Memories/stories of Jack Charlton and of his time as Ireland manager

[sid waddell]

When I think of Italia '90 I think of the music, not just Put 'Em Under Pressure and World In Motion and Nessun Dorma and that criminally under rated ITV theme tune and the RTE theme tune which was shit but which I loved, but the general music scene of the time and the songs that were doing the rounds, Killer by Adamski and Step On by the Happy Mondays and Vogue by Madonna.

And the sticker albums, especially World Cup '90 (I'd look out for it if I was you), and Match and Shoot, and the stylish kits on display (the 1990 World Cup is the high point for stylish football kits), and the Esso coins, and Roddy Doyle's piece in the Observer about 1990 beginning on June 4th, 1989 that was published a few years later - even though I wasn't in the Bayside Inn for those matches, I imagine that I was.

I think less about the actual football, especially the actual football matches we were involved in at that tournament.

Italia '90 seemed to be about everything but the football. It was about youth and being young, even if you were old, and popular culture and the hazy mid-summer evening air and a feeling of being there then, and by there, I mean Ireland - as Con Houlihan said "I missed the World Cup in 1990 - I was in Italy."

[Taylor]

Was it a particularly hot Summer that year?

Reading Sid's post I have similar memories but also seem to remember great weather.......maybe its the old mind playing games or my memory tainting reality

[trailer]

When I think of Italia '90 I think of the music, not just Put 'Em Under Pressure and World In Motion and Nessun Dorma and that criminally under rated ITV theme tune and the RTE theme tune which was shit but which I loved, but the general music scene of the time and the songs that were doing the rounds, Killer by Adamski and Step On by the Happy Mondays and Vogue by Madonna.

And the sticker albums, especially World Cup '90 (I'd look out for it if I was you), and Match and Shoot, and the stylish kits on display (the 1990 World Cup is the high point for stylish football kits), and the Esso coins, and Roddy Doyle's piece in the Observer about 1990 beginning on June 4th, 1989 that was published a few years later - even though I wasn't in the Bayside Inn for those matches, I imagine that I was.

I think less about the actual football, especially the actual football matches we were involved in at that tournament.

Italia '90 seemed to be about everything but the football. It was about youth and being young, even if you were old, and popular culture and the hazy mid-summer evening air and a feeling of being there then, and by there, I mean Ireland - as Con Houlihan said "I missed the World Cup in 1990 - I was in Italy."

Deadly post. Remember falling in love with Italian Soccer. The Stadia, the players, the teams. Was from a different time. RTE used to show league highlights on Monday night and I never missed them, sitting in my jammies in the front room. Then we had James Richardson and Gazzetta Football Italia. Him sitting in some beautiful piazza sipping a coffee in the morning sun. Take me back.

[shark]

When I think of Italia '90 I think of the music, not just Put 'Em Under Pressure and World In Motion and Nessun Dorma and that criminally under rated ITV theme tune and the RTE theme tune which was shit but which I loved, but the general music scene of the time and the songs that were doing the rounds, Killer by Adamski and Step On by the Happy Mondays and Vogue by Madonna.

And the sticker albums, especially World Cup '90 (I'd look out for it if I was you), and Match and Shoot, and the stylish kits on display (the 1990 World Cup is the high point for stylish football kits), and the Esso coins, and Roddy Doyle's piece in the Observer about 1990 beginning on June 4th, 1989 that was published a few years later - even though I wasn't in the Bayside Inn for those matches, I imagine that I was.

I think less about the actual football, especially the actual football matches we were involved in at that tournament.

Italia '90 seemed to be about everything but the football. It was about youth and being young, even if you were old, and popular culture and the hazy mid-summer evening air and a feeling of being there then, and by there, I mean Ireland - as Con Houlihan said "I missed the World Cup in 1990 - I was in Italy."

Deadly post. Remember falling in love with Italian Soccer. The Stadia, the players, the teams. Was from a different time. RTE used to show league highlights on Monday night and I never missed them, sitting in my jammies in the front room. Then we had James Richardson and Gazzetta Football Italia. Him sitting in some beautiful piazza sipping a coffee in the morning sun. Take me back.

Gazzetta Football Italia is the greatest football show of all time.

[Jeepers Creepers]

The weather must have been good (Dry in Belfast anyway) as My Da used to bring the TV out into the back garden so me and my mates could all sit and watch the Ireland games.

[ONeill]

When I think of Italia '90 I think of the music, not just Put 'Em Under Pressure and World In Motion and Nessun Dorma and that criminally under rated ITV theme tune and the RTE theme tune which was shit but which I loved, but the general music scene of the time and the songs that were doing the rounds, Killer by Adamski and Step On by the Happy Mondays and Vogue by Madonna.

Like fcuk. Better The Devil You Know by Minogue towered over those tunes at the time.

[magpie seanie]

As well as having a definite plan. Being was his own man and not doing what the (real) Irish Soccer public wanted. Using David O'Leary as an example of anyone who did not sing from his hymn sheet.

