Michael Duberry: Patience of a Saint

Published on Saturday 6 March 2010 20:06

WHEN LIFE is full of contrasts, the light always seem so much brighter when it follows prolonged spells of darkness, the gloom far less penetrable when it descends after periods of luminance. Few will understand that better than St Johnstone defender Michael Duberry. Home in on certain times in his career and you find significant highs or pretty desperate lows.

There doesn't seem to be any grey areas. His life is punctuated by events most football fans can only dream of, the sweet contrast to other incidents which are the stuff of nightmares.

The highlights shine brightly. There's the European Cup-Winners' Cup medal with Chelsea, the domestic cup finals, daily training with the likes of Ruud Gullit, Gianluca Vialli, Gianfranco Zola et al as a youngster coming through the ranks. There were match-days and match-winners against Manchester United, European tussles with Barcelona and so many happy memories that he took them for granted and failed to document them, believing that the conveyor belt of accomplishments would keep on rolling.

Fast forward to his transfer to Leeds United in 1999 and life was still rosy: there was less involvement than he had hoped and the medals were not as readily attainable but he says they were still the happiest days of his career. While life at Stamford Bridge was an education there wasn't the camaraderie that epitomised Leeds.

But that was all threatened in 2001 when team-mates and friends Jonathan Woodgate and Lee Bowyer went on trial, accused of assaulting an Asian student. On the night in question Woodgate had told his mate that "they had just had a fight with some Asians". Duberry, now 34, was called to testify and had two choices; tell the truth and drop his mates in the mire, or keep schtum and dump himself in it. Facing a moral and legal dilemma, he eventually opted for the former.

"My QC was brilliant, she eventually told me I could just sit there doing what I was doing and refusing to speak and end up in prison leaving my little girl with no dad and myself with no income or I could do what I knew to be right and speak up and then my little girl would grow up knowing her dad was all about telling the truth. Harsh words and those were difficult days and it took me a while to decide because I had been programmed from the days I was a little boy in the playground that little boys don't tell tales. There's that code of conduct, even if the teacher asked, you said you hadn't seen anything. To all of a sudden change my testimony and put someone else in it, it felt like being back at school. Even to the last minute when they asked me a question on the stand, I was hesitant but then I did it.

"It was more the effect it would have on Woody. At the beginning I'd tried to help but I think me trying to help only made things worse. If I had told the truth at the beginning I wouldn't even have been in the stand but I was trying to help and stupidly thought I was cleverer than the law and it got me in trouble."

Woodgate was convicted of affray and sentenced to 100 hours' community service.

Duberry had done the right thing but not everyone saw it that way. There were supposedly death threats and banners were unfurled at matches demanding "Death to Duberry". That wasn't pleasant but even worse was the awkwardness within the club.

"It was hard because me and Woody were massive characters in the group and that incident made it awkward. It didn't split the group because we were such a tight group and I think that's what got us talking again but it was hard for everyone because it was two of their pals in the situation and it wasn't nice to be involved in it.

"The hardest thing was that if you're a footballer and you have problems at home, the hour and a half when you come to training is your chance to forget it but with the court case I never had an outlet. Lee Bowyer (who was cleared of all charges] was fine because he seems to be able to forget any court case and play brilliantly on a Saturday and that was his outlet, he got all his frustrations out on the pitch. But Woody didn't have an outlet because he wasn't playing and I certainly didn't have an outlet. Coming into the club, even around the boys it was awkward and I was injured so I couldn't get involved in banter in training.

"When I did get back playing, once the trial was finished, the public opinion was already there and me being a London boy didn't sit too well with the Leeds fans because Woody was more homegrown and although it was a minority, it was a vocal minority and you could hear them singing and it was hard but I'm a strong character and not a lot fazes me."

Which is just as well, because although things settled down slightly, his Leeds career was punctuated by managerial upheaval. All that before the club finally went into financial meltdown.

Impressively, he remains positive about it all. Amidst the tumult of life at Leeds he says he learned a lot about himself and who his real friends were. His personal life became more settled and he found peace again.

It has been a twisting path from Elland Road to Perth. It's taken in spells at Stoke City, Reading and, most recently, Wycombe Wanderers. And while people talk about the heady days of his early career, he says there is no point living in the past. He and his wife Natasha have set up an online business selling funky children's clothes, which has provoked some gentle ribbing, and he is back enjoying his football. "I know I was privileged to start out where I did and sample those heights. As a player, I'm far better than I was when I was at Chelsea but the opportunities and the prestige hasn't been there so much since then."

There are no regrets. Well, only the fact he didn't tape all those cup final appearances or piece together a scrapbook to remember them by. The fact is, though, he is happy.

He hates being away from his family, who have remained down south, but the alternative was worse. He hated it at Wycombe, where it ended sourly and with him training with youths. He hated it so much he contemplated quitting the game.

"But I got the opportunity to come here (St Johnstone midfielder and former Chelsea team-mate] Jody (Morris] has always spoken highly of it and it's the SPL and the chance to sample some football I'd never sampled before against some clubs with great history and I'm having a great time. I don't know what I will do in the summer. But it was important for me, if I am to hang up the boots, that I don't do it as a bitter old pro. I've been privileged and I didn't want it to end with a sour taste in my mouth."

Undoubtedly enjoying one of his brighter spells as he settles into Scottish football life, it's all the more luminous for things which have gone on before.