Football News: Legends of the Game Part 5: Jack Charlton, Irish Saviour? page 3

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"He was big, he was blunt, he was English." - Niall Quinn

Jack spent the Autumn of 1985 hunting, shooting and fishing when he received a call out of the blue from the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) president Des Casey, to ask if he would be interested in taking charge of the Irish national side. Ireland were looking to replace Eoin Hand and first choice Bob Paisley had been ruled out of contention as Liverpool had told the FAI that Paisley was not available. "I like Ireland, I like the Irish people, I like a pint of Guinness, I like the craic," said Jack. "I like the fishing in Ireland - in fact, I like it so much that I've bought a house on the west coast there with a friend, to serve as a base when we go fishing. And I wanted to be an international team manager. If the Welsh had offered me the job, or the Scots, or even the English, I'd have taken it, because I felt that's what I wanted to do. So, yes, of course I was interested."

Ireland were in need of a boost. The FAI were in debt, the national side was in decline, despite some excellent players, and they were struggling to bring fans in to watch the team play. The 19-man council sat to decide on who would be given the chance to rescue Ireland from the doldrums. A shortlist of three names had been drawn up, Jack Charlton, Liam Tuohy and Johnny Giles and a ballot was to be held, with Des Casey, the 19th member, only holding a casting vote in the case of a tie. The council were just about to start the ballot when Bob Paisley's name was put forward from nowhere. The legendary Liverpool manager was interested in the job after all.

The sudden entrant of Paisley's name into the ballot caused uproar amongst the council members, who were already bitterly divided over who to choose. An initial ballot was held and Paisley got nine votes, the other three got just three each. The FAI held more ballots to eliminate candidates one by one, with first Liam Tuohy being ruled out and then Johnny Giles, leaving a straight shootout between Jack Charlton and Bob Paisley. Paisley had been ahead on every vote until the final vote saw a shock as two of his supporters switched sides, giving Jack the job by ten votes to eight. Five ballots had been held to decide the winner.

The FAI were unable to contact Jack, who was away and this was in the days before mobile phones, but they announced that they had chosen him anyway, without knowing if he would even accept the job. It was the late, great Jimmy Armfield that tracked him down and told him what had happened. The FAI announced their choice at a press conference but made no mention of Bob Paisley being in the running at all. Most Irish people found out about the appointment on Gay Byrne's 'Late Late Show', with the news being greeted by absolute silence. At this point Jack was not an appointment that was celebrated by many as the first foreign manager of Ireland was not the man many would choose. Ironically Jack's only supporter in the media was Eamon Dunphy!

"I informed them I didn't want a contract," said Jack. "I would stay for three years, which would take us through the 1988 European Championship and into the qualifying rounds for the 1990 World Cup. If either party was dissatisfied at that point, the agreement would end with a handshake." With the appointment all agreed, a few days after the announcement there was a press conference held to introduce Jack to the Irish media with Des Casey sat alongside him. One of the journalists, Peter Byrne, asked Casey about Bob Paisley and the part of the election process that involved him. Jack butted in and said that Casey did not need to answer that question. Dunphy told Jack that it was in the public interest to know. Jack accused Dunphy of being a troublemaker. An argument followed and Charlton, ever the cool head, asked Dunphy to step outside and settle the dispute the old fashioned way. That was the end of Dunphy's backing for the new Ireland manager.

Jack's first job was to recruit the best possible players, so he asked clubs in England to put up notices at their training grounds to find players. That was how he found players like John Aldridge and Ray Houghton, both at Oxford United at the time. "You want me to compete with the best in the world," said Jack. "I've got to have the f**king best in the world. And it's not here in Ireland that I can find it, I've got to go to England to find it."

