Ronnie Whelan on Off the Ball re Ireland Russia 88

[an_ceannaire]

Anyone hear it the other night? Very interesting! Basically said the players on that occasion completely ignored Jacks tactics, did it them selves and put in what Peter Byrne and many others to this day refer to as The best performance from an Irish international football team ever seen! Strong words!

U really get the feeling listening to him aswell and Aldo on many occasions that they didnt like playing under Jack and hated the way they were stifled.

Whelan and Sheedy played CM that day and gave an exhibition, the like of which no Irish partnership has given since. Keano and Townsend incl

If only they had ignore Jack more often, we might have done a Denmark or a Greece!

[fu1ham]

We still didn't win!

[an_ceannaire]

We still didn't win!

Only cos Tony Galvin was practically molested to death anytime he came within ten feet of the ball!!

[tetsujin1979]

what night was this on? Should be on the listenback service

Any excuse for a swipe at the current central midfield pairing, eh an_ceannaire?

[an_ceannaire]

what night was this on? Should be on the listenback service

Any excuse for a swipe at the current central midfield pairing, eh an_ceannaire?


ya thats it.......thats the reason i started this thread....:rolleyes:

not sure now which night but i have no doubt you will find it. Ronnie and Peter Byrne interview.

[stojkovic]

Anyone hear it the other night? Very interesting! Basically said the players on that occasion completely ignored Jacks tactics, did it them selves and put in what Peter Byrne and many others to this day refer to as The best performance from an Irish international football team ever seen! Strong words!
Yes, we said it at the time and nothing has come close since.

Should have murdered them, Galvin nearly decapitated by Dasaev who should have walked.

Protassov's late goal was a kick in the gulags.

Soviet manager (Lobanobvsky ?) changed his outlook after that game.

[tetsujin1979]

ya thats it.......thats the reason i started this thread....:rolleyes:

not sure now which night but i have no doubt you will find it. Ronnie and Peter Byrne interview.
checked the listen back service and couldn't find it
also, I'm a fairly regular listener to Off The Ball, it's a rare night that I wouldn't catch any of it, and I don't recall any announcement of an interview with Whelan

[EastTerracer]

U really get the feeling listening to him aswell and Aldo on many occasions that they didnt like playing under Jack and hated the way they were stifled.

Aldo has always struck me as being one of the players who has the most loyalty to Jack. I've never heard him give any strong criticism of the tactics in those days (other than a few jokes about running his legs down to the stumps).

People like Brady, Whelan, Stapleton and O'Leary have been much more outspoken in their views about the way we played. Ireland were capable of much better but I don't think any of those players would swap their experiences in Euro 88 or Italia 90.

[KK77]

Aldo has always struck me as being one of the players who has the most loyalty to Jack. I've never heard him give any strong criticism of the tactics in those days (other than a few jokes about running his legs down to the stumps).

People like Brady, Whelan, Stapleton and O'Leary have been much more outspoken in their views about the way we played. Ireland were capable of much better but I don't think any of those players would swap their experiences in Euro 88 or Italia 90.

Yes never heard Aldo say anything bad about Jack or his tactics. Always seems to have so much time for Jack from reading his book and listening to him talk on the radio, tv etc. As regards Whelan i am not all that shocked being honest. The chap likes nothing better than a good old bitch. For a fella moaning about tactics and style of play it's strange then how he tried to tell Jack at Italia 90 that he was fit to play when he clearly wasn't. Jack put him in his place from what i can recall.

[Stuttgart88]

After we drew 0-0 in Hungary Aldo came up with his "legs worn to stumps" remark. Not sure if the context was criticism of his goal ratio - i.e., if he was defending his personal performance or whether he was critical of the team's play. That really felt like 2 points dropped that day.

[ramondo]

Protassov's late goal was a kick in the gulags.


Yes, it was. Though as I've pointed out before (ad nauseum) a 1-0 win to us wouldn't have been enough to go through to the Semis because of the defeat by Holland.

[bennocelt]

Yes, it was. Though as I've pointed out before (ad nauseum) a 1-0 win to us wouldn't have been enough to go through to the Semis because of the defeat by Holland.

