FOOTBALL IS often a ruthless, cutthroat business.
There is always a chance, of course, that you can become a Denis Irwin or a Roy Keane, spending the majority of your career at a big club and winning major trophies on a regular basis.
On the other hand, for the vast majority of players, life in the industry is much less glorious and more short-term, unstable and chaotic.
In August of this year, just a few days after turning 35, Eddie Nolan decided to get off at the at-times brutal merry-go-round.
Just days before, Nolan had completed 90 minutes in Waterford’s 2-2 draw with Galway.
Choosing to retire a little over halfway through a season was a somewhat unusual move.
This decision to end a long career in professional football was not due to injury problems or falling out with management — the reason was much more practical.
“I was planning on retiring at the end of the season anyway,” he tells The 42. “And an opportunity arose that wasn’t going to be there come November — I had to take it.”
Nolan also had been undertaking a business course at South East Technological University alongside playing for Waterford but had to defer it after being offered a job in an insurance company.
The ex-Ireland international is therefore now enjoying the freedom of no longer having to deal with the pressures of being a footballer.
Had this job offer not come “out of the blue,” Nolan would likely be preparing to line out today for the second leg of Waterford’s First Division playoff semi-final against Athlone Town.
Nonetheless, the retired footballer is content with how fate has transpired.
“I’m just enjoying living a normal life,” he says.
“I was thinking I was going to put my family first for once, you know?
“I was playing professional football for 20-odd years now and was thinking of life after football. It was too good to turn down.”
There was always more to Nolan than just football, however.
As a youngster in Waterford, GAA was just as big a passion.
“I was from a hurling family really and played everything growing up – hurling, Gaelic, and football.
“I probably preferred hurling but I couldn’t turn down the chance to go to England.”
So does Nolan think he could have played hurling at a high level had it not been for the substantial interest in his footballing talents across the water?
“I wouldn’t go that far now,” he replies. “I think I stopped playing when I was under 14. So it was still fun for me at the time.”
Nolan had a couple of options thereafter but chose Blackburn based on a “gut feeling,” helped by the fact that they were a strong Premier League side at the time with several Irish players on their books – Gavin Peers, Jonathan Douglas, Keith Treacy and Alan Judge were among the other promising youngsters hoping to establish themselves in the Premier League during that era.
Being away from friends and family for long periods wasn’t easy for Nolan regardless.
“I nearly had to be talked around to stay over there a lot of the time by my parents. So there were some conversations to keep me over there. It was tough. It took a while to settle in, but it helps when you have Irish lads around.”
Nolan made just a single senior appearance for Blackburn in December 2006. The 18-year-old was introduced in the 28th minute of a 1-0 Uefa Cup win over French side Nancy after the more experienced defender Andy Todd was unable to continue due to injury.
Yet further opportunities did not arise, so Nolan went in search of first-team football elsewhere.
He had short loan spells in Leagues Two and One with Stockport and Hartlepool, gaining invaluable exposure to men’s football in the process.
Then, in January 2009, Nolan signed a three-and-a-half-year deal with Championship side Preston, after at first impressing on loan at Deepdale.
Just a month later, he earned his first Ireland call-up.
A 21-year-old Nolan had caught the eye as Giovanni Trapattoni attended a 0-0 draw between Reading and the Lilywhites — there were no fewer than seven other Irish players involved that day: Sean St Ledger, Stephen Elliott, Alex Pearce, Noel Hunt, Stephen Hunt, Kevin Doyle and Shane Long.
Nolan went on to win three caps in 2009, playing alongside individuals whom he had once looked up to, such as Robbie Keane, Damien Duff and John O’Shea.
He was also part of the squad that travelled to France the following November and who were cruelly denied a 2010 World Cup spot amid the infamous Thierry Henry handball controversy.
That initial 2008-09 season got even better for Nolan and Preston, with the Premier League in sight. They made it all the way to the playoffs, and the Irishman started both games of a tight 2-1 aggregate loss to Sheffield United in the semi-finals.
Still, within the space of a few months, Nolan had gone from on the fringes at Blackburn to an Ireland international playing regularly in the Championship.
Nevertheless, just as things can change so quickly for the better in football, the opposite is also true.
The following season, Preston failed to build on their success in reaching the playoffs. Nolan lost his place in the side and was deemed surplus to requirements after Darren Ferguson replaced Alan Irvine as manager.
“Alan Irvine, unfortunately, got the sack and the new manager came in and just wanted a clearout,” he recalls. “There were a lot of lads from the previous season that got to the playoffs that he wanted rid of, he wanted to bring in his own players. It happens and that’s why I moved on.
