LAWRO’S PRAISE FOR REALISM THAT DRAGGED IRELAND TO NEW HEIGHTS
JACK CHARLTON transformed football in the Republic of Ireland with a dose of “realism”. Liverpool legend Mark Lawrenson paid a glowing tribute to the former Ireland manager for turning a group of “very, very good players” into a team to be reckoned with. Lawrenson was part of Charlton’s adventure which took them to World Cups and European Championships as England’s 1966 hero emulated his success as a player
during a colourful managerial career.
“He turned us into a really successful team, started qualifying for all the major tournaments which we’d never done and, for a country of only about 2.5million people, in those days it was a massive achievement,” said Lawrenson (above).
“As a manager, the dose of realism. Sometime, somewhere along the line there was a manager who was going to make those players into a better team and it was Jack.”
Former Republic of Ireland defender Lawrenson also recalled how Charlton would be so laid back in training, trusting his players in sessions while he would be busy working on his golf swing.
“I remember that we missed the first game, the Liverpool lads, when he got the job and they got beat by Wales at Lansdowne Road and we had a meeting at Shropshire,” said Lawrenson.
“He said, ‘Right, we’re going to do the free-kicks and corners that we worked out from our first meeting that you didn’t see.’
“As we’re doing these set-pieces, he was turned the other way and he had his umbrella, he didn’t have it up and there he was behind the goal practising his golf swing and we’re doing free-kicks.
“He was a man of few words when it came to talking about the game. I remember the first time I played and he said, ‘I’ve told all the centrebacks that nobody plays out from the back’. I said I’d rather like to. He said, ‘That’s all right, because I’m going to play you in midfield’.”
Johnny Giles also paid tribute to his former Leeds team-mate, telling the BBC: “It wasn’t all great times at Leeds for Jack, it all started when Don Revie took over.
“When Don took over, Jack didn’t have a very good reputation for training, he was prepared to let him go if he didn’t buck up. Jack really took off from there. “For five of the 10 years I played with Jack, he was the best centre-half in the First Division, which is now the Premier League.”