As happy to be with the locals in Loughran's as he was in the working men's clubs of his beloved Newcastle
CATHAL DERVAN
For a man perceived as a grump in some quarters, he sure gave us all a good laugh along the way and injected all our lives with joy – that is the greatest thing to say about Jack Charlton as the infamous football family comes to terms with the death of the Geordie giant.
The tears have flowed since Saturday morning when the news broke of Big Jack’s demise, at 85 years of age and after a battle with illness and dementia that he was never going to win. But now the tears must stop and we must remember the good times he brought not just to Irish football but to Ireland and the Irish people. He wouldn’t want it any other way.
Of course, we will miss him. And we will celebrate him. In my new life with the FAI, I am privy to the fact that 4.4million ‘clicks’ engaged with our social media channels on Saturday as the sad news broke. By Monday evening, over a million people had watched our online video tribute to Jack. Over 13,000 people had signed the online Book of Condolences at www.FAI.ie with messages coming in from fans all over the world.
The Englishman loved by Ireland had that sort of impact on all of us. He loved us and most of us loved him. Why? Well, he may have sent Joxer to Stuttgart but Big Jack was also an Ordinary Man to quote the Christy Moore songbook.
He was just as much at home with the locals in Henry Loughran’s pub on Trimgate Street in Navan as he was in the working men’s clubs in his beloved Newcastle. He was as happy in his waders in the River Boyne as he was in the dug-out at Wembley. He was a man’s man who got the very best out of those he felt were worth his time and attention.
Look at what Jack did for Paul McGrath. More than once, Big Paul was his own worst enemy as he will admit himself. More than once, Jack was his best friend in the world. And look what Paul did for him in return, in New Jersey and Stuttgart to name just two of Ooh Aah’s finest hours.
Jack did that with people. And he did it for Ireland on the football field as he succeeded where others had failed. He managed to harvest the luck of the Irish and add an unfashionable doggedness that made his team hard to beat after years when they found it hard to win.
That’s why those of us who lived through the transition from nearly men to national heroes will never forget what Jack did for Irish football. Yes, there were times when it wasn’t pretty. Yes, some felt like throwing pens across television studios when beauty lost out to the beast. But I wouldn’t swap it for the world we traversed with Jack’s Army.
Without Jack Charlton as the leader of the band, we’d never have drunk the town dry in Stuttgart, Hanover, Valletta, Genoa or New York. Dublin might never have known the rare auld times of a packed Lansdowne Road, terraces heaving and the old East Stand swaying in anticipation. We’d never have bought a plastic hammer or a blow-up shamrock.
He's gone now but he will never be forgotten. As the tears dry, we should get a smile on all our faces and remember Big Jack for what he was – the Pied Piper who dared us all to dream.
- Cathal Dervan is Director of Communications for the FAI and former sports reporter of the Meath Chronicle
Above: Jack Charlton in Henry Loughran’s Bar, Navan, with Arthur Rennicks, who used to bring Jack fishing, Dermot Gibney, Frank Loughran, and Christy Coldrick.