Jack Charlton's Irish team abused drink

redout

Win or lose, they were on the booze. Jack Charlton’s Irish football team of the late 1980s and 1990s were famous for “giving it a lash”. But they were equally adept at going on the lash, a documentary reveals.

Senior players of the era claim that the team’s camaraderie was developed during regular beer-soaked benders.

John Aldridge, the former Liverpool striker, recounts how the team went on a four-day “session” before a vital European championships qualifying match against Austria in 1995. “We thought we were untouchable. We could probably drink as much as we wanted and we’d still win games,” he told the makers of TV3’s Roy Keane — A Life of Controversy.

“We had a week in Limerick when Jack was up in the north watching Northern Ireland. And we abused it. We went on the drink when we shouldn’t have. We were probably four days on the bounce, which we’d never done before.”

While “Jackie’s army”, as the travelling band of supporters were known, were drinking in the atmosphere in stadiums across the world, the players were drinking for Ireland.

Aldridge said players looked forward to internationals because of the freedom they were given to drink. “We’d come across on a Sunday, meet up in the team hotel and go out for a few beers,” he said. “We’d come in in the early hours of Monday morning, train Monday afternoon, Tuesday morning and play on Wednesday, and it didn’t do us any harm.”

The documentary describes how Keane gradually found the boozing culture more and more difficult to take. Former players also describe shambolic training facilities under Charlton in the qualifying campaign for the World Cup in America, in 1994.

Jason McAteer said: “We trained on a training pitch (in Dublin) where a plane went over our heads every five minutes and the team talk had to be stopped. Or we trained in mud up to our ear holes, but at the end of the day we still qualified for USA 94.”

Aldridge recalled that Charlton had no “airs and graces”. “He didn’t see the need to stay in these five-star exclusive hotels, as England and most other countries do,” he said.

McAteer said: “If the team had stayed in posh hotels every week, we might not have got to them World Cups.”

However, while many senior internationals accepted inferior training and travel facilities while playing for Ireland, Keane grew frustrated with the “shambolic set-up”.

Paul McGrath said: “I think Roy saw the bigger picture. Maybe the FAI guys should have been the ones playing cards at the back of the plane, and maybe we should have been sitting in the comfortable seats, because we were the ones going to be running all night.”

McGrath said sitting in economy seats never bothered him because he enjoyed a game of cards. Aldridge said: “We just got on with it. When we boarded the plane, the better seats — well we wouldn’t be sitting in them . . . the FAI would have had them.”

McAteer also recounted how Keane distanced himself from other young players in the squad during the Charlton era. Before the World Cup finals in America in 1994, McAteer, Phil Babb and Gary Kelly were dubbed “the three amigos”, but Keane shunned the limelight.

“Roy didn’t like the attention we were getting,” McAteer said. “(He) stayed away from all that. Didn’t want to be part of the young set-up of Ireland and kept himself to himself.”

Aldridge said during the Charlton era there were few hints Keane would go on to captain his country and emerge as one of the most influential figures in the game. “In and around the squad and dressing room (he) was really quiet. He would probably only speak when spoken to, because he was focused on the game. He was a quiet, unassuming lad.”

Bertie Ahern, the former taoiseach, also claims he was asked to mediate between Keane and Mick McCarthy, the then team manager, after their infamous tiff in Saipan in 2002.

“I was contacted by both sides,” he recalled. “I said if I thought I could be constructive and helpful I certainly would. If I thought it would just make matters worse, which is what I felt, that I would stay out of it, so I didn’t get involved.”

Ahern’s involvement in brokering a peace deal between the two sides is disputed by Michael Kennedy, Keane’s lawyer. He said this weekend: “It didn’t happen, not to my knowledge. He might have been approached by others but not by us.”

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/ireland/article6037046.ece


Absolutely brilliant article I thought.

poindexter

it would have been looked at in years gone by that 'teams that drink together, win together'

Soby

Get the jack daniels into robbie keane so

Latchy

Aye yes , we did things different in the 80's

LeixlipRed

In other news today, MAN LANDS ON THE MOON!!

JerryHandbag

Sums up the attitude of the Irish set up at the time tbh....Roy Keane wanted to WIN the world cup, we had the players to do so.