“That happened a couple of times in my career. And I think if you speak to a lot of footballers, they’ll have the same experience. If a new manager comes in, it can change your whole position at a club.”
Nolan subsequently reunited with Irvine amid a short-term loan to Championship rivals Sheffield Wednesday. The Owls wanted to sign the Irish international permanently, but the £100,000 was too costly for the financially stricken club.
Instead, he joined another team who were struggling — Scunthorpe United — and Nolan’s arrival could not arrest the slide.
The club were relegated from the Championship and failed to return at the first attempt.
Consequently, almost exactly three years on from making his Ireland debut, it was announced that Nolan was one of 10 players who were being released by Scunthorpe.
Somewhat bizarrely though, the beleaguered club re-signed Nolan just eight months later. He had been still training with them regularly in the interim and eventually joined for a second spell on non-contract terms until the end of the season.
“Because of the relegation the previous season, they had to clear the wage bill,” Nolan explains.
“So they were trying to get some of the players that were at the club in the Championship out the door, so that was one of the reasons [I was released originally].”
But despite the disappointment, he did not think twice when the chance for a second spell at the club presented itself.
“They were struggling and they were in a relegation battle,” he says. “And I just decided to go back to it.”
The Irish international went on to make 12 appearances but could not prevent the club’s relegation to League Two.
There were at least happier times following that significant setback. Nolan recovered well after his time in the wilderness, making 39 appearances as the club were promoted from League Two at the first attempt, finishing the 2013-14 campaign in second, just three points off champions Chesterfield.
Yet he struggled for game time the following season and again was on the lookout for a new club at the end of the campaign.
Over the course of the next six seasons, the Irish star signed for four different clubs — York City, Blackpool, Crewe Alexandra and Motherwell.
Of that quartet, Crewe was the only place where he enjoyed a proper, sustained run of first-team action.
This at times frustrating period served as a reminder of the unforgiving and often turbulent nature of football in the lower divisions.
“It can change overnight,” he says. “I think even in the League of Ireland, a lot of lads sign one-year [contracts] here and there. It’s not easy and it’s a bit unsettling really when you don’t know what the future is going to look like in some instances.
“I was lucky enough at most of the clubs I was at I had longer than a one-year contract, so that helps.
“But even at some clubs, you could sign a three-year deal but the manager might leave and the new manager might want you out, so you could be moving anyway.
“There are always ups and downs, I’ve experienced the good and the bad. But I [at least] didn’t have to move around. I was based in the same area for five or six years with all those clubs. So it wasn’t too bad.”
After being released by Crewe, Nolan joined hometown club Waterford in the summer of 2021.
“I was always planning on coming home. I probably came home a couple of years earlier than I would have thought but after the whole Covid thing and the family back home, missing my family, the birth of my son kind of moved that closer — to get home, that was more important to me.
“I’ve just been away from my family back home for long enough and with the young son being born, I wanted him growing up around his grandparents and stuff like that, you know, aunties and uncles.”
More footballing heartbreak was to follow. Nolan was part of a Waterford side that were relegated after losing a playoff to UCD in a week in which their preparations for the vital game were overshadowed by events going on behind the scenes at the club.
It was all the more galling that Waterford were relegated with a record points tally of 42 — finishing just 12 points off fourth-place Derry City, who claimed the final European spot in the league that year.
“It was a crazy week with the gaffer Marc Bircham getting the sack three days before the playoff [final]. It’s easy to say now, but if he doesn’t get sacked, I think we stay up,” Nolan adds.
UCD again were the familiar playoff foes as Waterford failed to return to the top flight at the first attempt at the end of the 2022 season, but Nolan says he fancies his former side to secure a much-coveted top-flight spot this year.
Yet these high-pressure games are no longer Nolan’s priority. These days the former footballer is content to be somewhat removed from the limelight.
The Uefa B licence holder still works in Waterford’s academy setup, primarily overseeing their U17 and U19 teams, while he has also returned to his GAA roots and is involved with local club Roanmore.
Management is an occupation he would consider in the future and Nolan is cognisant of the continuing need for “structure” in his life.
Conversely, ‘family’ is a word Nolan references several times over the course of this interview and it is a theme he returns to towards the conclusion of our conversation.
“I was 20 years as a professional footballer, give or take, and I’m just trying to put my family first and not have to revolve our lives around football, so it was the right time for me [to stop playing] and I have no regrets.”