Ronnie Whelan, one of the most naturally talented footballers to come out of Ireland, will forever be linked to his club side Liverpool rather than his country.
Richie McCormack was joined by Philip Quinn and Kieran Cunningham on the Sunday Paper Review to discuss a number of pressing issues that are taking up the papers, including a feature interview with Whelan in the Irish Daily Mail.
Quinn, who sat down with Whelan for the piece, described Whelan’s frustrations as to how his international career turned out.
“He just said that Jack [Charlton] didn’t trust him and he didn’t trust Kevin Sheedy either,” Quinn told Off The Ball.
“Jack wanted his midfielders to run – he didn’t want them on the ball. He wanted his fullbacks to knock it long and for his midfielders to go up and support.
“But I do think the Irish thing ended very sourly. Then he came back towards the end of his career – when Jack had lost his grip at the end of the Euro 96 campaign.
“And Ronnie was screaming on the pitch: ‘give the ball to me and I’ll get it out wide. And Jack was saying: ‘knock it long’.
“For me, Ronnie was one of the great footballers and maybe was a different type of player to your archetypal midfielder today or what Jack Charlton wanted.”
Quinn also touched on Whelan’s evolution after changing his position due to an influx of new arrivals at Anfield.
“I think Ronnie’s career probably compares to Roy Keane’s at Manchester United,” Quinn added.
“In terms of his influence and in term of how his game was moulded. Keane was signed as a midfielder who broke forward and scored lots of goals, and then he morphed into the shielding role.
“And Ronnie, he was an outside left when he left Home Farm for Liverpool. And when [Joe] Fagan left and [Kenny] Dalglish took over people thought Ronnie could be gone here because they signed [John] Barnes, [Peter] Beardsley and [Ray] Houghton.
“And he slotted him into the holding midfielder and Ronnie said it was the making of him in many ways. Injuries did cost a couple of big matches and a couple of cup finals as well – one of which he was most annoyed about in 1988 against Wimbledon.
“He reckoned the Liverpool team of 1987/88 was the best Liverpool team he ever played in and they were denied [the chance] of playing in Europe because of Heysel, where Ronnie was captain, and he was also captain at Hillsborough – two hugely emotional moments there.”
Listen to the full Sunday Paper Review panel podcast below:
Written by James Hopper
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