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JIM SPENCE: Football fans can learn from Tour de France unsung heroes

Billy Kirkwood was the equivalent of the Domestiques in cycling.
Billy Kirkwood was the equivalent of the Domestiques in cycling.

Every football fan wants their club to sign star players, the kind who light up a game with flashes of brilliance.

But watching the Tour de France has reminded me that every team also needs its Domestiques (French for ‘servants’).

They’re the riders who forego personal glory for the good of the team.

From the climbers pulling their team leaders up the killer gradient, to the lead-outs bursting a gut before their sprinters launch their attack in the final few hundred metres, to fetching food and drink and shielding the top riders from wind, they epitomise the self-sacrifice of the team player.

Cycling aficionados appreciate these unsung heroes but in football some supporters overlook the players who fetch, carry and graft, with little praise or publicity. Yet they’re vital to their side.

Billy Kirkwood was such a player in Dundee United’s glory days.

Billy Kirkwood closes down Rangers’ Davie Cooper.

Kirky regularly got stick from a section of the Tannadice faithful who didn’t appreciate his efforts, but his 399 appearances and 70 goals was firm proof that Jim McLean understood how crucial the midfielder was to the overall team dynamic.

Maybe Jim understood better than most because, as older Dundee fans may remember, the man who became one of Scottish football’s finest ever managers was also under-appreciated as a player at Dens by many of the faithful, despite his 120 appearances and 43 goals.

Grafters

Kirkwood arguably falls into the cycling category known as a Super Domestique – someone who has many of the abilities of the top riders but always puts the overall needs of the team first.

Every team needs its top talents but they also require the water carriers.

Just as Grand Tour cycling is a team sport, a football team is also the sum of its parts and when each is fully functioning success is more likely to be achieved.

Sir Dave Brailsford, who transformed British cycling from being bang average to the best in the world, coined the phrase ‘the aggregation of marginal gains’, whereby concentrating on making small, often minute improvements in a number of areas of performance can become the difference between success and failure.

Sir Chris Hoy (right) and Sir Dave Brailsford.

There’s also an aggregation factor in the work of those we might call football Domestiques.

Their contribution might not look earth-shattering to those looking for scintillating style, but the many small things they do in a game, from chasing, harrying, cajoling, to breaking up opposition rhythm, all add up to optimising overall team attainment.

The season is underway for all except United in our neck of the woods, with an impressive start from Dundee but disappointing performances from St Johnstone.

It’s early days but as the season progresses Gary Bowyer at Dens, Callum Davidson at McDiarmid, and Jack Ross at Tannadice will all hope they have the right kind of Domestiques in their ranks.

Stars in every team shine more brightly when grafters around them supply the energy for them to sparkle.

Watching the sprinters blitz towards the finish line in the Tour de France is exhilarating, but they all need help to get them there.

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