Paul McGrath

**Calcio Jack** · 23/10/2006, 3:39 PM

Originally Posted by as_i_say

watched that the other night as well-hurts like hell. its a shame we were still the country of wee little poor little ireland at the time cos charlton should have been sacked after that campaign. we were one of THE best teams in europe in 1991 without a doubt. Player for player we were so much better than england yet were forced to play that disgusting style of football against them in wembley with a team like that on the pitch.

whatever you say about dunphy-he had it right about that!!

Couldn't agree more... anyone remember Charlton's stupid comments after we drew 3-3 away to Poland having lead 3-1. He said it was better that we drew rather than win as it meant the Poles would then try and beat England in their last game... the man was an idiot, on an ego trip fuelled by the Ole Ole brigade.. we could've taken Italy in the '90 W/cup and should of gone on to be at least a semi-finalist in the '92 Euro finals... moral victories my ar$e

**OwlsFan** · 23/10/2006, 4:42 PM

Originally Posted by as_i_say

watched that the other night as well-hurts like hell. its a shame we were still the country of wee little poor little ireland at the time cos charlton should have been sacked after that campaign. we were one of THE best teams in europe in 1991 without a doubt. Player for player we were so much better than england yet were forced to play that disgusting style of football against them in wembley with a team like that on the pitch.

whatever you say about dunphy-he had it right about that!!

I don't propose to get in to the Charlton style of play debate except it is idiotic to say that not only do you have to win, but you have to win with style as well. We were not better man for man as England had players like Lineker, Brian Robson, Seaman, Dixon etc etc some of whom would have been better than what we had, others wouldn't. Remember many of the Charlton team only became household names because of what they did for us (Alridge and Houghton were playing for Oxford). Some of the football we played that night was excellent and we were a big physical side so we also played to that strength.

The comment after the Poland game was only an attempt to put a gloss on what had been a disasterous draw.

The Final table read:

Country....Pl W D L F A Pts
England....6 3 3 0 7 3 9
Rep Ireland 6 2 4 0 13 6 8
Poland..... 6 2 3 1 8 6 7
Turkey.... 6 0 0 6 1 14 0

**The Swordsman** · 23/10/2006, 9:24 PM

Originally Posted by OwlsFan

I don't propose to get in to the Charlton style of play debate except it is idiotic to say that not only do you have to win, but you have to win with style as well. We were not better man for man as England had players like Lineker, Brian Robson, Seaman, Dixon etc etc some of whom would have been better than what we had, others wouldn't. Remember many of the Charlton team only became household names because of what they did for us (Alridge and Houghton were playing for Oxford). Some of the football we played that night was excellent and we were a big physical side so we also played to that strength.

The comment after the Poland game was only an attempt to put a gloss on what had been a disasterous draw.

The Final table read:

Country....Pl W D L F A Pts
England....6 3 3 0 7 3 9
Rep Ireland 6 2 4 0 13 6 8
Poland..... 6 2 3 1 8 6 7
Turkey.... 6 0 0 6 1 14 0

I think that too much has been made about the long ball game. No doubt it was employed , but not exclusively and it was not used much in the game against England (possibly because we were in their half for most of the game).

We should have beaten England that night but we didn't take our chances (Can't see how you could blame Charlton for that). We should have beaten Poland away but fell asleep in the last 10 minutes . Didn't Kevin Moran make a howler for their last goal.

England on the other hand struggled against us in Wembley, scraped a one nil in Turkey (Wise with a jammy goal) and Lineker pulled it out of the fire for them in the last ten minutes against Poland in their last match.

Charlton brought us to Euro 88, Italia 90 and USA 94. With a little more luck, we have qualified for Sweden too. He has been the most successful manager we've had.

And people say he should have been sacked

**Stuttgart88** · 24/10/2006, 7:01 AM

Originally Posted by The Swordsman

and Lineker pulled it out of the fire for them in the last ten minutes against Poland in their last match.

Not to mention the stonewall penalty that wasn't given when, with Poland already 1-0 up, Chris Woods pulled down a Polish striker when he rounded him and was set to score

I think Bonner was at fault for at least one of the Polish goals.

I also recall a really frustrating 0-0 at home to Poland when their keeper's playacting made Dudu Awat look like a saint.

Even Dunphy admitted that there was a lot more to our play than just long balls.

Anyone who saw the game against Russia in '88 would never point to us as a long ball team.

**tetsujin1979** · 24/10/2006, 9:07 AM

Or even the stonewall penalty that was denied to us at home against Poland, Niall Quinn being held back and eventually tripped in the Polish area late on.

