JACK CHARLTON

“Jack was a leader of men. He wouldn’t have been in my book, a coach as such, although he coached a bit. He was more a manager. He was able to get a group of guys together, good players at good teams, and blend them all into a club team with a very simple way of playing.

“His big statement always was: ‘If I tell you all a few things there’s a good chance you’ll be listening to me. If I tell you all one or two things each you won’t be thinking the same thing’. It was a very simple philosophy.

“I also thought he was very clever. Before we went to the European Championships in 1988 he looked at the European teams and looked at how they were playing. He said: ‘This is how they play. Everyone drops off, leaves the sweeper with the ball, and play through him without any pressure. What we are going to do is upset them, go in among them, pressurise them’.

“He probably did what Spain and a lot of other countries are doing just now; playing a high-pressure game from the front. We had the players who could do that, it suited the Irish culture and the way we played and the way we played other sports.

“But, in among that, we had good players who could play when we had the time. But we didn’t allow them to be easy on the ball. Ray Houghton was an important player for us. He was high-energy. But we also had forwards like John Aldridge and Frank Stapleton who chased people down.

“The front players were probably the key to it, those guys up front having the willingness to go and press the ball at the right times. Ray loved all that. It suited our style. The rest of us were defenders and we defended well.

“If one of our centre backs was dragged out of position, Paul McGrath, who played midfield, just stepped in there and he was the guy who became centre half. It worked an absolute treat. We went into the European Championships without losing a goal in eight games, all because of that strategy.

“Jack was a very clever man. What he also had was brilliant communication skills and a nice way about him. He wouldn’t rear up, but he would make his point very clear. He was also able to build a relationship with players away from the game, talk to them, make them feel important. He treated everyone exactly the same which I loved. He blended a great environment. I thought very highly of him and I still do.

“We don’t have the same players, but the philosophy remains similar to a point, especially under Martin O’Neill. They are high energy and have people like Shane Long and Jon Walters pressing. In the main, that’s the way the Irish have to play. I don’t think we could play any other way.”

BILLY MCNEILL

“Billy was an important part of those big, big periods I was involved in at Celtic.

"He was a hard taskmaster when we were young. But when I got older I appreciated. At the time I probably didn’t.

“Being a professional footballer was a tough school coming from where I came from in County Donegal and being an introvert on top of that.

"But when Billy came back for a second spell as manager I was a more experienced player and at that point in time I could handle everything that was thrown at me. We probably had a better relationship as I got older.

“He was a big winner. There is no question we wouldn’t have achieved what we achieved if he hadn’t been. Both Jack Charlton and Billy McNeill were big personalities.

"But Billy was more abrasive. At club level you can be more like that because the club owns the players. At international level you are borrowing the players. Also, they are more experienced.

“But it didn’t do us any harm. We just had to get through it. We built up a great respect for him.”

THE OLD FIRM

“I can remember my first Old Firm game at Parkhead. We got beat. Alex Miller scored from about 30 yards with the last kick of the game after a throw-in by Willie Johnston. Alex didn’t score many goals, but that was one. That was pretty devastating.

“During the Eighties we had a good record in them and a good time. I loved going to Ibrox. You were going into the Lion’s Den. You weren’t expected to win. If you did get a result there, then, wow, fantastic. The Nineties was different.

“Do you really enjoy them? When you are in goal and you are playing in an Old Firm game the most enjoyable moment was when the full-time whistle went and you had won. Then you can go into the bath and enjoy the victory. That is when you enjoy it.

“It is very hard to enjoy as a goalkeeper on the pitch. You are waiting for the moment you are called into action. It is not like when you are outfield where the whole thing is flowing and you are always involved. It is enjoyable when the goals go in at the other end.

“But it isn’t easy for a goalkeeper or a defender to enjoy. I blocked everything out. I had to. I couldn’t let people shouting things get to me. What is sometimes worse is when you make a mistake and your own crowd are shouting at you.”

TOUGHEST OPPONENT

“Marco van Basten was probably the best striker I came up against.

"I played against him with the Republic when he was a member of a brilliant Dutch team at Euro ’88 and then again at Italia ’90. I also played against him at club level with Celtic. He played for Ajax as a young boy.

“That Netherlands team was fantastic. They had Gullit, Van Basten, Rijkaard, Koeman, Wouters, Muhren. They were all world-class players. Internationally you tended to come up against the top guys.

"Van Basten was very much like Robert Lewandowski. He wasn’t a particularly physical guy, but he was tall and had good movement and he was quick.

“Of course, he also got good deliveries from his team mates around about him. You always had to keep an eye on him.

“There is a debate that there aren’t enough No.9s at the moment, enough out and out strikers. They are mostly from South America. Europe is finding it tough to produce them.

“In our day you had Kenny Dalglish, Ian Rush, Ally McCoist, Frank McDougall, Steve Archibald. You played against these guys all the time. Our own guys were up there with them. Frank McAvennie and Mark McGhee were a handful.

“Gary Lineker was an out-and-out No.9. His game was all about scoring goals. I had some big games against him.

"In Euro ’88 I defied him as the Republic beat England 1-1. But he scored against me at Italia ’90 when we drew 1-1. But he was always trying to peel off the centre half’s shoulder and get in where it hurt. He was phenomenal.”

GOALKEEPERS

“When I started off as a young boy Ray Clemence, Peter Shilton and Pat Jennings were my heroes.

“Later on, I thought Peter Schmeichel was extraordinary. He was strong, he was physical, he was angry, he dominated people.

"Then Edwin van der Saar came on the scene. He was like a coach on the pitch.

“Goalkeeping has moved on from then. Manuel Neuer has taken it to a completely different level. He plays not just inside the box but outside it as well.

“Earlier this season when Germany played Ireland in Dublin there was a cross into the box. Neuer caught it and immediately hit a fantastic volley up to Marco Reus who controlled it and Andre Schurrle should have scored. It would have been goal of the year if they had netted.

“That showed that Neuer is so aware of what is happening around the pitch. There is a lot going on in goalkeeping, there is a lot of development.

"Now you have guys like Thibaut Courtois and Fraser Forster who are big lads but are also quick around the box.”

CELTIC TODAY

“The club has moved on since my time. There is a magnificent new stadium. I wish it had been around to enjoy in my day. The outside of the ground looks fantastic. They have super training facilities up at Lennnoxtown. They pay decent wages to the players.

“Are they better off? Perception wise they are. But everything is relative. They are having to produce big revenues to pay everybody who works there. In our day there were two or three office staff.

“Now they have got, I don’t know, 100 staff doing all sorts of different things. The commercial side of the club is bigger. Everything is bigger. They have to do that otherwise they will be left behind the way the football world is now. There is a lot of pressure on the likes of the chief executive Peter Lawwell and the board to keep everything ticking over.

“It is probably not as competitive a domestic league. Now they are judged on getting to the Champions League. We were never judged on that even though the team had won the European Cup. We were judged on winning the league. But the team now is judged on getting to a Champions League which is never easy. Everybody else is trying to get to the Champions League.”

HIS AUTOBIOGRAPHY

“The Last Line is a story of an Irishman leaving home to follow his dream. It tells what happened along the way. I would like to think the Irish community will reflect back on their own journey or that of their grandparents, those who came away from home not to play football but to work, as they are reading.

“I enjoyed a lovely day in Waterstone’s in Glasgow recently. There was a gathering of about 100 people. I read a bit and answered questions.

“It was quite amazing. There was a nice mix of people. We read the first passage about me coming home for my first Christmas and there was a lady in the front row with a few tears coming out of her eyes. I am sure she was thinking about her own mum and dad.”