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06 Sept 2025

New book tracks down Derry City legends from all over the world

Derry City

Author of ‘Cityview - 30 years of Missing A-Z Interviews’, Andrew Cassidy.

From the Brandywell all the way to Sweden, Finland, Australia and even South Africa, a new book explores the impact that Derry City FC has had on its past players, even decades after they wore red and white.

Written by Andrew Cassidy, ‘Cityview – 30 years of Missing A-Z Interviews’, explores the highs, the lows, and the unforgettable memories enjoyed by some of the club’s greatest ever players. From Dennis Tueart to Owen Da Gama, there are recognisable names for City fans of any generation, and a book which will be a real keepsake for fans of the club both young and old.

Andrew, who helps produce the official club programme on match days, explained that the book is the result of an idea which has evolved from interviewing current players over a number of few years.  

“I have been doing the programme now for about 10 years now, and every single edition that I've done, I've done the A to Z with the current player,” he said. “Every so often, I would ask a question and somebody would answer it and I'd think, “I wonder what Liam Coyle's answer to that would have been? Like, who's the best player he's ever played with? And I just thought, I'd love to go back and ask all those people some day.

“I was thinking about just putting them into the programme each week, but then that would take the current players out, if you know what I mean. So I just thought, I'll do one sort of special edition, one that gets as many people as I could to do the question. And that's how it came about.”

There are some big names involved in the final book, but one story that isn’t told is that of finding players who are now spread right across the world.

“I kind of set out for 30 and got more than I thought,” Andrew continued. “It was just a matter of finding contacts. For example, Denis Tueart. I had to try and find a contact for him. I don't know where he was now, but I knew he was a business man of some sort.

“I actually contacted somebody at Manchester City who put me in contact with somebody who knows Denis, so it was kind of a long road, but I eventually got there.

“The hardest one to find was the Owen Da Gama, to be honest with you. It kind of fell into my lap. I was looking for an email. It was supposed to come through and I couldn't find it. I went down to my spam and there was an email from a guy, a South African sports agent, who had a few players and a few coaches that he was looking to get back into work. I never click on them things, but for some reason I clicked into it, and the top name was of a coach, Owen De Gama.

“I thought “It’s never him”. This was the week that I was supposed to send it to the printers. But I emailed and the guy replied “I do believe Owen De Gama played for you about 30 years ago”. I asked for his number and he emailed it on to me. I then WhatsApped him, and sure enough, Owen responded more or less straight away and he said he would love to do it.

“I'd written him off to a bad job. I was never going to find him. Then the week it was to go to the printers, something intervened.”

From funny stories to memorable games and unforgettable characters, the book took on a life of its own, with the impact of their time at the Brandywell never leaving most players.

“I made a list of around 90 players, which, was only three per season, over 30 years,” Andrew explained. “I knew I wouldn't get them all. There is a list of players that I would have loved to have got, but just either ran out of time or couldn't find a contact for them or whatever. So, I don't know, maybe sometime in the future I would love to do another one like that.”

 

“Some of the players are spread far across the world now so, the writing of it was quite difficult. You have Clive Delaney in Australia, Eamon Zayed, and Russell Payne's in America, Tommy Dunne's in Finland and Tommy Stewart is managing out in Sweden. And Owen Da Gama is obviously in South Africa. They're kind of all over the place so I was getting a phone call at either 8 o'clock in the morning or midnight.” But the calls were brilliant.

“Most of them went on for about an hour, but obviously there are cut down to the book, so I feel privileged that I'm the only one that has heard the full version of the book.”

 

The book is available to but now on www.derrycityfc.net, and will be available to buy in person at Derry City’s upcoming home games against Bohemians on Friday, October 11 and Monday, October 14.

 

 

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