Whereas the rest had the attitude of "ah sure we'll go over, have a laugh, enjoy ourselves, get pissed and sure so what if we dont win it, its a great piss up for the country!!" :rolleyes:

Latchy

When Alex Ferguson took over Man Utd ,first thing he did was kill the booze culture at the club and got rid of some of the more serious boozers like Norman Whiteside and Paul Grath . Was it any coincidence the clubs most famous footballer , GB was also an irishman who somehow manged to combine his boozing and his football but died well before his time ?

Fratton Fred

Paul Mcgrath's book is well worth a read. It is quite frightening the amount of booze in football at that time.

civis_liberalis

LeixlipRed wrote: »

In other news today, MAN LANDS ON THE MOON!!

Also today...

Highsider

JerryHandbag wrote: »

Sums up the attitude of the Irish set up at the time tbh....Roy Keane wanted to WIN the world cup, we had the players to do so.

Whereas the rest had the attitude of "ah sure we'll go over, have a laugh, enjoy ourselves, get pissed and sure so what if we dont win it, its a great piss up for the country!!" :rolleyes:

Keane wanted to win it so much he actually walked out on the team. Yeah that's how badly he wanted to lift the cup.:rolleyes:

Latchy

Fratton Fred wrote: »

Paul Mcgrath's book is well worth a read. It is quite frightening the amount of booze in football at that time.

Not helped by the fact that every fan wants buy you a pint , as george best knew to well .

Big Ears

civis_liberalis wrote: »

Also today...

You'll need more evidence then that for me, that ship is unsinkable.
This is obviously an elaborate hoax !

I think we're all aware of the drinking culture that was in place in the team at the time, and Paul McGrath's book is quite a good read and does give some incite into that drinking culture.

Latchy

The drinking culture surounding the Irish team was part of the mystic of the irish team as much as anything else ie , '' drunken irish paddys '' which jack charlton and the irish /international media exploited ( every team needs an off field angle) . I would imagine some of the irish players at the time were more professional in thier drinking habits than others .

ntlbell

Highsider wrote: »

Keane wanted to win it so much he actually walked out on the team. Yeah that's how badly he wanted to lift the cup.:rolleyes:

"So I sent him home" -Mick McCarthy

redout

Highsider wrote: »

Keane wanted to win it so much he actually walked out on the team. Yeah that's how badly he wanted to lift the cup.:rolleyes:

Oh please. A professional footballer who actually wanted to go the world cup take it seriously and win it. Shock Horror :rolleyes:

Highsider

ntlbell wrote: »

"So I sent him home" -Mick McCarthy

Rubbish. Keane walked. Quitter of the highest order. Turned his back on his country.

monkey9

Latchy wrote: »

The drinking culture surounding the Irish team was part of the mystic of the irish team as much as anything else ie , '' drunken irish paddys '' which jack charlton and the irish /international media exploited ( every team needs an off field angle) .I would imagine some of the irish players at the time were more professional in thier drinking habits than others.

Damn right! Not one drop was spilled!!

Latchy

I have read the autobiograpys of Roy keane , Niall Quinn and Mick McCarthys and coming from an objective point of view ( no axe to grind against any of them ) I found McCarthys to be the most intelligent ,open and honest account of the whole Irish world cup fiasco .

monkey9 wrote: »

Damn right! Not one drop was spilled!!

If I was getting drink for next to nothing I wouldn't care how much I spilt but then it was just before celtic tiger was about to kick in ,when Irish people still had more sense than money .

ntlbell

Highsider wrote: »

Rubbish. Keane walked. Quitter of the highest order. Turned his back on his country.

can you explain the below please and explain what he mean by "i sent him home"

just a joke was it?

"I asked anybody to make their comments and unfortunately it became a slanging match. I cannot and will not tolerate being spoken to with that level of abuse being thrown at me so I sent him home."
McCarthy.

Latchy

Highsider wrote: »

Rubbish. Keane walked. Quitter of the highest order. Turned his back on his country.

Leaving aside the obious personality conflicts ,the manager has the final decision so if Keane had not walked he would have being sent home , if only for the verbal OTT abuse he gave to McCarthy (the manager) ie ' your not even fcuking Iirsh ' .

Imagine an English born player saying that to Sven Goran Erickson or the current Italian born Irish /English mangers ie ' your not even fcuking english '' ? Keane showed his true colours with that remark .

JerryHandbag

Highsider wrote: »

Keane wanted to win it so much he actually walked out on the team. Yeah that's how badly he wanted to lift the cup.:rolleyes:

I was actually referring to the 94 world cup, which if you bothered to read the article refers to Jason MacAteer talking about training in mud and saying "we still qualified"....as if just qualifying was enough and lets not bother actually dreaming about winning the damn thing.

