From ‘Wimbledon in green’ to adding a bit of Dundalk to the DNA

Even, and especially, at the height of Ireland’s success under Jack Charlton, there were always dissenting voices in football — not only Eamon Dunphy and not always quite so public.

In All Played Out, Pete Davies’ controversial and compelling access-all-areas book on Italia ‘90, the author described the England team watching the Ireland-Romania game on television, with Gary Lineker idly wondering if the Irish were on a fiver for every time they hit the roof of the stand. (Of course, his disgruntlement can obviously be attributed to sour grapes after we’d only gone and hammered them 1-1 earlier in the tournament).