Barry Maguire returned to FC Den Bosch this week after seven years. The 32-year-old midfielder is entering his third term with his childhood sweetheart after adventures in Norway, Ireland and Singapore, where he has been in good shape since the beginning of this month and has now finally signed a contract until the end of the year. The season. Maguire emphasizes in conversation with Football zone that he did not return to finish building, but to really set up something in Den Bosch.
By Chris Meijer
The last time Maguire had been to the Netherlands was quite some time ago. The corona measures in Singapore made it practically impossible for him to travel back to his native country for two years. “Very little had changed. I had only been there for a week and then the Netherlands was locked, so I haven’t seen much else yet. When I was still in Singapore, everything was open here and everything closed there. Now everything in Singapore was open again and the Netherlands was locked. So I think it’s just me,” Maguire laughs. “After the past two years, it is nice to be back in the Netherlands.”
Maguire left the Netherlands almost seven years ago after having played in the shirt of FC Den Bosch, FC Utrecht, VVV-Venlo and again FC Den Bosch to try his football luck abroad. Arriving well at the Norwegian Sarpsborg 08 he had to deal with a double hernia, an injury that almost ended his professional career. “After my injury and the uncertainties that came with it, the great competitions in Europe were out of the picture. It wasn’t an injury about which much was known and they didn’t know how I would rehabilitate, whether I would get back to my old level. I played in Ireland for a year, it was really fantastic,” Maguire said in an interview with Football zone. In his father’s home country, Maguire played for Limerick FC. “After that I thought it would be fun to go to Asia.”
After a total of three years, Maguire decided not to accept an offer from Geylang International to extend his expiring contract. “At Geylang there was only new management and partly because of that almost the entire group of players left, except for one contract player. It was also not certain that the trainer would stay, so that’s why I decided to leave. The group fell apart and this was a good time to do something different again,” he explains. There were two more offers from other Singapore clubs on the table. “But they weren’t so interesting that I was persuaded to stay. A shame, because it is a beautiful country to live in and I would have loved to stay. I don’t rule out going that way again in the future.”
“There are so many millionaires living here, there is not much to earn in football”
Voetbalzone spoke extensively with Barry Maguire in August about his adventure in Singapore.
Singapore has not been Maguire’s only option lately. In recent years, he has also been in the spotlight in other Asian countries, such as Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia. “In countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia, there are no supporters in the stadiums yet. And the amounts were not such that it was interesting for me to sign there. That was the main reason why I didn’t go to those countries,” says Maguire. There were also offers from Europe, for example from Cyprus or Greece. But nowhere in Maguire’s words ‘the whole picture’ was right. Nevertheless, when he reported to FC Den Bosch at the beginning of January to maintain his condition, it was still the intention to embark on a foreign adventure in the short term.
Maguire and FC Den Bosch went round the table after two weeks to talk about an employment contract. “Look, I have always said that I would like to return to Den Bosch again. Not to finish, but to really put something down. In that regard, now was the right time to do so. I’m super fit, you can see from the training results of the past few weeks that I run the most of all the players. That looks good. The club also wants to continue in the long term and I was certainly open to that, but there must also be something in return. Those options weren’t there yet. It might also be nice for both parties to look at it for six months.”
Maguire previously played for FC Den Bosch between 1999 and 2008 and between 2013 and 2015.
The fact is that Maguire has to give up quite a bit at FC Den Bosch compared to the salary he earned in Singapore. “Yes correct. That is the decision I had to make,” Maguire agrees. “It is currently difficult to find a complete picture abroad. Singapore’s league is not highly regarded everywhere. Or they see I’m 32. Or it’s not the right place for me. Or the amounts are incorrect. I never quite got the good feeling anywhere, so you have to make the concession to earn a little less here than abroad. But that was a more complete picture than abroad. For example, it is also nice to have my friends and family around here again.”
“It’s different, you know. I have returned to Den Bosch once before, but that was six or seven years ago. At the time I was still in my twenties and the group of players has become a lot younger since then, so the dynamics are a bit different. But it is a very nice and trusted group,” says Maguire about his first impression of FC Den Bosch. The paperwork surrounding his transition has now been completed, so that he can already make minutes in the derby against TOP Oss on Friday evening. “It’s a shame that not the whole stadium is full and there are no away supporters, but it’s also a nice game on the field to start with. Then we have ADO Den Haag and NAC Breda, so the first games are a few good ones to get into.”
Maguire says that he will now focus on FC Den Bosch for six months and will reconsider his options in the summer. Though there is one scenario that could change things. “Promoting a PhD with Den Bosch would be a dream come true”, Maguire grins. “You are three points from the play-offs. With a good run you can make it to the play-offs and if you do, you have a chance to get promoted. That would change everything, of course.”
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