Legendary Irish League boss invited to Inver Park to watch familiar foes in Champions League qualifier
A former Irish League manager has been invited as guest of Larne as the Inver Reds prepare for tomorrow night’s Champions League showdown against Crvena zvezda.
Ronnie McFall will take in proceedings at Inver Park – 35 years on from when he managed against the Serbian-based outfit in the same competition, commonly known as Red Star Belgrade, when in charge at Portadown.
The Ports lost both legs 4-0 in 1991, just a year after Red Star were crowned European champions when they beat Marseille on penalties.
Red Star had several star-studded names back then such as Darko Pančev and Siniša Mihajlović, with Robert Prosinečki having just joined Real Madrid a few months prior to the showdown against the Ports.
Now McFall is set to cast his eye on the latest talent at Red Star’s disposal as they travel to Northern Ireland on the back of winning nine domestic league titles in a row.
"The club has invited Ronnie McFall to the game as a mark of respect and for what he’s achieved personally in the game,” Larne boss Gary Haveron explained.
"He was in charge at Portadown when they played Red Star in the early 90s and we are delighted that he will be joining us for the game.
"It all happened through Keith O’Hara (former Portadown player and current Larne technical director) and it will be great to see him there.”
Whilst Larne will ultimately be massive underdogs heading into the two-legged affair, the winners know they will face either Vikingur Reykjavik (Iceland) or Hapoel Beer-Shava (Israel) in the third qualifying round of the Champions League.
If Larne are eliminated then they will take on losers of FC Iberia 1999 Tbilisi (Georgia) and Slovan Bratislava (Slovakia) in the third qualifying round of the Europa League.