GREEN GIANT
Packie Bonner on turning 60, World Cup penalty systems, Saipan and the FAI
‘IF I WAS TO GET BACK IN TO THE FAI, I WOULD BE HONOURED’
PACKIE Bonner leans forward to peer at a black and white photograph he has never seen. ‘Is that Ashley Grimes?’ he asks. ‘And Frank (Stapleton) just behind him?’ An end-of-season friendly for the Republic of Ireland against Poland in Bydgoszcz 39 years ago today included one rookie, Bonner, who was celebrating his 21st birthday.
He didn’t suspect it then, and certainly not for the next four years as he picked up the odd cap in such faraway places as Algeria, Israel and Japan, but Bonner would go on to play more internationals than any of the Bydgoszcz brigade.
‘I think back now, and it was probably a good apprenticeship. If I was thrown in and we didn’t get success then maybe I’d have been lost to the whole thing,’ he recalled.
‘I was playing for Celtic, playing in European competition year in, year out, so from that point, there was a sense of youthful frustration about not getting a longer run in the team. I was always in the wings, waiting for the opportunity.’
The years have marched on and
Bonner, the custodian of the Irish goal in 80 games, embracing three major finals, turns 60 today.
To mark the occasion, he’d drawn up a bucket list. Visits home to Donegal, pints with twin brother Dennis, golf and craic with old friends, a trip to the United States.
‘Maybe we’ll get to do it all in 2021,’ he laughed.
Bonner is in fine fettle. Ramrodstraight, albeit with a touch more salt than pepper in the hair these days.
When we chatted via Zoom, Bonner had just finished a spinning session on the bike at his Glasgow home. His creaking knees mean that running is not an option.
Before lockdown, he was working 90 days a year for UEFA as a technical advisor, observing at Champions League and Europa League games, and co-commentating for BBC Scotland weekly.
He has not allowed much grass grow under his feet, nor does he intend to. Over an hour or so much ground was covered, some of it less trodden than before.
There was Bonner’s qualified take on Roy Keane and the Saipan eruption, the under-stated influence of Gerry Peyton on his career – ‘he was like a brother to me’ – and his regard for Shay Given as an elite goalkeeper – ‘Shay was better than me.’
Bonner expressed his hopes for the future of Irish football, and a wee concern too, for Stephen Kenny as the next Ireland manager. He also reiterated his offer to help the FAI in any way should the call come from Abbotstown.
‘If I was to get back in and do anything, I’d be very honoured. You need to be asked, that’s the first thing. If we’re not asked, we’ll support it from afar, that’s for sure.’
ON top of a highly distinguished club career which spanned 642 games for Celtic, his only senior club, where he won four titles, three Scottish Cups and two League Cups, Bonner has given an astonishing level of service to Irish football.
His caps involved completing every one of Ireland’s games at Euro ’88, Italia ’90 and USA ’94 – the only player to do so – and, naturally, THAT save against Romania in Genoa.
On handing over the gloves to Given in 1996, Bonner spent over nine years as goalkeeping coach to the Ireland senior team under Mick McCarthy and then Brian Kerr. He was also FAI technical director from 2003 until 2010.
He may have left Donegal more than 40 years ago, but his zest for Irish football, at all levels, continues apace.
‘I’m passionate about our team, our country, seeing us perform at major finals and I hope Stephen is successful,’ he said.
‘I’d be supportive of any manager but because Stephen is Irish, he’s living in the country, similar to Brian (Kerr) and to Eoin (Hand), I’d love to see him be successful even more so because of the pressure that comes with living at home.’
What’s his take on the challenge facing the
Dubliner?
‘Stephen has done a very good job at
Under 21 level but it’s a huge step up from that to senior level. I’ve been through it myself as a player. I’m glad I had those years of an apprenticeship with Seamus (McDonagh) and Gerry (Peyton).
