‘I was running on anger’ — Duff open to managerial return after time away from the game
Damien Duff has spoken about the toll managing Shelbourne took on him, before adding that a return to management could be on the cards.
Speaking on his punditry debut for Virgin Media ahead of the Dublin derby between Shamrock Rovers and Bohemians, the ex-Reds boss explained that he stepped away from the job as he had turned into a “wild animal”.
“I won’t lie to you Tommy, I’ve probably slept a lot in the last 10 months, done a lot of boxing, watched a lot of football, a lot of school runs,” Duff said.
“Outside of that, not a lot. Listen, I’m going over old ground but I needed to do what I did. I needed to slow down before I quicken up again. I needed to put myself first for once before the football club.
“There was probably a bit of me that didn’t like who I was becoming at times. I was fighting the world – I was angry, running on anger and highly emotional.
“But it was something I felt I had to do to get Shelbourne back to the top and I felt if we didn’t do that we wouldn’t have won the league. I absolutely stand over that.
“Worrying for me is, when I get back in would I be the same again? Probably.
“I’m not trying to embarrass Brian [Kerr] but he rang me a couple of days afterwards. Firstly, to see how I was but also to say that I probably stopped being Damien Duff.
“Believe it or not, I’m a softly-spoken guy, a bit of a mammy’s boy and there were times I turned into a bit of a wild animal, which isn’t me.”
On the same panel, ex-Ireland boss Brian Kerr said that Irish football needs Duff working in some capacity within the international set-up.