Jim Duffy still treasures his award from fellow pros 25 years ago

A quarter of a century ago things were very different when a defender at a club that finished bottom of the Premier Division conceding one hundred goals, emerged victorious. Jim Duffy picked up the award in 1985 and he still sticks to the beliefs that won him the honour in Morton colours as he guides the fortunes of promotion seeking Brechin City.

Duffy joined the Greenock club from Celtic in January 1982, and the Cappielow side finished in a respectable seventh place in the SFL Premier Division. Morton slipped out of the top tier the following year, however they roared back in 1984 as First Division champions.

Manager Tommy McLean left for Motherwell before the new season started and his brother Willie came in for a campaign that started brightly with a home win over Dumbarton and a success over Hearts at Tynecastle. The next triumph however, came against Celtic in November with wins over Hibs and St Mirren being the only two other successes seen.

Duffy remains shocked at winning the accolade. "When you consider the creative players, like David Cooper and Paul McStay, and the defenders that were around then, Willie Miller, Alex McLeish and Roy Aitken it was the biggest surprise of my life to win," he said.

"Morton's Andy Ritchie had won the Football Writers' award six years earlier, but he had scored about 30 goals and was an exceptionally gifted player. It just was a total surprise after the season we had been through."

Duffy, now 49, explained why he believes his fellow professionals voted for him."They must have seen my commitment to Morton and the fact that I never gave up," he suggested. I gave 100 per cent in every game and that must have impressed them."

"I have very few things in my house on display that you would lead you to know I have a career in football, as I am not ostentatious, but the Players' Player of the Year Award is."

The form shown by Duffy earned him a move to Dundee that ended prematurely with injury at the age of 28. He took over the reins as Falkirk manager, however that ended in disappointing circumstances with Duffy leaving Brockville after being let down by the behaviour of some of his players off the field.

Rest proved to be a great cure for Duffy's injured knee and he reverted back to playing with Dundee and then Partick Thistle before returning to Dens Park as player/assistant manager to Simon Stainrod. In late 1993, Duffy became player/manager with the Dark Blues and he took his First Division side to the Coca-Cola Cup final in November 1995 which was lost 2-0 to Aberdeen.

Duffy left Dens for Hibs before coaching stints at Chelsea and Portsmouth ahead of opting for Dundee as a SPL Manager in June 2002. Hampden was visited again in May 2003 with a Scottish Cup final against Rangers that was lost 1-0, and Duffy was at the helm when the club went into administration six months later.

Despite massive cuts, relegation was avoided until May 2005 with Duffy finally ending his connection at Tayside in August of that year. Duffy's next port of call was a two-month stay as director of football at Hearts and then a spell with Norwich that ended in October 2007.

David Irons beat Duffy to the Morton job when it became available early in 2008, however media work kept Duffy busy until an opening appeared at Brechin City a year later when Michael O'Neil left for Shamrock Rovers.

The switch to part-time management has enabled Duffy to keep his media work going. "I have always kept myself busy. Being committed and working hard has done me well throughout my career so there is no need to change it now."

Read Jim Duffy's full interview at Co-operative Insurance League Insider at leagueinsider.com.