4:20pm Tuesday 13th December 2005
by KAY MURRAY
Goalkeeping legend Pat Jennings was among the celebrity guests at the reopening of a Hendon pub last week.
The 60-year-old former Tottenham and Arsenal star joined former team-mate Frank McClintock and Grand National-winning jockey Mick Fitzgerald at The Claddagh Ring in Church Road on Friday night as part of the pub's relaunch.
Standing at 6ft 2ins tall, with a warm smile and polite manner, it is easy to see how Jennings earned a reputation as a gentle giant'.
After 757 league games and 119 internationals for Northern Ireland, Jennings still works for Tottenham as a goalkeeping coach, and helps to train England's number one, Paul Robinson.
He says he became a goalkeeper because he enjoyed throwing himself around.
During his career, he committed what some north London football fans would view as a sin he moved from Spurs to rivals Arsenal.
"I'm lucky to have played with two of the top Premiership clubs in Arsenal and Tottenham and been accepted by both groups of supporters."
After a trophy-laden league career, he retired in 1985, but continued to play for his country playing his last game against Brazil in the 1986 World Cup on his 41st birthday.
A year earlier, Jennings helped his country qualify for the World Cup Finals with an astonishing reflex save at Wembley against England, which earned them the vital point needed for qualification.
And Jennings was in Northern Ireland in September this year when his country beat England 1-0 at home.
"It was an unexpected win and was brilliant but it didn't do us any good because we didn't qualify," he said. "It was nice to beat England but I am pleased that England qualified as it gives us all something to look forward to in the World Cup."
He started his international career at the age of 18 on a wet night in Wales in 1964, alongside a 17-year-old called George Best. The pair roomed together all 37 times that Best played for Northern Ireland.
"There weren't really any practical jokes but he was just a fine bloke to be with," he said. "He'll be sadly missed in the football world. He was unbelievable, the best."
Aside from lifting the Uefa Cup, FA Cup and the League Cup in his career, Jennings has also received recognition from the Queen, in the shape of an MBE and an OBE, an honorary doctorate from Ulster University and a Knighthood of St Gregory from the Pope in 1999 for his charity work, including promoting peace between communities in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
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