Charlton received a call came from the FAI to take on the job of managing the Republic of Ireland in 1986. Ireland had some great individual players at the time - Liam Brady, Ronnie Whelan, David O'Leary among them - but had no history of qualifying for major tournaments, although they had come extremely close in the qualification for the 1982 World Cup. Charlton, with a little luck, some industrial tactics and a crafty stretching of the recruitment rules, managed to go that extra bit. He approached players with even tentative Irish links to hook up with the Republic after uncovering Irish ancestry - the Oxford United pairing of John Aldridge and Ray Houghton, both of whom would later become great players for Liverpool, were among them with their great-grandmother and father, respectively being Irish.
Ireland qualified for the 1988 European Championships in West Germany and were then drawn against England in their group. Suddenly the World Cup winner with England found himself plotting their downfall as a manager, and he duly did. England were poor, but Ireland still deserved their 1-0 win, given to them by an early Houghton goal. They subsequently drew 1-1 with the USSR but went out when, just needing to avoid defeat, they lost to eventual champions Holland and left the tournament in a blaze of glory. Charlton was awarded the runner-up prize in the World Soccer Manager of the Year contest at the end of 1988.
He is well known for using the term "Put 'em under pressure". Charlton developed a taste for his job and the Irish life, and the people of Ireland replicated this. His team qualified for the 1990 World Cup, the country's first ever, and again they played England in the group phase (this time it ended 1-1). In an eventful competition for them, they qualified from the group, defeated Romania in a famous second round match which went to penalties, met Pope John Paul II at the Vatican and went out (in glory again) to the hosts Italy in the last eight. Several Irish songwriters waxed lyrical about Big Jack. Songs like "Give It A Lash Jack" (Liam Harrison) and "Put 'em Under Pressure" (Republic of Ireland Football Squad) actually topped the Irish charts during 1990.
Ireland missed out on qualifying for the Euro 92 but got to the 1994 World Cup in the USA, where Charlton infamously had a pitchside argument with a linesman who was delaying a substitution. Aldridge, the sub, also delivered a volley of abuse and both were later fined. Ireland, who famously defeated Italy during the group phase, went out to the Dutch in the second round. After failing to qualify for Euro 96 thanks to a play-off defeat at Anfield against the Dutch, Charlton quit and Mick McCarthy took charge.
Jack Charlton's achievements cannot be overstated: he took the Irish team to three major Championship Finals and the team gained huge respect internationally because of this. When he took over as manager in 1986 people in Ireland hoped that the team would win and be successful. By the time he left ten years later, success was expected. His involvement in the game since has been restricted - by his own choice - to punditry and after-dinner speaking.
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