances
So yeah, watch a movie, watch some documentaries, but don't expect to be any the wiser after a couple of hours.
Looking at the footage coming out of Derry today, which is the player we're talking about, reminds me of when you see something like Chelsea, when they've sacked managers as they do every six months, or Real Madrid or Barcelona. Half expect to see Harry. There's even footage of James McLean in his massive Jeep driving into training today. It just becomes such a story, and it is James McLean for a couple of years. Damon Duff was the biggest name in the League of Ireland. James McLean, since he's come back, probably is that name recognition.
There's a story that UK sites, international sites are going to keep. Because there's this main of a story, man, club tried to sack hometown hero and what does player, then he turns up to training. It's an international story now. And the last thing Derry City fans want is to have this thrown at them in what's been probably one of the most difficult seasons they've had in a couple of years. And that's saying something for Derry. It's so funny you say that because my main thought was if it were not for the grim backdrop, which we'll get into, watching him arrive in his...
SUV is blacked out SUV in the, in the sunshine. And all the reporters, I said, the cameras, I thought, God, the league's really arrived here. This looks big time. This is great. And the fact that he had, I remember, you know, players allowed to drive what they want, but I mean, you have some players there who might be young or students, or it might be the first car, you know, you see that sometimes the Shamrock Rovers guys for 2021, they're driving the normal car you'd have when you're 20. And James is driving this, driving this Jeep. That's probably bigger than my entire kitchen, but yeah,
Our understanding is Derry want to end this thing and McLean says, tough luck, we're not ending this thing. So first of all, they've both been approached for combat, Derry City and James McLean. They're not commenting at the moment. I don't think anything was said. It was an open training session today as part of the Derry failure. I don't think any, I think the club initially tried to stop media going in, but that obviously wasn't going to work for an open session when fans were in.
Essentially, my understanding from speaking to people with knowledge of the case is that this isn't linked to James's comments about Turner Lynch or the club or a social media activity. This is simply a view by the club that his physical state, that he is not in a position physically to complete his contract. He's two years left on his contract.
He's on a big wage there. He's probably one of the biggest earners in the league. And that Derry's view is that he is simply unfit to carry on as a professional footballer. James will, again speaking to somebody who knows James well, will hotly contest that. He maintains he was available for the game at the weekend. He was not selected. I believe he was asked not to train last week, but he is available for training. The issue here will be
This has happened before. This has happened loads of times where a club has a player, particularly somebody on a big contract, where they try and offload them. And you cannot, on one side, say you're unfit. The procedure is, and James is a member of the union, the PFEI in this case, everybody's entitled to representation from their union. My understanding when it gets to this case that...
when there is a dispute over a player's fitness and ability to perform, that a doctor, independent of both parties, but agreed to by both parties, will inspect the player and then he will make a medical decision. Not a football one, not a professional one, not a moral one. A doctor will say, yes, X player is fit to carry on as a professional, or in my view, this player's physical condition, his knees, his hip or whatever, he is not fit to continue. And then you move on.
My understanding is that Derry have decided that James is unfit to play or to train. They made a move to cancel his contract and James will resist that, which is entirely his right as an employee. He's not a footballer, he's an employee. Well, it sounds like employment law is on his side then at the moment.
Completely, as I understand it. And again, it is a little bit complex because we're in the north. It's rules that apply in Dublin. So again, the PFAI trying to manage this, representing James on a cross-border basis. So there is that added element to it as well, where a law that would apply in Dublin will not necessarily apply in Dublin.
Derry, because Derry, as we all know, forgive me for saying it to our Derry listeners, Derry is technically in the UK, so UK employment law applies. But my understanding is that if Derry proceed with this, James, has a very, very strong case. An employer cannot unilaterally decide. They haven't gone after Monbreach, you can't bring the club into disrepute.
His comments made, that's another avenue that they may follow. But simply on the basis of his fitness, he will argue that he is available. He could have played against like Rovers last weekend. He sees himself as being fit to play against GCD in the FAI Cup in Belfield on Friday night.
It might be very difficult here for Derry to say we have like irrefutable medical statement here saying you're not fit to fulfill your contract. I would say it's impossible because any physician that will, and I'm sure there are cases where, and this comes up in medicals all the time, when there was a case last week where I was writing about it, Kosovo International was going to RB Leipzig from Hoffenheim Feld, a medical facility.
Huge contract there. You know, you need medical, protect yourself as a club. The buying club weren't happy, so they rejected the deal. But that's different. This is a player already on the books. I don't see how it's any way possible that Derry can decide or a physician will decide, look at James McLean, test him and go, you are not fit to fulfill your contract. He is available to play. He was played up till last game was against Scurries in the FAI Cup three weeks ago. You don't go from playing, starting against, starting an FAI Cup tie to being an invalid in the space of three weeks.
Yeah. So why have Derry, I mean, my words, not yours, taken such a naive route here? I don't know. I think this lies to a deeper problem with Derry in terms of how Derry is run as a football club. Apart from the team, take out the team and how the team, teams win or lose games all the time, but how Derry are performing. They've grown hugely in the last couple of years with the investment from Philip O'Doherty, their owner, who's a billionaire. He's played huge amounts of money and he has essentially kept the show on the road.
They have had huge problems off the field. I don't think they're particularly well run as a club. They lack staff. They lack the support base that you need to run a professional football club. And I think that's what will come out of this, that how Derry, as a club, have handled it. Forget the results. Forget Tyrone Lynch losing his job. Or if they lose to Scaries, if they lost to European games, that happens to clubs everywhere. Derry have not kept pace with other clubs. You look at...
compare them to Shamrock Rovers. And you look around in the stand at a Shamrock Rovers game and you see who's working there for Shamrock Rovers. They've Robbie Hedman, CEO, Rona Finn, director of football. They've Sean Cavanaugh, another role. They have board members. They have lots of people who have been recruited, appointed to roles on salaries, which they're entitled to be, bringing and sustaining a club that needs. Rovers isn't a one-man operation. And Derry, I think, are a little bit in the situation 20 years ago where you essentially have Philip O'Doherty, a one-man show. There is a board there, of course,
but he doesn't have the support around him. They don't really have a CEO worthy of the title. They don't have director of football. They don't have director of operations. They don't have those titles that Derry should have had. This has been glaring for years and it underlines a bigger... Derry are a fascinating example of Irish football. Derry should be the biggest club and one of the most successful teams in Ireland. They have so many advantages. They have a captive audience. Derry City are one of the few clubs
It's one of the few cities in Ireland where they have the city to themselves. As in, there's no real rugby to speak of in Derry. The GA in Derry County is in there. It's in the rural areas. Derry's GA doesn't have a presence in Derry City. Something like Waterford, Galway, Dundalk, Limerick, even Dublin. You know, Bowles, Rovers, Pats and Shells are fighting with Dublin GA and Hurling and Leinster Rugby.
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