**eirebhoy** · 24/10/2006, 10:05 AM

Another article:
http://football.guardian.co.uk/comme...929825,00.html

**smellyfeet** · 24/10/2006, 3:40 PM

Paul McGrath came to Shannon about 20 years ago and trained our team Newtown F.C. It was great, he was playing with Manchester UTD at the time.
The whole town came to see him. I'll never forget it. LEGEND

**TheOwl** · 25/10/2006, 7:47 AM

McGrath backs Staunton - mates will be mates I suppose!!!!

http://www.eurosport.com/football/eu...to993016.shtml

**OwlsFan** · 25/10/2006, 12:24 PM

Yep, slight contradiction there. He says Stan should turn it around even though he has little or no managerial experience and yet on McLaren

:

McGrath stands by his opinion that McClaren has been thrust into the limelight too quickly after working under him during his coaching stint at Derby County.

"I did say that," he stated. "Not that he's thrown in at the deep end but the rise is so steep.

**geysir** · 25/10/2006, 1:12 PM

I don't see so much of a contradiction.
The headline states McGrath backs Staunton but the endorsement quote from Paul is just a hope.
"I hope he turns it round. It was much better in the Czech game. The Cypriot game was a joke basically, it really was".

**Armando** · 25/10/2006, 2:48 PM

Here's a series of 3 articles from Feb2001 on Paul from the Sunday Indo, written by Paul Kimmage. It's really compelling reading.

http://www.dermothardy.com/PaulMcGrathStory.html

**CollegeTillIDie** · 26/10/2006, 9:47 AM

Originally Posted by OwlsFan

I don't propose to get in to the Charlton style of play debate except it is idiotic to say that not only do you have to win, but you have to win with style as well. We were not better man for man as England had players like Lineker, Brian Robson, Seaman, Dixon etc etc some of whom would have been better than what we had, others wouldn't. Remember many of the Charlton team only became household names because of what they did for us (Alridge and Houghton were playing for Oxford). Some of the football we played that night was excellent and we were a big physical side so we also played to that strength.

The comment after the Poland game was only an attempt to put a gloss on what had been a disasterous draw.

The Final table read:

Country....Pl W D L F A Pts
England....6 3 3 0 7 3 9
Rep Ireland 6 2 4 0 13 6 8
Poland..... 6 2 3 1 8 6 7
Turkey.... 6 0 0 6 1 14 0

Let's get one thing straight, David O'Leary giving the ball away twice was responsible for that game being a draw. Mick McCarthy would have stuck those two efforts in Row Z rather than " nancy around" with it. Charlton was trying not to blame one of his players in public , before having given the hair dryer treatment in the confines of the dressing room.
Eamon Dunphy's much championed player screwed up on a monumental scale, which cost us a place at Euro 92 a tournament at which we would have stood a great chance of doing well in, as the best team in the continent at the time, were turfed out for political reasons!

**tetsujin1979** · 26/10/2006, 9:49 AM

Originally Posted by CollegeTillIDie

Let's get one thing straight, David O'Leary giving the ball away twice was responsible for that game being a draw. Mick McCarthy would have stuck those two efforts in Row Z rather than " nancy around" with it.

I pointed that out in another thread ages ago, that game is probably (in fact almost definately) the only time Dunphy has ever complimented Mick McCarthy

**joe_barry80** · 27/10/2006, 12:16 PM

Originally Posted by bennocelt

its a true story, it was the 1994 return

sorry my bad

**Fergie's Son** · 27/10/2006, 6:57 PM

Originally Posted by CollegeTillIDie

Let's get one thing straight, David O'Leary giving the ball away twice was responsible for that game being a draw. Mick McCarthy would have stuck those two efforts in Row Z rather than " nancy around" with it. Charlton was trying not to blame one of his players in public , before having given the hair dryer treatment in the confines of the dressing room.
Eamon Dunphy's much championed player screwed up on a monumental scale, which cost us a place at Euro 92 a tournament at which we would have stood a great chance of doing well in, as the best team in the continent at the time, were turfed out for political reasons!

Agreed with everything you said. In fairness though, Yugoslavia was in the middle of a genocidal war so it was more than just "politics".

Fact remains, we should have beaten England in Wembley. We weren't better than them in Dublin mind you.

**osarusan** · 28/10/2006, 12:26 PM

Has anybody noticed that the BBC have posted an article on McGrath since this thread started.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/6084262.stm

Coincidence..............??