Wright a perfect fit for ‘daunting’ role, insists ex-NI defender Griffin
FORMER Northern Ireland international Danny Griffin believes Tommy Wright is a serious contender to become Michael O’Neill’s successor and he has compared the challenge to replacing Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United.
Griffin, who made over 100 appearances for St Johnstone, is full of admiration for the incredible work Wright has done at McDiarmid Park on limited resources.
Wright won 31 caps for his country, two more than Griffin, and was goalkeeping coach for O’Neill at Shamrock Rovers and Northern Ireland.
With O’Neill being appointed Stoke City boss, the Irish FA have the unenviable task of finding a successor who can build on the Ballymena man’s legacy.
Wright would relish a crack at the job, while admitting: “I’m a great believer in whatever’s going to happen is going to happen.”
Griffin feels the Saints boss, the second-longest serving manager in the Scottish Premiership behind Aberdeen chief Derek McInnes after taking charge in 2013, is the perfect man to keep Northern Ireland on the right road.
“He deserves to be recognised for the job given what a terrific job he has done at St Johnstone,” argued Griffin.
“He has built a team to compete every season.
“You could possibly say it is a daunting job given how well Michael O’Neill has done.
“Going back to when Tommy and I were playing together, it wasn’t a nice time — you felt like whipping boys of all the countries but Michael has done a phenomenal job and for someone to fill his job is a bit like the next person having to follow Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United.
“The next manager was going to have a big job to do and it will be a similar challenge.”
Motherwell’s Stephen Robinson is also a leading contender for the role.
PADDY McNair says Northern Ireland have learned the painful lessons from the nightmare in Rotterdam and they hope to have the last laugh against the Netherlands tomorrow night.
Three late goals gave the Dutch a flattering 3-1 win in last month’s qualifier and Netherlands chief Ronald Koeman rubbed salt in the wounds by saying the visitors were “outrageous” and “terrible to watch”.
But Northern Ireland boss Michael O’Neill, who watched his side shut out their dangerous rivals for 80 minutes, insisted it wasn’t their job to entertain the former Everton and Southampton manager.
O’Neill’s men have watched the game again and, although it has the feel of a horror movie at the end, the scoreline doesn’t hide the fact it was confidence boosting performance from the underdogs.
Tomorrow’s reunion is a different ball game and, after Koeman receives a cold Belfast welcome, Northern Ireland will look to strike back in style.
A play-off game in March may be the most realistic route to the Euro 2020 finals now for the men in green, but the players would like to land two memorable blows on heavyweights the Netherlands and Germany before Group C concludes.
Northern Ireland shook off the despair of the Rotterdam episode by winning a friendly in the Czech Republic 3-2 and Ballyclare man McNair was a two-goal hero in Prague.
It was a first away friendly victory in 23 games and a welcome lifting of spirits, but the big prize on offer this week is a successful revenge mission on the Dutch.
Middlesbrough man McNair accepts the late collapse in the Netherlands after Josh Magennis’ opener was a harsh lesson.
“When we went ahead I thought we dropped off,” he ref lected.
“It’s a natural thing to do when you go one up, you sort of drop, and if we were just maybe 10-15 yards up the pitch, they wouldn’t have come in our half as much as they did in the last 10 to 15 minutes.
“That was evident when we watched it back, and even towards the end we didn’t really keep the ball, just to take the pressure off us a bit because it was so intense the last 15 minutes of the game. If we do go ahead on Saturday, that’s something we should do better.
“The game was okay to watch until the last five minutes, I was happy enough. Someone said it was like watching a horror movie because you knew what was coming. It was painful, the last 10-15 minutes weren’t nice to watch but, then again, we can take a lot of confidence from it. From the Germany game at home too, we’ve given them a good game.”
McNair, who hopes to make his 33rd Northern Ireland appearance tomorrow, was able to frustrate Barcelona ace
Frenkie de Jong for much of the contest.
“He’s a great player and I knew before the game I was going to have to get tight to him throughout it,” he added.
“In the last 10-15 minutes, he did start to dictate play a little bit more, so that’s something I’ll have to look into.
“But I think that was the nature of the game as well, us dropping back and then he was dropping in between (Matthijs) de Ligt and (Virgil) van Dijk to get the ball. He’s a great player and it was nice to come up against him. Hopefully I can keep him at bay again.”
McNair plans to retain his goalscoring touch, an aspect of his game he was always cherished.
“I’ve always been an attacking midfielder,” he said. “During my career I’ve been — I wouldn’t say held back — but I just haven’t really been able to give what I know I can because I’ve been played out of position.
“Now I’m playing that right of a three in midfield and I feel like I’m playing well. I feel like I can get goals added to my game for club and country.
“Before I moved over to England and even when I was in the academy at Man U, I did score a good amount of goals,