At one time, Jack was more popular in Ireland than the Pope
He spoke his mind, did things his own way and didn’t suffer fools gladly, if at all.
He also embraced a style of play many pundits and former players dismissed as basic to the point of being prehistoric.
But Jack Charlton overcame initial scepticism to become not just the most-successful, but the most-loved manager the Republic of Ireland has ever had.
Not bad going for a man who won the World Cup with England. Charlton, who has died aged 85, took the Irish to the European Championship Finals for the first time in 1988, cementing his status with a win over England when the only goal was scored by Drumchapel-born Ray Houghton.
He followed that success by masterminding their progress to the World Cup quarter-finals in 1990 – where they lost out to a late goal against hosts Italy – and to the knock-out phase in the USA in 1994, when they famously defeated the Italians with another wonder goal from Houghton. Those memories haven’t faded in the Emerald Isle, and Owen Coyle, another Scots-born star to wear the green-and-white, believes we may never again see the likes of Charlton.
Indeed, Coyle claims that at the height of his success, would have beaten the Pope in a popularity contest in the Republic.
“He was the most-charismatic man I ever met,” said the former Motherwell, Dundee United and Bolton Wanderers striker.
“He brought it all together for Ireland and put this small country on the international stage.
“I’m not sure if anyone else could have done that.
“He was also very brave. One of the first things he did after taking over in 1986 was to drop Liam Brady, a world-class midfielder, who’d played for Arsenal, Juventus, Inter Milan and was still starring in Serie A at the time.
“However, Jack was fair and respectful about it. He took Liam aside and said: ‘There’s no doubting your ability, but that’s not the way my team’s going to play’.
“He took stick, but Jack always believed that the team was more important than the individual.”
Charlton was also ridiculed – although never to his face – over his habit of forgetting the names of famous opponents. Coyle recalled: “He’d do that in team talks, when he’d say: ‘Watch out for the big lad up front – you know who I’m talking about’.
“But he was always clued up, and knew the opposition’s strengths and weaknesses inside out, even if he couldn’t remember what their players were called.”
Coyle didn’t have as stellar a representative career as fellow native Scots Ray Houghton or Tommy Coyne, but he played for the Under-21 side and the B team before making his breakthrough against Holland in 1994.
“Big Jack was at every game and he took the B team as well as the senior one,” he said.
“He was great at creating team spirit. He loved taking the whole squad out for a few drinks when we were training in Ireland, and the pubs were always glad to have us there because we’d been doing so well.
“At the end of the night Jack would say: ’This is on me’ and go to settle the bill.
“He was smart, though, because he always got his chequebook out, knowing that the landlord would be more likely to frame his cheque than cash it.
“He was more popular than the Pope in Ireland at the time!”
Former Celtic keeper Pat Bonner was Charlton’s firstchoice, and claims he was under-rated as a tactician. He recalled. “When we were attacking, Jack told us never to play the ball to our strikers’ feet, but between the centre-half and full-backs.
“That meant our centreforward would peel away, taking his marker with him, and creating openings for the likes of Ray Houghton.
“We scored plenty of goals from that.”