No? are you sure, 6 points?

[Supreme feet]

No? are you sure, 6 points?

It would have been 4 points, it was 2 points for a win back then. In the case of us beating the USSR 1-0, ourselves, Holland and the Sovets would have all finished on four points, and we would have been eliminated on goal difference, as Holland and the USSR both beat England 3-1.

[pineapple stu]

Yeah, it was the Dutch defeat that killed us. Even drawing with the USSR, a draw with Holland would have been enough. USSR 5 pts (drew with us), Ireland 4 pts (2 draws), Holland 3 pts (lost to USSR), England 0 (just crap :) )

Did we ever get to the bottom of whether this Whelan interview actually exists?

[geysir]

I heard the interview referred to,with Whelan on Newstalk but I heard it differently than the thread starter.
I tend to hear words as they are spoken.

[OwlsFan]

Anyone hear it the other night? Very interesting! Basically said the players on that occasion completely ignored Jacks tactics, did it them selves and put in what Peter Byrne and many others to this day refer to as The best performance from an Irish international football team ever seen! Strong words!

U really get the feeling listening to him aswell and Aldo on many occasions that they didnt like playing under Jack and hated the way they were stifled.

Whelan and Sheedy played CM that day and gave an exhibition, the like of which no Irish partnership has given since. Keano and Townsend incl!

Funny how the detractors of Jack and Trap all agree that when the team plays well, it's down the players ignoring the manager (Soviet and French game), but when it plays badly, it's the managers' fault.

I was at the Soviet game and it was a good performance but not the best I have ever seen. The fans didn't think so either as they were in the middle of a wave (a sign of boredom) when Whelan scored.


If only they had ignore Jack more often, we might have done a Denmark or a Greece!

We might be sitting here wondering would we ever qualify for a Final like we did for the previous 30 years with equally talented players. Don't forget it was Charlton and the success of the team which made some players declare for us who might not previously have done so.

[Dodge]

Don't forget it was Charlton and the success of the team which made some players declare for us who might not previously have done so.

And what good has it done as we've only qualified for one major tournament since...

Agree with your other point though. Its not limited to only Trap and Charlton though. Plenty of Irish fans take a position on a manager and will rarely shift from it. Those who hated Kerr or McCarthy used the same approach as above. Good things happened because of players, bad things happened because of managers.

The truth, for all 4, is probably somwhere in between

(BTW I'm not suggesting that people aren't entitled to hold and express opinions on Ireland managers either)

[geysir]

And sometimes the defining good/bad things that happen, can not be explained.

Like just how did that ref not give a penalty when Shay, moving in a different direction to the ball, "accidentally" collided with Van Nistelrooy?

[Stuttgart88]

How Shay wasn't penalised then is beyond me, but still - we needed a draw.

Also, if you look at it all Shay did was stand his ground. RVN knocked it wide of him & ran into him. I've never seen them not given though.

Owls Fan - the wave was mid-first half. By 70 minutes we were giving the "Soviets" a pasting. If Aldo had kept his volley, from Galvin's cross, down by a foot or two, never would a more beautiful goal have been scored in the history of Irish football. The 30 minutes after RW's goal was sheer perfection. Of course the Protasev moment "Bonner has now gone 13 games without conceding a goal, wait, there's danger here..." was the curse that has plagued Irish football for 2 decades since.

[tetsujin1979]

straight from the horse's, err, twitter feed
http://twitter.com/#!/tetsujin1979/statuses/27868673464

@kenearlys (http://twitter.com/kenearlys) mate of mine said you guys interviewed Ronnie Whelan recently on OTB,but cant remember what night it was on.Do you know off hand?
from http://twitter.com/#!/kenearlys/statuses/27869004244

@tetsujin1979 (http://twitter.com/tetsujin1979) think it was the Thursday before the Russia match
from http://twitter.com/#!/kenearlys/statuses/27870010424

@tetsujin1979 (http://twitter.com/tetsujin1979) it wasn't on football show tho, it was 2nd hour