Jack got a lorry load of luck along the way. Qualifying for Euro '88 with the help of Gary McKay.  But I suppose like all good Managers - You have to be in the position to take advantage of good luck to get it!

In some ways it was luck balancing itself out. Did not deserve to lose 2-1 in Sofia after a fine second half performance. Was also very unlucky in 1992 Euro qualifying, played both England and Poland off the park in the away games, but 4pts lost.

Not qualifying for 1992 was down to bad goalkeeping as well as Wise's obvious handball if I remember correctly....a few howlers in Poland from Bonner. We definitely would have had a shout in that tournament if we'd got there.

[BennyCake]

When I think of Italia '90 I think of the music, not just Put 'Em Under Pressure and World In Motion and Nessun Dorma and that criminally under rated ITV theme tune and the RTE theme tune which was shit but which I loved, but the general music scene of the time and the songs that were doing the rounds, Killer by Adamski and Step On by the Happy Mondays and Vogue by Madonna.

And the sticker albums, especially World Cup '90 (I'd look out for it if I was you), and Match and Shoot, and the stylish kits on display (the 1990 World Cup is the high point for stylish football kits), and the Esso coins, and Roddy Doyle's piece in the Observer about 1990 beginning on June 4th, 1989 that was published a few years later - even though I wasn't in the Bayside Inn for those matches, I imagine that I was.

I think less about the actual football, especially the actual football matches we were involved in at that tournament.

Italia '90 seemed to be about everything but the football. It was about youth and being young, even if you were old, and popular culture and the hazy mid-summer evening air and a feeling of being there then, and by there, I mean Ireland - as Con Houlihan said "I missed the World Cup in 1990 - I was in Italy."

Deadly post. Remember falling in love with Italian Soccer. The Stadia, the players, the teams. Was from a different time. RTE used to show league highlights on Monday night and I never missed them, sitting in my jammies in the front room. Then we had James Richardson and Gazzetta Football Italia. Him sitting in some beautiful piazza sipping a coffee in the morning sun. Take me back.

Yes, that's right. I used to watch that. So many big players in Italy at that time.

I liked the onscreen graphics from 1990 World Cup, the dots and scores sliding up, and scorers/time above. Nearly sure the Italians used the same for Serie A.

[Taylor]

When I think of Italia '90 I think of the music, not just Put 'Em Under Pressure and World In Motion and Nessun Dorma and that criminally under rated ITV theme tune and the RTE theme tune which was shit but which I loved, but the general music scene of the time and the songs that were doing the rounds, Killer by Adamski and Step On by the Happy Mondays and Vogue by Madonna.

And the sticker albums, especially World Cup '90 (I'd look out for it if I was you), and Match and Shoot, and the stylish kits on display (the 1990 World Cup is the high point for stylish football kits), and the Esso coins, and Roddy Doyle's piece in the Observer about 1990 beginning on June 4th, 1989 that was published a few years later - even though I wasn't in the Bayside Inn for those matches, I imagine that I was.

I think less about the actual football, especially the actual football matches we were involved in at that tournament.

Italia '90 seemed to be about everything but the football. It was about youth and being young, even if you were old, and popular culture and the hazy mid-summer evening air and a feeling of being there then, and by there, I mean Ireland - as Con Houlihan said "I missed the World Cup in 1990 - I was in Italy."

Deadly post. Remember falling in love with Italian Soccer. The Stadia, the players, the teams. Was from a different time. RTE used to show league highlights on Monday night and I never missed them, sitting in my jammies in the front room. Then we had James Richardson and Gazzetta Football Italia. Him sitting in some beautiful piazza sipping a coffee in the morning sun. Take me back.

Yes, that's right. I used to watch that. So many big players in Italy at that time.

I liked the onscreen graphics from 1990 World Cup, the dots and scores sliding up, and scorers/time above. Nearly sure the Italians used the same for Serie A.

Channel 4 used to have it on a Saturday morning - super show in the days of limited soccer on TV

[BennyCake]

As well as having a definite plan. Being was his own man and not doing what the (real) Irish Soccer public wanted. Using David O'Leary as an example of anyone who did not sing from his hymn sheet.

Jack got a lorry load of luck along the way. Qualifying for Euro '88 with the help of Gary McKay.  But I suppose like all good Managers - You have to be in the position to take advantage of good luck to get it!

In some ways it was luck balancing itself out. Did not deserve to lose 2-1 in Sofia after a fine second half performance. Was also very unlucky in 1992 Euro qualifying, played both England and Poland off the park in the away games, but 4pts lost.

Denis wise had a HAND in getting full points in Turkey in that campaign.

See 3:04

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=659n6iUuoqE

He always was a hateful wee bastard. He's even more of a hateful bastard after seeing that.

[sid waddell]

Was it a particularly hot Summer that year?

It was definitely one of the better summers weather wise. '89 and '90 both were. Not quite 1995 but not far off either.