So yeah very easy to open up the old Saipan issue again, where we wouldnt even if have been in Saipan if not for Keane single-handedly draggin our sorry asses through qualifying. The Genesis report vindicated Keanes actions. Everything about that Mick MacCarthy led squad was a celebration of mediocrity....losing a 2 goal lead in Holland and patting ourselves on the back at the end....if everyone in that squad had the same drive and ambition of Keane there would have been no Saipan and maybe a semi final appearance.

Keane a quitter?.....LOL rolleyes right back at you

leninbenjamin

slow week for news and TV.

LuckyLloyd

Highsider wrote: »

Rubbish. Keane walked. Quitter of the highest order. Turned his back on his country.

There would have been no world cup to walk away from if it wasn't his immense contribution in the qualifiers...

Nothing new in that article of course. The more you read into the Charlton years, the more it becomes clear that we missed an opportunity. The type of opportunity that the likes of Croatia, Greece and South Korea capitalized upon. It may never come to pass again that we have the senior squad filled with players plying their trade for top sides in top leagues. Games where we started Liam Brady and Ronnie Whelan and lumped it long...hilarious really. :rolleyes:

Latchy

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

Liam Brady and Ronnie Whelan and lumped it long...hilarious really. :rolleyes:

Just their luck to have a manager who liked the long ball because Quote '' he didn't think ireland could play any other way '' . The latter may have being coming to the end of their careers but I do think brady was another option on the bench ,somebody who could have come on the last 20 minutes of a match and made a difference .I remember reading how charlton asked Ronnie whelan,who was on the subs bench for some matches , for a loan of 20 quid .

Whelan played at the start in the next game

simonw

JerryHandbag wrote: »

Sums up the attitude of the Irish set up at the time tbh....Roy Keane wanted to WIN the world cup, we had the players to do so.

Hahaha, have you been drinking with the Irish team too? We never had, and never will have, the players to win the world cup

elshambo

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

Games where we started Liam Brady and Ronnie Whelan and lumped it long...hilarious really. :rolleyes:

what Bob Paisley woulda/coulda done with that squad:o

Come the revolution; those who voted against him should be dragged out and shot!:mad:

kerash

redout you should read Paul McGraths autobiog if you havent already.

daithijjj

The current squad should organise a good session and invite stephen ireland........whats the worst that could happen?. Any of our midfielders in the 80s could drink 10 pints, take to the field, and outshine what we have there at the moment.

Chucky the tree

JerryHandbag wrote: »

I was actually referring to the 94 world cup, which if you bothered to read the article refers to Jason MacAteer talking about training in mud and saying "we still qualified"....as if just qualifying was enough and lets not bother actually dreaming about winning the damn thing.

So yeah very easy to open up the old Saipan issue again, where we wouldnt even if have been in Saipan if not for Keane single-handedly draggin our sorry asses through qualifying. The Genesis report vindicated Keanes actions. Everything about that Mick MacCarthy led squad was a celebration of mediocrity....losing a 2 goal lead in Holland and patting ourselves on the back at the end....if everyone in that squad had the same drive and ambition of Keane there would have been no Saipan and maybe a semi final appearance.

Keane a quitter?.....LOL rolleyes right back at you

lol, as if we had a chance of winning the 1994 world cup? What bloody drugs are you on? :rolleyes: Also, it's not like keane's was a model professional when it came to the drink and pre-match preperation.

dogpile

JerryHandbag wrote: »

Sums up the attitude of the Irish set up at the time tbh....Roy Keane wanted to WIN the world cup, we had the players to do so.

Whereas the rest had the attitude of "ah sure we'll go over, have a laugh, enjoy ourselves, get pissed and sure so what if we dont win it, its a great piss up for the country!!" :rolleyes:

Keane himself was something of a pisshead for a period in the 90's (must have been the influence of his old mentor Clough ) only later did he go through a transformation both physically and mentally...

