Northern Ireland yesterday turned to Lawrie McMenemy, one of the most distinguished personalities in British management, to give them back their self-respect in international football.
In a surprising development, inspired almost certainly by the significant success which Jack Charlton achieved with the Republic of Ireland, IFA officials in Belfast confirmed McMenemy's appointment as national team manager.
His first official duty will be to accompany Northern Ireland's `B' squad to Dublin for tomorrow evening's assignment against the Republic at Tolka Park where Roy Millar, an IFA coach, will be in charge of the on-pitch operation for the north.
McMenemy will be assisted by Pat Jennings, Northern Ireland's mostcapped player, and Joe Jordan, the former Manchester United, Leeds and AC Milan striker, who formally managed Hearts. IFA officials are confident that this somewhat bizarre combination of an Englishman, a Scot and an Irishman can lead the team to more fertile pastures.
Like Jack Charlton, McMenemy is a Geordie and yesterday he spoke of the example which Charlton had set in the south. "He did marvellous things for the Republic and I, in turn, hope to leave my imprint on the Northern Ireland team.
"We come from a part of England where pride and passion are two great characteristics of the people and these are qualities which I hope to bring in even greater measure to the Northern Ireland team. "I believe that Bryan Hamilton has put down a good foundation for success. We don't have the greatest resources in the world, but at the end of the day, it's quality rather than quantity which counts. I was never burdened with too many players in my time at Southampton, but the ones I had were good. Hopefully, we can work on the same principle with Northern Ireland."
Meanwhile, in Dublin, Mick McCarthy has turned to Gareth Farrelly, the Everton midfielder, to captain his `B' team tomorrow in the absence of Coventry City's Gary Breen, the man originally designated for the job. Breen is one of six withdrawals from the original squad, a lengthy list which includes the names of Keith O'Neill, Michael Evans, Steve Carr, Jim Crawford and Stephen Baker, the man chosen to replace O'Neill.
Into the squad come Alan Maybury, the highly-rated Leeds United defender and two local players, Colin Hawkins of St Patrick's Athletic and Cork City's Gareth Cronin. Cronin will be involved with his club in this evening's FAI Cup second-round replay against Derry City at the Brandywell, but providing he comes through that game unscathed, he will join the Ireland party tomorrow morning.
No less than Stephen McPhail, another of Leeds United's talented young Irish importations, Maybury is seen as a player who can have a profound influence on Ireland teams for years to come and to that extent, his promotion is significant.
So, too, is the choice of Farrelly as team captain. Although he won three senior caps in the early months of McCarthy's term of office, he dropped out of contention last season, a development which the manager attributed to a shortage of firstteam football with Aston Villa.
Conscious of that shortcoming, he rejected the chance of a new contract at Villa Park to restart his career at Everton. It was Andy Townsend who was largely responsible for keeping him out of the Aston Villa team and now, ironically, it is the prospect of replacing Townsend in the national team, which motivates him.
McCarthy admits that the job of replacing Townsend if, as expected, he bows out of international football this season, threatens to be uncommonly difficult. "Andy's been a great player for Ireland and the reality is that we don't have too many naturally left-footed players for his position in midfield," he said.
McCarthy is not exactly coming down with front-line options and the only two specialist central players left in the squad are Neale Fenn of Tottenham and Barnet's Sean Devine. In that situation, it seems ever more likely that players like Damien Duff and Robbie Keane will be deployed in advanced roles in midfield when he announces his team today.