Next Jack had to set up his tactics, tactics that still split opinion even now. They were not exactly tiki-taka, in fact they were fairly close to the old school Wimbledon style of long ball football, though with a slight twist. Jack wanted it kept simple, his belief was that most of the players played that way for their clubs, so it would be no good playing a continental style sweeper system with a playmaker. As midfielder Pat Byrne said: "He made it very clear that first time on the training ground that 'we are not going to have any nice stuff here.' It's going to be very straight, we're going to play it this way; we're going to get the ball, we're going to put it over the full back's head and we're going to have runners in behind. We're going to close everything up and we're going to turn the whole backline; as soon as they're turned, we're on our way."

First thing he did was emphasise dead ball situations and, after deciding Frank Stapleton was the best header of a ball that he had ever seen for his size, he set them up to target Stapleton's forehead. Goalkeepers were instructed to kick the ball long, into the opposition's half, as high as they could to give the players time to get to the kick. Football was always to be played in the opposition half, never your own. Full-backs were old school defenders, not wingbacks, they were there to concentrate on closing opposing wingers down, to stop them running at the defence and to prevent crosses coming in.

The centre backs were to be two big lads whose job was to stay central, never to allow themselves to get dragged out into the full-back areas and to be pro-active. They were not to back off and let attackers run at them, they were to look to win the ball high up the pitch. The midfield were to press high and look to keep the long balls in the opposition half. Aldridge was told, "when their defenders get the ball, you chase the bollocks off them." When the centre backs were on the ball, they were to look to play the ball to the full back, who was to play it down the line behind the opposing full back to turn the opposition defence. Jack did not want those balls being played from the centre out to wide areas as a diagonal ball was much more likely to end up going out of play.

There were to be two forwards, one big man who was to drop off, almost into an attacking midfield position, to create space for others. The other, smaller more mobile forward, initially John Aldridge, was to chase into wide areas, putting himself up against the full-backs in the air, rather than the centre backs, who would be weaker in the air. Jack said of his tactics: "My philosophy of football is that it is better to do simple things well, rather than get involved in complicated patterns which are foreign to our game. At the time, most European teams were playing a sweeper system, with the spare man working the ball from the back to midfield, with the primary aim of getting their playmaker free. We couldn't operate like that, not because we didn't have the players, but because most of our players played in England, and the British 4-4-2 style of game was fundamentally different in its concept."

Jack once more had Chris Morris in his team and he recalls: "Jack had very forthright ideas about what he wanted and what his expectations were for his players. We had license to play in the final third but there were areas where he wanted certain things done and areas where he didn't. You were absolutely clear on what your job was, which I think was a big strength. So go against that at your peril. I remember into my early stages of my Ireland career, we qualified for the finals of the European Championship and had some brilliant players and some strong characters. Playing against England in Stuttgart, I remember getting the ball at right-back and Ronnie Whelan made an angle and showed in midfield, in middle third of the pitch, and I played the ball in to Ronnie. The next minute Frank Stapleton, who was at Manchester United, came running back and said,'message from Jack, he says if you pass the ball into midfield again, in the middle third, you're coming off and you won't play again.' So, even though you're playing a fairly easy ball to someone as good as Ronnie Whelan....not acceptable!"

The first game was a loss, 1-0 to an Ian Rush goal, but one thing did come from it, Jack's reputation for forgetting names started there, after he referred to Liam Brady as Ian a few times. Or, in Jack's own words: "I got a reputation for forgetting the names of my own players. It's possible that I may have called Liam Brady Ian on a couple of occasions. And it became a bit of a party piece with me. Announcing the Irish team to the press after training, I'd go, 'Bonner, Morris, Houghton, Moran, - and that big lad, what d'you call him....' and someone would prompt me - 'McCarthy!' - without realising that I was taking the mickey yet again."

Their next match was a friendly with Uruguay, which they drew 1-1, but then there was nothing arranged by the FAI at all. It was then that Jack first realised how unprofessional the Ireland set up was, something that reared its head time and time again and eventually led to the bust up between Roy Keane and then Ireland manager Mick McCarthy, years later. Charlton wanted some games to sort out the team and get them used to the new tactics, and was told they could go on tour to South America or play a game in Europe. The third option was the one they ended up with, a tournament in Iceland, which also involved Czechoslovakia.

