Originally Posted by
EastTerracer
If you listen carefully to what Lawrenson said in that clip he says that he was 19 and playing for Preston. "I never imagined I would be good enough to play for England" so he jumped at the chance to play International football.
If you ask Lawrenson today he would tell you that he has no regrets over that decision (even though he turned out at Liverpool to be a fantastic centre-half who probably would have played for England).
For many of our players born in England or Scotland (excluding Kilbane, Sheedy, Breen, Phelan etc), Ireland probably wasn't their first choice for International Football, but, with only a very few exceptions, almost every one of them gave total commitment to the Irish team once they did make that choice. Invariably, when they are asked today about that decision, they will tell you that they developed a huge connection with the team and with the country that they would never have experienced otherwise.
The football under Jack Charlton was very rudimentary stuff but, apart from the last two years (Jack should have quit after USA 94), that team was phenomenally passionate, committed and probably the best group of players we have ever (or will ever) have. Even the critics (most notably Dunphy) would never question the commitment or patriotism of the players in that era. The criticisms were always about the tactics and the style of football rather than the players.