Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
RIP Big Jack
IRELAND & 66 WORLD CUP HERO DEAD AT 85
JACK Charlton will be fondly remembered for bringing Ireland on a “glorious adventure” over the course of a decade.
As a minute’s silence was held at matches across England yesterday, tributes flooded in for the “man who changed Irish football”.
The 85-year-old passed away on Friday after a battle with lymphoma and dementia.
Pundit Eamon Dunphy told RTE’s Brendan O’Connor Show: “Jack Charlton’s contribution to our culture and to our soccer goes beyond tactics.
“He gave leadership. It was strong leadership. He believed in a style of play that was crude but very, very effective.
“Leadership is so important. He had no doubts about his way of doing things and he took all doubt out of the players’ minds.
“It’s more important than anything else, he took the country for 10 years on a glorious adventure.”
World Cup winner Charlton brought football in this country to the biggest stage with qualification for the finals of major tournaments for the first time.
First came an unlikely qualification for Euro 88, followed by the historic Italia ‘90 epic that saw Ireland reach the quarter-finals in our first World Cup.
Charlton, already hugely popular for getting us there, won the hearts of a nation.
After leading the Republic to the 1994 World Cup finals in the USA – they lost to Holland in the last 16 – Charlton was awarded the Freedom of the City
of Dublin.
In 1996, he received honorary Irish citizenship.
Charlton’s tenure lasted just a month short of a decade, ending after the Euros qualifier play-off defeat to Holland at Anfield in December 1995.
Former teammate at Leeds Johnny Giles, who admitted he didn’t always see eye-to-eye with Jack, said he popularised the game here “in a way it had never been popularised before”.
Irish football legend Paul McGrath was among those leading the tributes, describing him as a “father figure”.
He said: “It is difficult for me to articulate what Jack meant to me both on and off the football field.
“Throughout his 10 years as manager of our international team, Jack backed me as a footballer and as a person – he became a father figure to me. “He gave me his full support when I needed it most and for which I am forever grateful.
“He has been a hugely important person in my life... He is a man I genuinely loved.” Former Ireland and Arsenal striker Niall Quinn explained how Jack “changed lives”. He said: “I’m devastated. I am finding it very hard to put into words what Jack meant to the whole country, not just to me and to those of us lucky enough to have played for him in an Ireland shirt.
“Jack Charlton led the band. He brought us, as players and fans, to places we never thought possible beforehand and gave us so many precious moments.
“He changed lives. For his players, he gave us the best days of our lives.” Former Ireland captain and manager Mick McCarthy said: “I loved the bones of the man, I am devastated with this news and my heart goes out to Pat and the family.
“I know this is a sad day but we will remember the great days as well.”
Former striker Tony Cascarino joked that Ireland “could have won the World Cup” if Jack hadn’t allowed them all to drink as much as they did.
He added: “A very funny man, a very sensitive man, a very loyal man, a family man.
“I knew he was bed-ridden over the past 10 days. It’s very sad and I’d
like to think I’d remember Jack for very happy reasons.”
And Ray Houghton, who famously put the ball in the English net in 1988, said it was wrong Charlton was never knighted for his services to football.
He told Talksport: “The word legend is used too much in football – but not for Jack.
“He was after winning the World Cup but he was never knighted for that – and I think that’s an absolute disgrace.”
Former Ireland goalkeeper Shay Given added: “Really saddened to hear the passing of the great Jack Charlton, absolute hero in Ireland growing up. Thoughts and prayers with his family and friends. We’re all part of Jackie’s Army.”
FAI President Gerry McAnaney told how Charlton changed the way our country looked at football.
He added: “He transformed our sport. He changed the way we played football, of course, but he also changed the way the country looked at Irish football.
“He gave Ireland a team to be proud of and the country took him to our hearts in return.” Celebrities also took to social media to pay their respects to Big Jack, among them Westlife singer and keen footballer Nicky Byrne.
He shared a snap of himself, his sons and his nephew meeting Jack at an Ireland game years ago.
He captioned it: “Thinking of Jack Charlton and his family today.
“I was honoured to have met him with my boys and nephew at an Ireland game some years ago.
“There was no better time to be an Irish football fan, young and old! Thanks Jack.”