That tournament saw Niall Quinn make his debut and he remembers how he walked into the reception area of the hotel as Jack Charlton was holding court with some journalists. As Quinn got close, Jack turned to his assistant Maurice Setters and said: "Bloody hell, Maurice. We haven't picked that langy buggah....have we?" "Think we had to," said Maurice. Quinn's made his debut in the first game, a 2-1 win over Iceland. Two days later they beat the Czechs 1-0 to win their first ever trophy in senior men's football.

"On the Tuesday I used to feel guilty if I'd had a skinful, so I'd be running my nuts off to get a good sweat on, and Jack used to bollock me and shout across, 'Aldo.....stop f***ing running.....save it for the game tomorrow.'" - John Aldridge

Jack now had qualification for the 1988 European Championships to concentrate on, starting with his first proper competitive match in charge of the Republic. The group consisted of Belgium, Scotland, Luxembourg and Bulgaria, along with Ireland. Their first game was away to Belgium, who had reached the semi-finals of the 1986 World Cup just a few months ago. Ireland went to Belgium and played the Belgians in the Heysels Stadium, the first major match to take place there since the European Cup final disaster. The game finished 2-2, goals by Frank Stapleton and Liam Brady earning the point but Brady was left disillusioned by the tactics employed.

They followed it up with a 0-0 draw with Scotland, then a 1-0 win over them in the return match. A defeat in Bulgaria was a major set back and after another goalless draw, this time with Belgium at home, two close wins over little Luxembourg, which required the luck of the Irish, left them needing to beat Bulgaria in the final group game to have any chance of progressing, as just one team would make the Euros. Ireland took a 2-0 lead in the second half with Liam Brady playing a starring role in the performance when he suddenly lost his head after being kicked. With just seven minutes left to play Brady turned round, right in front of the referee, and kicks the Bulgarian player back. Ireland hung on for dear life to leave their chances of qualification in the hands of Scotland.

Anything but a defeat at the hands of Scotland would see Bulgaria go through as group winners, while a win for Scotland would mean Ireland went through. It was in Bulgaria and Scotland had nothing to play for but pride, and no one really expected them to get anything from the game. Jack settled down to watch the game on TV, it was 0-0 when he received a call to tell him Scotland had won and Ireland were through. Jack thought it was a wind up, but the transmission was delayed and Scotland had won 1-0 with a goal by Gary McKay. The only goal he ever scored for Scotland. On his debut. Ireland were set for another first under Jack Charlton, their first ever major tournament. However they had to make do without both Mark Lawrenson and Liam Brady who were out through injury.

They were grouped with England, USSR and Netherlands, with just one team to make it through to the next stage. Irish roads and streets were deserted during the matches, as Ireland opened with a game against England, a team they had not beaten for almost 40 years. In fact people in Ireland still talked about that win at Goodison Park, making the build up hugely intensive for the Irish team, something Jack tried to deal with by taking the pressure off the players and helping them to relax. Jack's big fear was England's wingers, Chris Waddle and John Barnes, could take Ireland apart if they were given the chance. Instead of the usual pressure style, with Irish players swarming over their opponents as soon as they got the ball, he asked his players to give the English back four enough space to play it across the line. Jack wanted to slow England's play down and make the wingers look to drop deep to receive the ball.

It worked well, with Ray Houghton giving Ireland an early lead and England struggling to create anything at all. England could not play their way through Ireland, but then, after an hour, Bobby Robson introduced Glenn Hoddle, who began to drop balls in behind the Irish back four. Gary Lineker ran Ireland ragged with balls played through by Hoddle, it took a couple of excellent saves by Packie Bonner, but Ireland held on. That night Jack let the players celebrate but gave them a curfew for the first time, to make sure they were ready for the Soviet Union in Hannover three days later.

