Packie Bonner on the Jack Charlton era: ‘We didn’t realise how good we were’

Goalkeeping legend Packie Bonner recalls Ireland’s victory over Scotland in Glasgow in 1987, with soccer writer, Liam Mackey, and reveals that although Jack Charlton’s team would kick on to a first ever Euros qualification, the road was by no means smooth on the way to the promised land.

Liam Brady. Alan Hansen. Paul McGrath. Gordon Strachan. Ronnie Whelan. Pat Nevin. Ray Houghton. Davie Cooper. Mark Lawrenson. Roy Aitken. Frank Stapleton. Mo Johnston.

It reads a bit like an Irish and Scottish Hall of Fame but these were just some of the stellar cast who shared the same pitch at Hampden Park on February 18, 1987 for a European Championship qualifier which, with the visitors winning 1-0, many have since come to regard as the catalyst for all the unprecedented successes of Jack Charlton’s reign as manager — the golden era of Euro 88, Italia 90 and USA 94.