The people of Northern Ireland might have felt like they were living in a parallel universe recently; with eternal foes sitting down together in Government and the national football team sitting on top of their group of Euro 2008 qualification, things have seemed a little bit too good to be true. However, just as Peter Hain and Tony Blair left Belfast yesterday so too did Lawrie Sanchez, the saviour of Northern Ireland football and architect of famous Windsor Park victories against England, Spain and Sweden.
Sanchez was not a popular choice when he was given the job three years ago. Former players such as Iain Dowie and Jim Magilton had developed into promising young managers and usual suspects like Jimmy Nicholl and Nigel Worthington were mooted as well. Sanchez, who played just three times for Northern Ireland without any great fanfare, had managed just Sligo Rovers and Wycombe Wanderers. Despite considerable pressure not to do so and in a rare example of foresight from the IFA, he was given the job. Sanchez’s mediocre career as a player was at contrast to the one game that he was remembered for: Wimbledon’s 1-0 win over Liverpool in the 1989 FA Cup Final, where Sanchez scored the goal. This giant-killing instinct stuck with him into his managerial career, where he led Second Division into the FA Cup semi-final in 2001 where they modestly lost 2-1 to Liverpool. If anything has come to typify Northern Ireland under Sanchez it is this big-game mentality and under the harsh lights and with the backing of the boisterous supporters of Windsor Park in a midweek qualifier, anything was possible.
The objectives on appointment were twofold: end the 1,298 minute goal drought and restore some pride back into the Northern Ireland football team. Number one was achieved in the opening 4-1 defeat to Norway when David Healy’s goal meant that the four at the other end were ignored, and the second part has been fulfilled over the Sanchez’ three year tenure as boss. As well as the famous scalps mentioned, the team’s position at 33rd in the FIFA World rankings shows the miraculous rise in recent years. Flawed as the system is, it wasn’t that long ago that Northern Ireland was seen to be on a par with tiny African countries and various Caribbean islands.
When it comes to giant-killing, Lawrie’s David has certainly been Healy, who has emerged to become one of the finest marksmen at international level, but there are other players who shone under him. Keith Gillespie, Maik Taylor and Damien Johnson all showed a new lease of life while the exciting prospects of Steve Davis, Jonny Evans and Kyle Lafferty were unearthed by Sanchez. Unlike the celebrated managers of the past such as Peter Doherty or Billy Bingham, Sanchez never had a Blanchflower, Peacock, Whiteside or a McIlroy to call on and instead had to rely on players from the second and third tiers of English football. This has made his term as manager all the more successful.
There’s been much talk of legacy when discussing the other great turnaround in Northern Ireland of recent times, but Sanchez’ legacy is a lot more clear cut than Mr Blair’s. As well as providing a solid base of promising young stars that he has unearthed for the next manager, he has dragged the IFA into a new era of professionalism that seemed beyond them when Sammy McIlroy and Lawrie McMenemy fronted the team. Gone were the journalist junkets with the team, drinking on the town before games and players behaving like they were above the team. Northern Ireland may have an even shorter list of people who can play them as a result of this policy, but there is now a hard-working team that is committed to playing for their country. All of this has contributed into forming a Northern Ireland team that sit on top of Group F with half of the games gone.
To use yet another political comparison, like the Labour Party Northern Ireland will have a tough time replacing their leader who led them from dark days into much more promising times but whoever gets the now vacant Northern Ireland job is much more of an open question. Whatever happens, whoever they pick will have a hard job following the predecessor.
Moyes’ prudent transfer policy has earned him the ‘dithering Dave’ moniker in the past, but his recruitment this season has been exemplary. Andy Johnson provided much needed pace and firepower in front of goal and established himself as a fans favourite for his contribution to the home wins over Liverpool and Arsenal amongst others and Tim Howard was the safe pair of hands in goal that the Toffees just weren’t going to get with Richard Wright. But it is the much less heralded signing of Joleon Lescott has proved to be Moyes’ masterstroke, playing anywhere across the defence and looking like he’s been doing it for years rather than spending his entire career in the second tier of English football. Talk of dodgy knees and inexperience meant little and while mention of a transfer window move to Real Madrid may have been premature but the defender would not look out of place in any team in the league.
