Gaffers (24 page)

After the euphoria of the win over Italy, Ireland were brought back down to earth with a bang when they lost the next game to Mexico 2–1. The game is best remembered for two things, the first being Jack’s pitch-side argument with the sideline official who was delaying a substitution. Jack was sent to the stands and later fined for his involvement as well as being suspended for the final group match in New York, where he was forced to watch from the stands. The second memorable event was John Aldridge’s header that later ensured Ireland’s qualification from the group on goal difference.

Ireland finished the group with a 0–0 draw with Norway, securing a second round match against Holland, where a poor display from Ireland saw them bow out 2–0. For the second World Cup in a row Ireland returned home as heroes and Jack’s achievements saw him awarded the freedom of Dublin. However, following this things did not go so well and Ireland failed to qualify for Euro ’96. Despite a strong start they finished as runners-up in their group and had to qualify via the playoffs. But against a strong Holland side they again lost 2–0 and the Charlton era drew to a close: ‘Before the game I had already told the FAI I was going. At that stage I had been in charge for ten years, and I thought it was time for a change. Players get too used to you and the systems and ideas, and things need change. We had become predictable.’

Terry Phelan, who played under Charlton and later Mick
McCarthy, and is now a coach in New Zealand, recalls a man who was close to his players and loyal to them: ‘He was a happy-go-lucky chap, a World Cup winner and a legend of the game. Everyone respected him, but he was jolly and liked a laugh. He was terrible with names, though. He was always calling me Chris or Paul or number three; all in good fun, though.

‘The secret to Jack’s success was his loyalty to the players. This was a team that was literally built by Jack, with the likes of Andy Townsend, Mick McCarthy, Ray Houghton and John Aldridge brought in by him. Once you were in the squad and performed, it became like a family. The older players really took you in. I remember in particular Gerry Peyton being a great help to the younger players in the squad.’

Gerry Peyton himself adds, ‘Jack was very loyal to the players he had in the squad, but you had a job to do. Packie Bonner and I were very close, and we got on well together. Under Eoin we had been in and out of the squad, but under Jack it was very much Packie as first choice, with me as support. I was comfortable with that. As a player you need to be humble and accept decisions. Packie was playing in front of 50,000 people at Celtic, while I was playing to 12,000 in Bournemouth, so he was going to be first choice.

‘Some players rock the boat and demand to play, but I made a decision to help Packie become a better player and pass my experience on to him. It’s too easy to let your ego get in the way. Even today I preach that to the keepers at Arsenal. You need to help one another. As the saying goes, you’re only as strong as your back-up players. I remember Jack picked me to play against Northern Ireland one time, and he said to me, “It doesn’t matter whether it’s you or Packie, as I know that
neither of you will ever let me down.” That kind of support is very important to a player.’

Terry Phelan says, ‘Jack was such a big personality. He loved a laugh and a joke, and even though he would be dressed in a suit and shoes he would still get involved in training, sliding about with the team. That said, he loved his fishing and clay-pigeon shooting and was not averse to skipping sessions for some shooting or fishing. One time he took the team clay-pigeon shooting as a bonding session, and we were having a great old time of it until Jack started to get upset, as some of the boys were doing better than him. He threw down his gun and went off in a huff. We thought it was very funny.

‘Training with Jack was very different, especially compared to nowadays. In his time there were no sports psychologists, no fitness coaches and no dietitians, but we were still successful. And Jack was in a league of his own tactically. While he is remembered for the brand of football that Ireland played during his era, his preparation for games could be just as interesting as some of the results he achieved. I can remember seeing Jack writing notes on cigarette packets, and another time when we were preparing for a big game against Austria, Jack put on a tape of the Australian Under-21 team. We all began to laugh, and Jack could not understand why. He was getting upset with us before Andy Townsend, I think it was, told him that we were watching a tape of the Australian side instead of the Austrian. Big Jack went into a huff and walked out of the room. It was a quirky approach, but it brought us success. He put us on the map. I mean you have to remember that Ireland was a small country, a small country that got decent results.’

