The feelgood factor seems to be back after Ireland’s performance in Italy, which answered all the questions people had been asking in the run-up to the game. That was the best display I’ve seen from an Ireland side in a good few years. We basically ran rings around the world champions on their own patch, should have had a penalty and should have won. You could see how relieved the Italians were at the final whistle.

Everyone was a bit downhearted after the Bulgaria game, which is fair enough. It’s always disappointing when you throw away a lead at home, but they’re a decent side, and there was far too much negativity in the media after the game, especially from you-know-who. Even after the Italy game, Dunphy kept on going on about Andy Reid. He’s clearly in love with him, and he seems to have forgotten that Reid played home and away against Cyprus, when our midfield was like Swiss cheese and they scored a zillion goals against us. I can’t take him seriously, but he’s welcome to his opinion. Whoever’s in charge, he’s automatically against it. Every team is crap, every manager is crap. It gets very boring, to be honest.
To an extent, Italy played into our hands. Obviously, going down to 10 men is a handicap, but they also seemed to stop playing after they got their 1-0 lead. Italy teams down the years have done that, and it’s often blown up in their faces. Instead of closing the game out, it invites the opposition back into it. And we caught them. It’s a great point, and Trapattoni demolished all that bollocks about him being too predictable and not adventurous enough. On the night, he was anything but cautious – he stuck on Folan after twenty-odd minutes and went three up front and really had a go. The only thing that would worry me is that we shouldn’t have to wait till we’re 1-0 down before we show that sort of adventure and ambition. It must be said, a lot of Ireland’s best performances down the years have been when we’re 1-0 down and have had to chase the game: it has a way of concentrating the mind, it forces you to go for it.
Bottom line is, if we continue to play that way, I’m sure we’ll get second place at worst. In fact, Italy won’t be looking forward to coming to Dublin – we had them on the run over there, so there’s no reason why we can’t do it here. Before that, we’ve to go to Bulgaria, and hopefully we’ll keep it tight. As the clock ticks on, the onus will be on them to win the game so they’ll have to go for it, and that could play into our hands.
As for the two Scotland lads – Barry Ferguson and Allan McGregor, who both play for Rangers – I couldn’t believe how pathetic they were with those hand gestures. They were like a pair of 13-year-olds. It’s pretty hard to have any sympathy for them in the circumstances. They would have got away with the drinking, but that sort of behaviour was just taking the piss out of the fans, and you can’t have that. The two lads aren’t exactly kids, either – they’ve been around a long time. I just thought ‘good riddance’. But it hasn’t made Scotland’s task any easier. They don’t exactly have a squad strong enough to be able to do without the likes of Ferguson. But you have to move on: you can’t have players with that sort of attitude around the camp.
With the Irish team back in the day, it’s fair to say we had a few drinks now and then, but it never stopped us performing. Paul McGrath was given a bit of leeway, and he’d go on some mad benders, but you never saw him sticking two fingers up to the fans, and no-one ever questioned his heart and commitment when he pulled on the green shirt. We had a drinking culture, no question about that, but we were also one of the hardest-working teams in international football. Our entire game-plan was based on out-fighting and out-battling the opposition, and you had to be fit to do that. I still don’t see any problem with teams having a drink, it can build team spirit and bond the lads together. Obviously it’s a bad idea to do it to extremes, but it’s OK in moderation.
Alan Shearer has just had his first game in charge of Newcastle, and Chelsea completely outclassed them, to nobody’s surprise. They’re staring relegation in the face. It’s a massive gamble from Newcastle’s point of view, appointing a manager with no experience, and it’s completely typical of the way the club has been run for the last few years. I wouldn’t wish relegation on anyone, but you’d have to say Newcastle deserve to go down because of how badly they’ve been run. They keep making short-term appointments.
It’s brave of Shearer to take it, because make no mistake, his halo with the Newcastle fans will disappear if he doesn’t get results. And tactically, the signs from his first game in charge weren’t good. He’s gone in there against Chelsea with Martins and Owen up front, two garden gnomes against two giants in Alex and Terry. That was questionable, to say the least. If they go down, I can’t see him staying. But Newcastle being Newcastle, there’s no way of knowing what’s going to happen.