While Paul McGrath was out injured for the next game, this seems like a good moment to show that Jack was not all fun and frolics as a manager. He was more than that, his players were family to him and he took care of them. While the rest of his lads were out having a drink, McGrath, due to his addiction problems, would not be out with them, as Jack knew there was absolutely no way of knowing when McGrath would reappear if he went out for even one drink. Jack would spend his evenings sat with McGrath, playing card or board games and just keeping him company. Jack could have been out with his staff and asked one of them to keep an eye on McGrath, but Jack saw it as his responsibility.

A 1-1 draw with Soviet Union left the Irish feeling disappointed as they believed the result did not reflect their performance. However it did give them a great chance to progress as they now needed just a point against the Dutch to win the group. However the stadium in Gelsenkirchen was scorching hot, which would not suit Ireland's style of play, which involved a lot of running, on the back of two hard games in six days. Jack was worried the players' legs would not be able to cope, so he asked them to play the ball back to Packie Bonner every chance they got. Bonner was then to hold on to it and bounce it for ten to fifteen seconds, to give the players a chance to catch their breath. There was no law of the game which prohibited the goalkeeper from doing so, but Jack saw the referee getting increasingly annoyed with Bonner in the second half and had to abandon the plan. From then on the Dutch took charge and eventually a mishit Ronald Koeman shot was headed in by Wim Kieft, enough to knock the Irish out.

Next up was World Cup qualifying for the 1990 World Cup in Italy, with Ireland drawn in Group 6 with Spain, Hungary, Malta and Northern Ireland, with two teams to qualify. "Apart from Northern Ireland, Spain and Hungary were the danger teams in the group," said Jack, "and when the meeting to arrange dates and venues for the games was held earlier in the year, I took a calculated risk. I decided to open our programme by playing the three hardest games away from home, in the hope that the competition wouldn't yet have developed a fine edge at that point."

The draw meant that Ireland had to face a highly charged situation against Northern Ireland, with an atmosphere for the first game that was extremely hostile. Jack was taking abuse at Windsor Park, Belfast when he smiled at the hostile supporters and then poked his head through the wire barrier to ask for a light. That defused the situation a little, but it was still uncomfortable as the match itself petered out in a boring goalless draw. It seemed like Jack's gamble of picking the three hardest matches to play first had backfired on him when the second match was a defeat in Seville 2-0 to Spain. However those two goals against Spain were the only ones they conceded in the whole of a qualifying and they made it to their first ever World Cup with a win over Malta.

Ireland returned to Malta for their training camp ahead of the World Cup, with the FAI showing their usual professionalism Jack had been left to organise it all and ended up booking the team into a hotel that he had once holidayed in with his wife Pat a few years previously. The hotel had closed down a few years earlier and the players arrived to find the hotel full of people taking white dust sheets off everything and cleaning and dusting. The pool was empty, there were weeds growing through the patio, it was a shambles. A group of the players got in to the tiny lift to go up to their rooms and the doors closed but the lift went nowhere. When they could not get the doors open, David O'Leary, having a minor panic attack, bent his room key trying to wedge open the doors.

When they went to the training ground, they found their kit was mismatched and very little of it fitted. Niall Quinn ended up with a long sleeved shirt that barely reached over his elbows, it was so small. They found that they had double booked the sports arena with the Scotland squad, who were looking immaculate. Even their socks matched. They had the whole arena covered in equipment, bibs and cones laid out perfectly, leaving no space for the Irish to train. In the end they had to ask to borrow a small corner and played a 5-a-side. Not exactly ideal preparation for your first ever World Cup, but understandable for a nation that had never made it there before.

Their World Cup group saw them paired with England, again, Netherlands, again, and Egypt, with just one team to be eliminated. First up was England once more, and Jack felt confident of getting something against them, as he felt the team lacked ball-winners with Bryan Robson and Paul Gascoigne in central midfield and John Barnes and Chris Waddle on the wings. In Jack's words about Waddle: "Chris couldn't tackle his own mother in a cupbaord." Charlton told his players to put pressure on Gascoigne in his own half, as he felt he would try and be too clever, rather than just clearing his lines when needed. The tactics worked enough to earn a 1-1 draw.

