I was determined to show Dalglish I was fit for the final
HEADING into the finals of the European Championship 30 years ago, Ronnie Whelan was a midfielder on a mission. His exclusion from Liverpool’s FA Cup final team had stung.
‘I went into the Euros with the view that “I’ll show Kenny [Dalglish] I was fit to play in the Cup final”. That was a big incentive for me going out to Germany. Once the [FA] Cup final was over I was trying to get minutes because I had missed a few games. I played in the Alan Hansen Testimonial two days later at Anfield which was weird as Kenny said to me “you lead them out”.
‘Then we had the Poland game, and we went to Norway, so it was all good for me in terms of games.’
In the Euro finals, Whelan played every minute against England, USSR and Holland, all in central midfield. Where they his three finest games for Ireland?
‘I don’t know, because I had other good games for Ireland. But coming up to the Euros, I was playing in central midfield, where I was happy to play and focus.’
On reflection, Whelan felt the tournament was one ‘long hard luck story’ for Ireland. After edging out England in Stuttgart, the USSR were allowed off the hook, and then came the jammy nature of Holland’s late winner.
There was also that goal by Whelan, against the Soviets in Hannover, a sublime left-foot volley from the edge of the box into the top corner past Rinat Dasayev. It remains the most spectacular goal scored by an Ireland player in a major finals yet Whelan, to this day, is unsure why he was so far forward to meet Mick McCarthy’s throw-in.
‘The goal against Russia... I don’t know what I was doing there. I shouldn’t have been waiting outside the box. I found myself there, maybe Sheeds [Kevin Sheedy] was sitting.
‘Jack [Charlton] never told us where we should or shouldn’t be, we worked it out ourselves,’ recalled Whelan of a night Ireland ran the Russians ragged. ‘They defended deep which left us space and we had the players to get on the ball and use it, myself, Kevin [Sheedy], Ray [Houghton] and Tony Galvin on the wing. It was one of those games, we don’t know why, but we played some of our best football. We could have been 3-0 up and were unlucky to draw 1-1. But it was never going to change. Jack was never going to say “that’s the way I want you to play”.
Whelan felt the rigid style of play under Charlton left Ireland legless by the time they faced the Dutch in Gelsenkirchen.
‘In the Dutch game we reverted back to kicking the ball into the corners. It was our third game in seven days and we got tired. They kept the ball and we were chasing around after them in the heat. They were better than us even if the goal was late and unfortunate from our point of view. That Ireland team definitely deserved something from that tournament. We were hard to beat.’
While Whelan travelled to Italia ’90 and USA ’94, his appearances were brief as Charlton, by then, had drawn a line through his value and preferred Andy Townsend instead.
‘I don’t think Jack ever trusted me or Sheeds [Kevin Sheedy]. We didn’t look as if we were chasing around, closing down players,’ said Whelan.
‘When he first came in, he did trust me but when it came to Italia ’90 he didn’t. He didn’t think I’d put the ball in the corner all the time and he probably felt it didn’t look as if I worked hard enough.’
Charlton was also sceptical of Whelan’s fitness in Italy after he’d damaged a thigh muscle in the build-up to the finals.
‘It (the injury) set me back so Jack probably had a point, but I still felt fit enough to be out on the pitch. Apparently, when he sent me on against Holland [in Palermo], after two minutes he turned to someone on the bench and said “there, I told you he wasn’t fit”.
Whelan acknowledged Charlton’s grip on the team, and the tactics, but sensed the end was nigh in summer 1995 after a draw in Liechtenstein and a home defeat to Austria.
‘We were launching balls and they were camped on the sixyard line. We should have kept the ball instead and tried to draw them out. In Limerick a few days later, Quinny [Niall Quinn] says that John Charlton called a meeting on behalf of Jack who wasn’t there and warned us that anybody who goes out, will be sent back home.
‘Quinny apparently says in his book that I stood up and looked at John and said, “Can he send us all home if we all go out?”. I don’t know about that, but our preparation was poor. Not having Jack around for a few days didn’t help.’