Martin O'Neill on what it means to be Irish

[Evil Genius]

In an aside, nice to see the Vernon family getting a name check.  While "Sausage" Vernon preferred to stick to the soccer, his brothers Hugh and Charlie (grandfather of Charlie Vernon of Armagh?) both played football for Antrim and I think both won Railway Cup medals with Ulster in the 1940's.

Happy to oblige, QM. And at the risk of taking this thread (temporarily) off topic, here is an interesting Bio of him, which indicates just what an outstanding soccer player he really was:

http://nifootball.blogspot.com/2006/12/jackie-vernon.html

Name: John Joseph Vernon
Born: 26 September 1918, Belfast
Height: 6.01 ft
Weight: 11.07 st
Died: 24 August 1981, Belfast
Position: Centre-Half

Representative Honours: Ireland: 17 Full Caps (1946-1951), 3 Victory Caps (1945-1946); Eire: 2 Full Caps (1946); Great Britain (vs Rest of Europe, 1947); Rest of Britain (vs Wales, 1951).
Club Honours: (with Belfast Celtic) Irish League Champion 1939/40; Northern Regional (War-Time) League 1940/41, 1941/42, 1942/43, 1946/47; Irish Cup Winner 1940/41, 1942/43, 1943/44; (with West Brom) Football League Division Two Runner-Up 1948/49 (promoted); (with Crusaders) Ulster Cup Winner 1953/54.

Club Career:
Clubs............... --Seasons-- Signed -Fee- League FACup
Dundela (Irish Intermediate League)
Belfast Celtic (Irish League)
West Bromwich Albion 46/47-51/52 Feb-47 £9500 190/ 1 10/ 0
Crusaders (Irish League)

Biography:
Standing over six foot, and amazingly sporting just size five boots, Jackie Vernon was regarded as one of the best defenders in the world during the imediate post-war period.

John Joseph Vernon was born in Jocelyn Avenue, Belfast in 1918 and when he left school to learn his trade in the family butchery business, he served his time in football's unofficial apprenticeship scheme with Spearmint FC - a summer League team - and then Dundela.

A rugged centre-half, Vernon rejected an early approach by Liverpool and decided instead to sign for Belfast Celtic where his education continued in the second team. Promotion to the first-team duty came at the outbreak of the war when departing players made a place in defence for the 21-year-old Vernon. He accepted the chance with relish as Celtic collected their fifth successive Irish League Championship.

International honours followed in the 1945/46 with three 'Victory' caps and, as Vernon's reputation continued to spread, he won two caps for the Eire in June 1946 (the only time Northern born players were included in an FAI select) and the first of 17 full (Northern) Ireland international caps against England that September.

Following Celtic's 3-2 defeat by Linfield at Paradise, on Saturday, 8 February 1947, West Bromwich Albion had a £9,500 bid accepted for Vernon. Glasgow Celtic could have paid a lot less; Parkhead manager Jimmy McCrory thought their Belfast counterpart's £8,000 valuation was too high.

Later that year Vernon played for the Great Britain against the Rest of Europe at Hampden Park, and later he captained a Rest of Britain team against Wales as the FAW celebrated their 75th anniversary at Ninian Park in 1951.

In 1949 Vernon captained West Brom to promotion from the Second Division, as runners-up to Fulham, and the same season he scored his only goal for the club, on Christmas Day in a 1-0 win over Sheffield Wednesday. Having helped the club cement their place in the English top-flight Vernon returned to the Irish League in 1952 as player-manager of Crusaders, the club which three years earlier had taken Belfast Celtic's place in the Irish League.

Jackie Vernon returned to the butchery trade, but died suddenly in 1981, aged just 62-years-old.

Ireland Cap Details:
28-09-1946 England. H L 2-7 BC
27-11-1946 Scotland A D 0-0 BC
16-04-1947 Wales... H W 2-1 BC
04-10-1947 Scotland H W 2-0 BC
05-11-1947 England. A D 2-2 BC
10-03-1948 Wales... A L 0-2 BC
09-10-1948 England. H L 2-6 BC
17-11-1948 Scotland A L 2-3 BC
09-03-1949 Wales... H L 0-2 BC
01-10-1949 Scotland H L 2-8 WCQ/BC
06-11-1949 England. A L 2-9 WCQ/BC
07-10-1950 England. H L 1-4 BC
01-11-1950 Scotland A L 1-6 BC
07-03-1951 Wales... H L 1-2 BC
12-05-1951 France.. H D 2-2 FR
06-10-1951 Scotland H L 0-3 BC
20-11-1951 England. A L 0-2 BC

Summary: 17/0. Won 2, Drew 3, Lost 12.

[A Quinn Martin Production]

"Born in Jocelyn Ave"??  That's Castlereagh/Woodstock Rd area??  I thought he was a Westie born and bred.  I know his butcher's shop was on the Springfield Rd.

[magickingdom]

mon carries himself like a man comfortable in his skin with nothing to prove to anyone. i like his point that he can play for ni and it doesnt make him any less irish (obviously true but i like that he makes it). if he becomes man u manager i will have to ditch my long held hatred/bigotry towards them and start supporting them. that will be tough but it will be done

f**k as much as I respect the man,I could never find a soft spot for Manchester United- well maybe the Bog of Allen.

yeah! forgive me it was a weak moment