SMOKES & DAGGERS

A mischievous mix of (mostly) news

SMOKES recalls a Sky History documentary on the Jack Charlton era, in which former Ireland captain Andy Townsend was interviewed. He recounted how Jack arranged for the Irish squad to meet Pope John Paul II ahead of their quarter-final in Rome at Italia ’90. The Pope told Irish stopper Packie Bonner: ‘I’ll be keeping a special eye on you.’ The match ended 1-0 to Italy – after Bonner let a shot slip to gift Italy their goal. According to Townsend, after Bonner left the changing room for a shower, ‘Jack was sat down, he’s got a fag. He’s looked at me, he took a drag of his fag, a big smile, and he says, “Andy!” and he says, “The f ***** g Pope would have saved that”.’

SPEAKING on radio station Talksport, beanpole forward Tony Cascarino revealed Jack’s unique take on motivation: ‘The first time I got to meet him was at Leeds United when I was playing for

Millwall. I’d been in the Ireland squad before for three games, but I had an injury when Jack took control. I played at Elland Road and as I was walking to the away dressing room Jack yelled, “Oi! Do you want to come and play for Ireland again?” I said, “Yeah, please,

I’d love to, Jack.” And he said: “Last time I watched you, you were absolute garbage!”’ JOURNALISTS loved Jack because he was old school. Olivia Doyle, formerly of the Star, tweeted how she and photographer Jim Walpole flew to Boston to chase Jack on a ‘secret skite’ with friends for his birthday. They tracked him down to a bar at 6am and she introduced herself. Jack replied: ‘I knew the fookin’ Star would find me!’