JerryHandbag

simonw wrote: »

We never had, and never will have, the players to win the world cup

Chucky the tree wrote: »

lol, as if we had a chance of winning the 1994 world cup? What bloody drugs are you on? :rolleyes:

Typical, this is just the attitude that drove Keane bananas. While we might not have won the world cup we could have at least ASPIRED to win it and ya never know maybe we might have got to a final/semi final....instead of gettin knocked out at last 16 stage and coming home to a 'heroes' reception....concerts in the phoenix park....how embarrassing :rolleyes:

Lets not forget Greece didnt have the players/werent good enough to win Euro 2004 either did they? Oh and look what happened.

daithijjj

JerryHandbag wrote: »

Typical, this is just the attitude that drove Keane bananas. While we might not have won the world cup we could have at least ASPIRED to win it and ya never know maybe we might have got to a final/semi final....instead of gettin knocked out at last 16 stage and coming home to a 'heroes' reception....concerts in the phoenix park....how embarrassing :rolleyes:

Lets not forget Greece didnt have the players/werent good enough to win Euro 2004 either did they? Oh and look what happened.

Yes, cheese sandwitches are the reason it didnt work out for us.

Mr Alan

when you look at the players we've had at our disposal over the years, the likes of;

Keane, Given, Bonner, Mc Grath, Moran, Staunton, Irwin, Duff, Aldridge, Quinn, Keane, Dunne, Houghton-many of whom played in the same team, i think its fair to say that Ireland has actually under achieved over the last couple of decades on an international stage when you look at what has been acheived by other nations of a supposed lesser ability.

LuckyLloyd

Chucky the tree wrote: »

lol, as if we had a chance of winning the 1994 world cup? What bloody drugs are you on? :rolleyes: Also, it's not like keane's was a model professional when it came to the drink and pre-match preperation.

Bulgaria played Sweden in the 3rd / 4th playoff at the 1994 World Cup

England, a team we were good value for a draw against in the group stages, finished 4th in the 1990 World Cup

South Korea reached the semi finals of the 2002 World Cup

Greece won Euro 2004

---

I hate to have to repeat these points over and over on this board. The attitude that:



couldn't have achieved more is every bit as galling as the attitude that expects more than we are getting from the current squad.

"Put 'em under pressure".

How about you passed the ****ing ball Jack and prepared properly you relic. :mad:

leninbenjamin

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

How about you passed the ****ing ball Jack and prepared properly you relic. :mad:

problem was as much the players, not just Jack and the FAI. they simply didn't take it seriously. meetings up with the Irish squad had always been a pissup, going way back. That's why Jack was probably the right man for the job at the time. It would have been very difficult for one manager to have turned things around, we're only finally turning that corner really, still a lot more to go. Better managers have failed to turn around such deeply entrenched problems. Of course the players were capable of much more, but getting them to play that way was practically impossible.

Draupnir

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

Bulgaria played Sweden in the 3rd / 4th playoff at the 1994 World Cup

England, a team we were good value for a draw against in the group stages, finished 4th in the 1990 World Cup

South Korea reached the semi finals of the 2002 World Cup

Greece won Euro 2004

---

I hate to have to repeat these points over and over on this board. The attitude that:



couldn't have achieved more is every bit as galling as the attitude that expects more than we are getting from the current squad.

"Put 'em under pressure".

How about you passed the ****ing ball Jack and prepared properly you relic. :mad:

You've only got nine players there, I'd say they would be convincingly beaten. Especially without a keeper.

Chucky the tree

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

Bulgaria played Sweden in the 3rd / 4th playoff at the 1994 World Cup

England, a team we were good value for a draw against in the group stages, finished 4th in the 1990 World Cup

South Korea reached the semi finals of the 2002 World Cup

Greece won Euro 2004

Bulgaria were a very good team then and Sweden were no mugs either. Also Sweden played the Saudi's in the second round and then romania in the semi finals. We faced Holland with the winner of that playing Brazil. If we won our group we would of faced Bulgaria who I think would of done us. Although expecting us to win our group is very OTT. Even then, whats the difference between going to a semi final and losing in the 2nd round or quarter final? Would it be fine to celebrate a semi-final loss then?

Same with 1990,England got the easier side of the draw finishing first, again Ireland would of been doing very well to finish 1st in that group. Also I think your highly over-estimating our players, they really werent very good and Charlton got the best he could out of them. The fact that our best players were nearly are defenders or defensive midfielders says it all.

As for Greece winning Euro 2004 they hardly did it by free flowing passing football did they? So I really dont see how you can use that as a stick to beat previous Irish teams with for not playing a more attractive style of football. The only team who could of done more was the lads in the 2002 World cup, but after the supposed star player tried to tear the squad in two it was always going to be a struggle.

I think saying what the teams achieved in 90,94 and 2002 wasnt good enough is far more of a disgraceful attitude to have.