That was followed up with a dull 0-0 against Egypt, which saw Jack getting into trouble after he criticised the Egyptians for their negativity. All that was left was Netherlands and the two drew 1-1, meaning Ireland qualified for the last 16 of the World Cup without winning a single game. Lots were drawn to decide the placing order and Ireland got the runners up spot in the draw, putting them through to face Romania and Gheorghe Hagi in boiling hot Genoa, with an enclosed stadium which allowed no air to circulate. Both teams were suffering in the heat, badly.

That is probably why the game ended in a 0-0 stalemate, in a taut and tense 90 minutes. The 30 minutes of extra time saw two teams too drained by the heat to push for a win and so it would come down to a penalty shootout to decide who gets through to the quarter final. It was the first penalty shootout in World Cup history and Ireland were not prepared for it, with no penalty takers nominated. With their penalty specialist John Aldridge substituted off, Jack went to the players, who were sat in the centre circle, and asked the players who wanted to take the penalties. The big surprise was David O'Leary, who said he would take one, so long as he was allowed to go last.

The first four penalties, for both sides, were scored, then Daniel Timofte stepped up to take Romania's fifth. It was a poor penalty, hit at a comfortable height for the keeper and Packie Bonner duly obliged by diving to his right and saving it, to leave it all on the shoulders of O'Leary. "I didn't know at that point that he had never previously taken a penalty," said Jack, "and it was just as well that I didn't! I was now really uptight. I hadn't smoked for a couple of years, but now I desperately needed a fag. So I turned and cadged one from an Italian spectator, and then stuck my head through the wire for him to light it. In the next day's papers there was a picture of me looking the other way as David ran up to the ball, with the caption 'Jack couldn't bear to watch'. Nonsense! Of course Jack could bear to watch - except that, with so many players stood in front of me, I thought it better to look at the big video screen at the other end of the stadium. And then my nerve almost went. I put my hands over my face and said, 'no, I'm not watching this.' But I pulled them away just in time to see David send the goalkeeper the wrong way."

Ireland were through to the quarter finals of their first ever World Cup without winning a single game! There was a few bits of business for Jack to take care of before they faced the host nation, Italy, with a place in the semi-final at stake. Firstly Jack had promised to take the players to meet the Pope if they got this far, so the squad headed to the Vatican for what they had believed was going to be an exclusive audience with Pope John Paul II. When they got there, they found there were a few other people also being granted an audience at the same time. By few, I mean about 8000 others. So the Irish squad were forced to spend hours in a sweltering hot Vatican, hearing prayers in dozens of difference languages. Jack was fighting to keep his eyes open when he saw the Pope was hailing him so he waved cheerily back, only to realise that he was just making the sign of the cross! When they were finally introduced to the Pope, he stopped the introductions, just as Charlton was about to be introduced, and said, "I know who you are, you're the boss."

With the squad bored and restless in the hotel, Jack arranged for a keg of Guinness to be delivered, with the players under strict instructions to only have two or three drinks. The Guinness was set up around the pool and the media people were all in there with Italian police standing guard, absolutely dumbfounded that the team were being allowed to drink with just a day or two until they faced Italy. One drink soon led to two, and then three, which went on to four, and soon they were playing the spoon game (where you hold a spoon in your mouth by the handle and have to hit someone else on the head with it), John Aldridge is using a big ladle, and mayhem is ensuing, with Jack getting as merry as the rest. Soon they are all taking turns to play the penny game, where you stick a penny on your forehead and hit the back of your head until it falls off. Jack, being extremely competitive, wanted his turn, so Andy Townsend, in his capacity as captain, placed a coin on Jack's forehead - but removed it at the last second without telling Jack. Soon everyone, players, media people and police, are falling about laughing as Jack is winding his arms up like a windmill to belt himself on the back of the head as hard as he can trying to knock the coin off his forehead. It was only after he had smacked himself on the back of the head a good 10 times that he realised there was no coin there!

