Joe Kinnear was a man who did things his own way.
A reliable full-back, he was a key member of the star-studded Tottenham team before embarking on a managerial career that brought him great fame with Wimbledon's 'Crazy Gang', but ended in a hail of expletives, controversy and sometimes ridicule in Newcastle.
No slave to political correctness, Kinnear told how he saw it and was admired and respected by those closest to him on a journey that started in Ireland and revolved largely around London, but also took him to Nepal .
Kinnear, who has died aged 77, was born Joseph Reddy in Dublin on December 27, 1946, the youngest of three children of Guinness Brewery distiller Joe and Margaret Reddy. He and older sisters Shirley and Carmen spent their early years in Dublin. the Kimmage and Crumlin areas of the city.
The marriage was not a happy one and his mother, who was only twenty when he arrived, eventually ran away and looked for work in England, while her children - custody was awarded to her husband - were split between their grandparents.
After meeting and setting up a home with Gerry Kinnear in Watford, she returned for her children when her son was six, and along with the couple's daughters Louise and Amelia, the Reddy children took their stepfather's surname.
Kinnear excelled in sport at both Kingswood Primary and Leggatt's Way Secondary Modern schools, where his skills helped him gain early acceptance.
A career as a professional was his dream from an early age and he seemed to be on course as he played for and captained Watford Boys and then Hertfordshire Boys before being given a trial by Watford at the age of 15.
Much to his disappointment, the Hornets did not offer him a contract and after leaving school with no qualifications, he took a job as an apprentice printer and played part-time for non-league St. Albans City, where he was spotted by Spurs' chief scout Dick Walker.
After a successful trial, he signed amateur terms with the club's youth team, after being asked to move from his usual right-half role to right full-back, and won his first professional contract at the age of 18.
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Now working alongside the likes of Danny Blanchflower, Dave Mackay and Jimmy Greaves, he made his senior debut under double-winning manager Bill Nicholson in a 4-1 home defeat to West Ham on April 8, 1966 and, just over a year later, he was named man of the match in an FA Cup final victory over Chelsea.
In total he made 258 appearances for the club, also winning the League Cup and the UEFA Cup twice, as well as 26 caps for the Republic of Ireland, although any trace of his accent was long gone.
In the meantime, he had met wife Bonnie, with whom he had two children: Elliot, who died of cancer at the age of 40, and Russelle.
Nicholson's resignation as his team began to slide marked the beginning of the end for Kinnear at White Hart Lane and a move to third division Brighton in 1975 lasted just 16 appearances as a knee ligament injury effectively ended his playing career.
Like many footballers at the time, he bought a pub, having previously invested in two houses which he rented out, and took up a part-time coaching role at Southern League Woodford Town, where he later completed his coaching badges.
However, it was in the shadow of Mount Everest that he seriously cut his teeth after being offered the sensational opportunity to coach the Nepal national team in their bid to qualify for the 1986 World Cup finals.
Spells with Sharjah and Al Shabab, where he worked under Mackay, in the United Arab Emirates followed, and he later followed the Scot to Doncaster in the Fourth Division and eventually succeeded him as caretaker, only for new owners to replace former Leeds skipper Billy Install Bremner in place.
It was at Wimbledon that Kinnear would finally make a name for himself as a manager.
Initially recruited by FA Cup-winning boss Bobby Gould as his reserve team coach, he was handed the reins of the first team in January 1992 following the sacking of Peter Withe by chairman Sam Hammam.
With 'Crazy Gang' stalwart Vinnie Jones returning from Chelsea as club captain, Kinnear led the Dons to sixth place in the Premier League in his second full season and three major semi-finals from modest means, with his man-management skills and tactical awareness . building an unbreakable bond with his players.
In March 1999 he suffered a heart attack and in the aftermath decided the time was right for a change, despite Hamman having promised him a job for life.
A brief spell as director of football at Oxford was followed by an eventful reign at crisis club Luton and a difficult spell at Nottingham Forest, although he was catapulted back into the headlines at Newcastle.
Kinnear had been out of work for almost four years when, after an extensive search failed to find a successor to manager Kevin Keegan following his departure in September 2008, controversial owner Mike Ashley asked him to take over as manager until anger from the fans. in open rebellion.
His first press conference degenerated into an expletive-filled tirade that earned him the nickname "JFK," with no prizes for guessing what the "F" might stand for, and his subsequent media appearances were often entertaining, if not always factually accurate .
His reign proved short-lived when new heart problems forced him to resign, although Ashley turned to the Irishman for a second time in June 2013, this time as director of football, a move that was hailed by the city's evening newspaper, The Chronicle, front-page headline: 'What a joke.'
He lasted only seven months, handing in his resignation in February 2014 amid the fallout from the sale of Yohan Cabaye for £19 million to Paris St Germain, significantly below the club's valuation, and without even a single final to have signed.
Kinnear disappeared from the spotlight after leaving St James' Park and his wife revealed in September 2021 that her husband had been suffering from dementia since 2015.