Even though the game was changing, Jack would not. Towards the end of his time in charge, teams had cottoned on to Ireland’s approach, and the play-off match against Holland to qualify for Euro ’96 was, in Jack’s own words, ‘a last throw of the dice’. He knew the road was coming to an end, and that 2–0 defeat to a strong, skilful and aggressive Dutch side signalled the end of his career.

His popularity in Ireland remains strong, some fourteen years since he last sat in the dugout for a match. Such is his standing in the country that in 1996 both he and his wife were granted honorary Irish citizenship. Charlton has the last word on his Ireland career: ‘I loved my time with Ireland. We had a great time and some great players. During my time in charge we reached number six in the world rankings.

‘It’s rare that you leave a job and still have people respect you long after you leave. Even now when I meet people they still smile at me. The fans were very important to us, and we wanted them to be part of our success. After a big result we used to encourage the players to go out and have a drink in the places where the fans were. The public could almost have picked the team. They knew all the players. To this day I keep an eye out for Ireland’s results and always have a smile when they get a good one.’

That sums up Jack Charlton. His time in charge was probably the closest the Irish public ever came to feeling part of the national team at any sport. The Ireland team under Jack embodied everything good about being Irish, especially punching above your weight.

JACK CHARLTON’S CLUB MANAGERIAL HONOURS RECORD:

One Division Two Championship 1974
One Anglo-Scottish Cup 1976

JACK CHARLTON’S IRELAND RECORD:

Total number of games in charge: 94
Total number of wins: 47 (ratio 50.00%)
Total number of draws: 30 (ratio 31.90%)
Total number of losses: 17 (ratio 18.09%)
Biggest win: 5–0
v
. Israel and Turkey
Biggest defeat: 3–0
v
. Portugal
Longest run without defeat: 12

If ever there was a hard act to follow, it was Jack Charlton. Having transformed Ireland’s fortunes during a ten-year spell, many people predicted that once he left the role Ireland would simply fall to pieces and return to the dark days of the 1960s and 1970s. However, the man given the task of replacing Jack could not have been more appropriate. Mick McCarthy’s direct approach to the game epitomised the Charlton era. It was no nonsense and full of heart. Even more importantly, McCarthy had played at the major tournaments of world football, and he could guide players through the years ahead. It was as if the role had been made for him, and it completed a glittering Ireland career as player, captain and then manager.

Unfortunately, the Ireland job was becoming increasingly difficult. Mick had inherited an ageing squad that included many of the players he had played with, and he had to make the transition from teammate and friend to manager. And at thirty-six years of age ‘Big Mick’ was a managerial novice, having not yet managed a club in a top league, which meant
there would be a lot of focus on how he did the job. It was a big challenge, but not for a man who appeared to thrive on pressure, and one who has since gone on to manage at the top level of English football.

His management career for Ireland had its ups and downs, and there were moments when lady luck deserted him. But McCarthy succeeded where others before him had failed, and in doing so he cemented his place in Irish football folklore when he became only the second Ireland manager to lead the country to a World Cup finals.

THE EARLY YEARS

Mick McCarthy was born in Barnsley, Yorkshire, in 1959, but qualified for the Irish team thanks to his father Charles, who was born in Ireland. Jim Iley was the manager who gave McCarthy his chance in the Barnsley team in 1977 at the age of eighteen, and he made his debut in a 4–0 win over Rochdale. But it was under the tutelage of former Leeds United striker Alan Clarke, who took the role of player-manager in 1978, and his successor Norman Hunter, another Leeds legend, that Mick and Barnsley flourished. Within three years, the club had moved up the divisions to Division 2 (now the Championship). Mick’s reputation as a tough-tackling and no-nonsense defender was taking shape and his performances in the Second Division were catching the eye of other clubs, and in December 1983 Mick made the move from his Yorkshire roots to Manchester, signing for City.