The Italy game was another tight one, with just one goal separating the two sides, with Bonner parrying a Donadoni shot into the path of Schillaci, who put it away. Charlton was unhappy about it: "Toto Schillaci's goal hurt in more ways than one. It was a bloody stupid score to concede, coming directly as a result of Kevin Sheedy playing a silly ball to John Aldridge. In our match plan, we gave the ball into the corner for the runner, but this time, strangely, John showed for it and Kevin played it to his feet. That was inviting trouble, and, sure enough, we got it. The Italians swept the ball three quarters the length of the pitch in the twinkling of an eye, and, when Packie could only parry Roberto Donadoni's shot, Schillaci struck the rebound in the net." Andy Townsend recalled: "as we were all gathering up our bags, Jack turned round to Packie and said: 'by the way, the fucking pope would have saved that!'"

"We probably got on better with the likes of Holland, Belgium, Norway and Sweden, some of whom are not even European." - Jack Charlton

Next up for Jack Charlton's Ireland was qualifying for Euro 92 in Sweden and a group containing England, Poland and Turkey, with just one of the four to make it to the finals. They began at home by handing Turkey a 5-0 thrashing, before two 1-1 draws with Graham Taylor's England. More draws followed and they were left needing to beat Turkey in Istanbul and hope that Poland did them a favour against England. Ireland did their part, beating the Turks 3-1, but England snatched a draw late in the game against Poland to finish one point ahead of the Irish, who had not lost a single game in the qualifying competition. Despite that, they were going to have the summer of 1992 off.

USA '94 was the next major tournament to aim for and the Republic were drawn in qualifying group 3, alongside Spain, Denmark, Northern Ireland, Lithuania, Latvia and Albania. After mixed results their qualification came down to the final game against Northern Ireland in Belfast. The atmosphere was highly charged, horrible even, as NI manager Billy Bingham, in his final match in charge, had built it up prior to the game, calling the Republic players "a bunch of mercenaries" and said that he intended to "stuff the Republic". The atmosphere was so hostile that Portsmouth midfielder Alan McLoughlin later said that the "safest place to be was on the pitch". Even though Northern Ireland had nothing to play for, other than stopping the Rebublic qualifying, they gave it their all and with just 14 minutes left Jimmy Quinn gave Norn Iron the lead and it looked like the Republic would miss out on another major tournament as the clock ticked on. Then, late in the game, McLoughlin equalised to leave the score 1-1, and take the Republic to the World Cup once more. Jack confronted Bingham after the game and said "up yours too", though he did later apologise.

Ireland pipped Denmark on goals scored to make it to the USA, where they would have a chance to get revenge over Italy, as they were drawn in a group with Italy, Mexico and Norway. This tournament is probably mostly remembered for Jack's touchline bust ups and John Aldridge's fury as he was delayed from coming on as a substitute. The Aldridge argument is understandable as it was a mistake by a FIFA official taking the paperwork needed to allow the substitute to come on and not giving it to the right person. Jack had to chase him to get it back. However the rest of the bust ups were over water in the oppressive heat and that has to be laid at the door of Jack and the FAI. When meetings were held prior to the tournament to discuss water breaks and getting water on to the players during games, Jack and the Irish staff were notable for their absence. That despite being the country who were most likely to suffer in the heat!

First up was that revenge quest against Italy and they succeeded in getting it. Paul McGrath was everywhere, the crowd was almost entirely behind Ireland and Ray Houghton scored the only goal to give the Irish their first ever win over Italy. The heat was searingly hot in Orlando and the Irish wilted against the Mexicans going two goals down. Then came the Aldridge incident, with the Irish left down to ten men as Aldridge was refused permission to enter the pitch for a full six minutes while he and Jack swore copiously while TV cameras captured it all. Eventually Aldridge entered and pulled one back to leave it as a 2-1 defeat. Charlton was banned for the final, crucial, group game against Norway in New Jersey. With Charlton watching on from the ITV box, the game finished in a 0-0 draw, with the Aldridge goal against Mexico clinching their qualification for the next round.

