The day Irish football was changed forever

**Hither green** · 08/02/2006, 3:25 PM

My memory's not great, but in the game against england that was abandoned, I seem to remember we were playing really really well. Although for obvious reasons I've not seen it since so...

**OwlsFan** · 08/02/2006, 3:31 PM

Originally Posted by finlma

Its my opinion that most managers would have got us to those tournaments as we had the players. I think a good footballing manager would have got us more success in the tournaments. Eoin Hand was robbed by a disgraceful reffing decision and he should have been the man to take us to our first major tournament.

I'm not saying the memories weren't great but I think they could be a lot better had someone else been in charge. Sure we'll never know.

You logic is faulty. Charlton took over a team which had finished 2nd bottom, in its group under Eoin Hand (at least we beat the Swiss 3-0 in that group):

...Team .................Pts Pld W D L GF GA GD
1 Denmark............. 11. 8.. 5. 1. 2. 17 6 .11
2 USSR................. 10 .8.. 4 .2. 2. 13 .8. 5
3 Switzerland...........8. 8. 2. 4 .2. 5 ..10 -5
4 Republic of Ireland ..6. 8 .2. 2 .4. 5..10 -5
5 Norway................. 5. 8.1. 3. 4. .4. 10 -6

True Eoin had been unlucky in previous campaigns (I was in Belgium for the 1-0 defeat in the last couple of minutes) but we were going no where fast at the end of his reign. Charlton changed all that. Previous Irish teams had some great players but Charlton was the first to instil organisation, a system and a belief. Without him I fear we'd still be all dreaming of the day we'd be in a major championship. Houghton and Aldridge were playing for Oxford when Charlton brought them into the Irish set up and made their careers. We also had a lot of average players in the team. It wasn't a team of superstars but they grew into the roll and became those players in our minds because we qualified and achieved what we did.

I shall fight revisionism all the way.

**Emmet** · 08/02/2006, 3:57 PM

Originally Posted by Stuttgart88

At the time the Russian performance was our best performance ever I reckon, certainly in my time as a fan anyway. Really top drawer stuff. I thought Wembley in '91 was a great performance too, certainly that period before we equalised.

If I was going to pick out specific matches I'd go for those as well. I was watching a video of Euro '88 a few months ago and the football we played against the Russians was breathtaking - it really was. And this was a Russian team who were many people's pre-tournament favourites as well. Crisp passing, intelligent movement - like you say, top drawer stuff. Wembley in 1991 is up there too because we gave the English a real lesson that night - both on the pitch and off it. I tried to go to that game with my Dad but tickets were like gold dust. Even on the TV though all you could hear was one long stream of Irish songs - Molly Malone, We're on the one road and loads more ... at least three-quarters of Wembley was green that night! England scored a deflected goal after about 10 minutes and from the point onwards it was one-way traffic. Quinn's goal was class - the only downer was the score!!

**paul_oshea** · 08/02/2006, 8:39 PM

is there anywhere you can get these games on dvd or vhs or anything like that? again i remember the scores and goals but thats all i can remember from these.

owlsfan its good to have staticians and realists like yourself and stuts on this forum. i was expecting more of the anti-charlton brigade to get engaged in this thread, but as the man says you cant argue with FACTS

**Noelys Guitar** · 08/02/2006, 9:05 PM

Charlton changed the attitude of the team more than anything else. The most dispiriting match I have ever attended was the home 4-1 defeat to Denmark, Hands last game if I'm not mistaken. Less than 5,000 Irish fans attended (outnumbered by the Danes!). It was truely shocking stuff. A complete change was needed and Charlton delivered that. The "lucky" manager stuff is just rivisionist nonsense. By 1990 The team, fans and journos believed we could beat anyone, anywhere. And we usually did.

**Emmet** · 08/02/2006, 11:06 PM

Originally Posted by paul_oshea

is there anywhere you can get these games on dvd or vhs or anything like that?

Ebay would be your best bet - when they do surface on there they never go for much

**Hither green** · 09/02/2006, 10:21 AM

Originally Posted by Emmet

Ebay would be your best bet - when they do surface on there they never go for much

I was about to ask about that. Is that an official Irish Euro '88 vid, as I've never come across it and would be quite interested. What's it called?

**OwlsFan** · 09/02/2006, 10:36 AM

I have the Euro 88 video at home. Must check it out to see what it's called. Possibly on Betamax

**Hither green** · 09/02/2006, 11:07 AM

Originally Posted by OwlsFan

I have the Euro 88 video at home. Must check it out to see what it's called. Possibly on Betamax

So what do you do with that then, spin it really fast on a pencil near a light?

**PaulB** · 09/02/2006, 11:33 AM

Originally Posted by Hither green

I was about to ask about that. Is that an official Irish Euro '88 vid, as I've never come across it and would be quite interested. What's it called?

I have it at home ( VHS), for the life of me can't remember the name of it (the road to germany). Gives a couple of highlights of the qualifiers, then a good 20 minutes of each game. Good stuff..

**Emmet** · 09/02/2006, 4:20 PM

The one I have is called 'Euro 88' - its an official RTE video and well worth getting if you see it

**finlma** · 10/02/2006, 10:20 AM

To make up for all my moaning:

Euro 88
http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...and+at+Euro+88

Italia '90
http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...d+at+Italia+90

USA '94
http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...land+at+USA+94

**gypsydownunder** · 13/02/2006, 1:37 PM

October 1974.
Giles first big game as player manager. Liam made his debut. And Given scored 3 as we beat USSR 3-0. And after that I was hooked.

Euro 88 was magic. There was a great raw innocence with the fans and the team - no cheap flights in those days - it was a boat to Le Harve, train to Paris and then on to Stuttgart. And nobody really expected us to win.

Italia 90 was good, especially Dave's penalty.

Wembley 91 was really good. And if only Ray had buried that sitter in the 2nd half, then Poland wouldn't have mattered.

USA 94 was pretty bad. Yeah ok, Mexico was heat effected. But we were ****e against Norway [only worse game was Egypt].

Anfield 95 was a terrible end to Charlton's career. It was a really bad performance and probably the biggest ever Ireland "away" crowd. I travelled from Melbourne, had a great time, but the game was sh1te.

**OwlsFan** · 13/02/2006, 4:34 PM

Originally Posted by gypsydownunder

USA 94 was pretty bad. Yeah ok, Mexico was heat effected. But we were ****e against Norway [only worse game was Egypt].

Surely Ireland 1 Italy 0 is worth a slight mention?

Norway was a bad game but all we needed was a draw. That was good enough for me and outside the Stadium a concert by Mary Black who sang "My heart is low, as only a Norwegian heart can be

". Always think of that day when I hear the real version of the song and it brought home to me how the Norwegians must be feeling. We complained about the performance but were heading on to Orlando for the next round. They were on the next plane back to the fiords.