[sid waddell]

Deadly post. Remember falling in love with Italian Soccer. The Stadia, the players, the teams. Was from a different time. RTE used to show league highlights on Monday night and I never missed them, sitting in my jammies in the front room. Then we had James Richardson and Gazzetta Football Italia. Him sitting in some beautiful piazza sipping a coffee in the morning sun. Take me back.

The running tracks around the pitches were considered cutting edge stadium design then. That changed within about two years.

C4's coverage of Serie A started in the 1992/93 season but RTE had been showing highlights since the 89/90 season, before the World Cup. The first season of it was Maradona's second title with Napoli.

Not quite sure when it started to go wrong for Serie A. I guess the buzz started to slowly ebb away, year on year, from about '95, which was the end of the great Milan team. It remained strong for at least a decade afterwards but the Premier League started to become a juggernaut around '95 and Spanish football started getting a lot of attention from around '96 or '97 on. In the first half of the 90s Serie A was the unquestioned kingpin but by the second half of the decade the competition was beginning to pass it out.

[trailer]

Deadly post. Remember falling in love with Italian Soccer. The Stadia, the players, the teams. Was from a different time. RTE used to show league highlights on Monday night and I never missed them, sitting in my jammies in the front room. Then we had James Richardson and Gazzetta Football Italia. Him sitting in some beautiful piazza sipping a coffee in the morning sun. Take me back.

The running tracks around the pitches were considered cutting edge stadium design then. That changed within about two years.

C4's coverage of Serie A started in the 1992/93 season but RTE had been showing highlights since the 89/90 season, before the World Cup. The first season of it was Maradona's second title with Napoli.

Not quite sure when it started to go wrong for Serie A. I guess the buzz started to slowly ebb away, year on year, from about '95, which was the end of the great Milan team. It remained strong for at least a decade afterwards but the Premier League started to become a juggernaut around '95 and Spanish football started getting a lot of attention from around '96 or '97 on. In the first half of the 90s Serie A was the unquestioned kingpin but by the second half of the decade the competition was beginning to pass it out.

The Stadia that stick out in my mind is the San Siro, Fiorentina's ground and Sampdoria/ Genoa's ground (I always imagined people lived in the corners). Stadio delle Alpi and Roma/Lazio (Stadio Olympico??) had/have those running tracks and they looked awful soulless places.

[Taylor]

Deadly post. Remember falling in love with Italian Soccer. The Stadia, the players, the teams. Was from a different time. RTE used to show league highlights on Monday night and I never missed them, sitting in my jammies in the front room. Then we had James Richardson and Gazzetta Football Italia. Him sitting in some beautiful piazza sipping a coffee in the morning sun. Take me back.

The running tracks around the pitches were considered cutting edge stadium design then. That changed within about two years.

C4's coverage of Serie A started in the 1992/93 season but RTE had been showing highlights since the 89/90 season, before the World Cup. The first season of it was Maradona's second title with Napoli.

Not quite sure when it started to go wrong for Serie A. I guess the buzz started to slowly ebb away, year on year, from about '95, which was the end of the great Milan team. It remained strong for at least a decade afterwards but the Premier League started to become a juggernaut around '95 and Spanish football started getting a lot of attention from around '96 or '97 on. In the first half of the 90s Serie A was the unquestioned kingpin but by the second half of the decade the competition was beginning to pass it out.

The Stadia that stick out in my mind is the San Siro, Fiorentina's ground and Sampdoria/ Genoa's ground (I always imagined people lived in the corners). Stadio delle Alpi and Roma/Lazio (Stadio Olympico??) had/have those running tracks and they looked awful soulless places.

The red brick in the corners - always wondered how you would get in there to watch games

[BennyCake]

Deadly post. Remember falling in love with Italian Soccer. The Stadia, the players, the teams. Was from a different time. RTE used to show league highlights on Monday night and I never missed them, sitting in my jammies in the front room. Then we had James Richardson and Gazzetta Football Italia. Him sitting in some beautiful piazza sipping a coffee in the morning sun. Take me back.

The running tracks around the pitches were considered cutting edge stadium design then. That changed within about two years.

C4's coverage of Serie A started in the 1992/93 season but RTE had been showing highlights since the 89/90 season, before the World Cup. The first season of it was Maradona's second title with Napoli.

Not quite sure when it started to go wrong for Serie A. I guess the buzz started to slowly ebb away, year on year, from about '95, which was the end of the great Milan team. It remained strong for at least a decade afterwards but the Premier League started to become a juggernaut around '95 and Spanish football started getting a lot of attention from around '96 or '97 on. In the first half of the 90s Serie A was the unquestioned kingpin but by the second half of the decade the competition was beginning to pass it out.

The Stadia that stick out in my mind is the San Siro, Fiorentina's ground and Sampdoria/ Genoa's ground (I always imagined people lived in the corners). Stadio delle Alpi and Roma/Lazio (Stadio Olympico??) had/have those running tracks and they looked awful soulless places.

Yes I always thought they were apartments or something. Someone hanging the washing out on the balcony..."oh there's a match on!"