‘Stepping in there is not an easy thing. As a player you can be lucky or you can disappear very quickly.
‘Will he be successful? I think he has the ability, the knowledge, the understanding. He’s been put into the European situation with the U21s and done very well. I certainly think he has the
credentials. But you need a little bit of luck.’ ‘Stephen is going into the job under pressure from day one. He’s got to try and qualify. Will he be given enough time? Will the media jump on any deficiencies? I hope not. I’d have given him a bit longer (as manager) to develop it.
‘I hate to see a manager getting two years at international level. I think it’s a four-year process.’
Bonner observed first-hand how McCarthy blended the new with the old in 1996, and also oversaw a change in the style of play from Jack Charlton’s direct approach.
Given time by the FAI, McCarthy was blessed by the presence of a teenage Given on his arrival; Kevin Kilbane came along within 12 months, Robbie Keane and Damien Duff burst onto the international scene within two years, followed by Richard Dunne and John O’Shea.
‘Mick was helped that those young players were all regulars in their first teams. What Mick had to do was make them international players, get them experienced at that level. He did that very successfully, by using the older players to help them along the way.
‘With Stephen (Kenny) now coming in, how many young players does he have playing for their first teams? That’s a challenge.’
GIANTS Stadium, the scene of a Bonner career highlight in the 1994 World Cup finals, was half-deserted when he came on for his final Irish appearance, as a substitute for Shay Given against Bolivia two years later.
Of the 14 players used by Mick McCarthy that day, only Alan McLoughlin had been part of things at Italia ’90. Bonner’s time was up.
‘Mick had taken over as manager and I joined his staff as goalkeeping coach. Somebody must have got
injured before that trip as I had to step in to be a goalkeeper.
‘That was a difficult situation. I was thinking, “Do I hang around with Mick and his staff or do I hang around with the team?” I was in two camps.’
Not for long, as Bonner knew Given was there to stay, extending the Donegal link in the Irish goalkeeper’s chain, which would continue through until Given’s 134th cap in 2016.
‘Shay and I had a good connection from way back. We were at Celtic together as Liam (Brady) signed him. We had a starting point too at international level and I became his coach at Ireland.
‘Shay was an unbelievable goalkeeper, world class. He was much better than I ever was, he had to deal with the pass-back, and he was the difference between winning and losing more games than me. Shay had great agility. Maybe I had an edge on crosses but from a technique point of view, he was ahead of me.’
As for the back-pass rule, Bonner allows himself a wry smile.
‘It came in one summer, in 1993, and I had three years of it. No one was used to it. We had to adapt quickly. Could we have been better at it? Probably. If I look at (Gianluigi) Buffon, he adapted very well.
‘Could I have adapted? Probably. Would I have been better? My left foot definitely wasn’t that good.’
If the rule had come in earlier, Bonner would have turned to Peyton to work things through. Separated by four years, they established a close friendship, rooming together on trips, including Euro ’88 and Italia ’90.
Bonner’s respect for his old sparring partner is immense.
Indeed, but for Peyton’s influence, he may not have been the hero of Genoa.
Prior to the 1990 finals, Bonner was on the receiving end of a 9-8 penalty shootout loss for Celtic against Aberdeen in the Scottish Cup final.
‘After that final, where I went the wrong way for all bar one of nine penalties, I needed help. The person I went to was Gerry.’
The World Cup finals were weeks away and Bonner needed an injection of confidence, which Peyton provided.
‘Gerry had watched the shootout. We sat down and worked on a system that we were going to deploy although neither of us were thinking it would come around in the World Cup.’
They studied the way the penalty takers walk up and agreed that if they stood straight on, they were going to either blast the ball or side-foot it.
If the taker stood at an angle, as Romania’s Daniel Timofte did, then they were going to put it back into the side they were standing on.
‘Whether it was Gerry or me (in goal), it didn’t matter, this was what we were going to do. It worked against Romania.’
It certainly did.