Nicholl recalls past Northern Ireland glory to fuel belief against Germany

Northern Ireland assistant manager aims to emulate his playing success, writes in Lyon

Jimmy Nicholl remembers the routine fondly. Win, lose or draw with Northern Ireland under manager Billy Bingham, it would be back to the Culloden Hotel in Holywood, a short drive from Belfast’s Windsor Park, to catch the television highlights of the game on Sportsnight over soup and sandwiches.

If the team had won, it would usually be followed by some fun back in town in the Copacabana nightclub at the top of Europa Hotel – which has the unfortunate distinction of being the most bombed hotel in Europe – and then a group singalong with goalkeeper Pat Jennings and his family on the fiddles, often with eager support from Gerry Armstrong and Martin O’Neill.

“Big Pat has a massive family and they all play fiddle or guitar,” regaled Nicholl, Northern Ireland’s right-back at the time, yesterday. “Really good, and they’re singers. They were great times. Brilliant.”

That was most definitely the order of play on the night of Nov 17, 1982, five months on from their historic victory over host nation Spain at the World Cup finals, when Queens Park Rangers striker Ian Stewart’s 18th-minute goal sent West Germany crashing to a 1-0 defeat at Windsor Park in qualifying for Euro ’84. The Germans were the European champions at the time and beaten finalists at the World Cup that summer and boasted talents as varied as Pierre Littbarski, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and Lothar Matthaus.

But, just to prove the result was no fluke, the Northern Irish beat them all over again in their final qualifying match in Hamburg almost a year to the day later, on that occasion courtesy of a second half goal from Norman Whiteside. Sadly, the victories would be in vain. Bingham’s side were within 11 minutes from qualifying for the tournament only for Gerd Strack to score a late winner for West Germany against Albania and Northern Ireland missed out on goal difference.

It remains a source of disappointment for Nicholl but, 33 years on, he does at last find himself in France at a European Championship finals and once again preparing for a game against Germany with qualification hanging in the balance. Nicholl is now assistant to Northern Ireland manager, Michael O’Neill, and at the Parc des Princes in Paris on Tuesday, the pair will hope to earn – at the very least – a point against world champions Germany that would almost certainly guarantee their progress to the round of 16.

“Back then, we thought we’d given ourselves a chance,” O’Neill reflected.

“Germany only beat Albania with that late goal in the last match of that group. Otherwise we were going to the Euros. It was hard to take having beaten them twice. These things don’t happen to the Germans. It was an affront to them. But this can happen.

“If they disrespect you or are overconfident, then you have a chance of winning. You know after 10 minutes. You can sense disrespect when you’re on the park and you can take advantage of that.”

Northern Ireland had not been to a major tournament for 22 years when