It was a return to the heat of Orlando to once more face the Dutch, and once more the Irish wilted in the stifling heat and a couple of errors caused a 2-0 loss at the hands of the Netherlands. The Irish went home to a hero's welcome, with Jack being give an honourary doctorate from the University of Limerick and was made a Freeman of the city of Dublin.

It was back down to the business of qualifying, this time for Euro 96 in England, and a group containing Portugal, Austria, Northern Ireland (again!), Latvia and Liechtenstein. Results were mixed and there was a sense that this was the last roll of the die for Jack's ageing side. On the way to training the night before a must-win home match with Austria, there was the famous Harry Ramsden incident. Niall Quinn: "We all shuffled into Harry Ramsden's. Jack is a shareholder. Packie or Paul or somebody cut a ribbon and officially opened the place. So the night before the game, after a week of drink, I settled down to fish and chips. Gary Kelly took the Harry Ramsden's challenge and ate a fish about a yard long and a mountain of chips and anything else they challenged him with. He thought there'd be a certificate but he got a free dessert instead, which he duly ate. Jack herded us out pronto. Twenty minutes later, it's dusk at Lansdowne Road and we're all waddling about the pitch, groaning, full of fish and chips and trying to do a training session the night before this must-win game. We're burping and farting and creased over with laughter. Our main thought was it's been a happy era and it's ending soon."

Roy Keane, ever the happy chappy and full of fun, remembers it slightly differently and complained about the lack of professionalism. He does have a point, though Keane's moans about the drinking culture conveniently forget about him being kicked out of the squad for going out drinking with Steve Staunton during a pre-season tournament. For all Keane's sanctimonious moans about it, he was a major part of the drinking culture at that time, something he seems keen to forget. Despite that, he does have a point, Austria beat them 3-1 and the players looked out on their feet going into the final third of the match. In the end they finished second in their group and that meant a play-off at a neutral venue against Netherlands to get into Euro 96.

13th December 1995 Ireland faced Holland at Anfield, a venue that was not so neutral, or even close to neutral. With the stands packed with Irish fans the pressure was all on Ireland, but they were missing key men Roy Keane and Steve Staunton. Jack decided to pack the midfield with defenders but his team were outplayed and outclassed on their way to a 2-0 defeat. After the second goal the Irish fans realised it was the end of an era and began chanting and singing tributes to Jack, much to the bewilderment of the Dutch. Charlton came back out after the game to thank the fans, with what seemed a goodbye and turned out that way as it was the last game he was in charge of Ireland for. Just over a month later he left, or was pushed, depending on who you believe.

Jack said later, "in my heart of hearts, I knew I'd wrung as much as I could out of the squad I'd got - that some of my older players had given me all they had to give." The question that is left in many minds though is whether he had actually got as much out of the squad as was possible. There were two schools of thought on Jack's time in charge of the Irish team, one that he was the saviour and that is why he was given honourary Irish citizenship and why he never has to buy a drink there. The other thought is that the football was horrible and the players were capable of more. The truth is probably somewhere in the middle.

When he took charge there were some fantastic players available who could play good football but they lacked a team framework and a winning mentality. The Ireland team he inherited went into qualification tournaments expecting to lose. The professionalism that was missing from the Ireland set up had held them back and was never fixed, but Jack just developed ways round it. Without the time to develop intricate patterns of play he kept it simple, though it was never his way to create those pretty patterns that make for good entertaining football for spectators. We will be forever left with what ifs, but it is difficult to argue with Eamon Dunphy's assessment that "the style of play didn't reflect the quality of players in the side."

Ireland won just 1 game out of 9 played under Jack, scoring just four goals in total. They did leave a lot to be desired in terms of attacking thrust, especially when you consider he had talent such as John Aldridge, who banged in goals in almost obscene amounts in club football. However they did reach a high of 6th in the FIFA World Rankings, despite the lack of goals, so maybe Jack overachieved in terms of results. Maybe.

If Jack saw someone drinking Coke, he'd say: ""What are you drinking that s*** for? Guinness is better for you...."