Had virus ahead of friendly

He quit the role in April. Get well soon messages were sent to O’neill as the Northern Ireland team’s social media pages wished him a speedy recovery.

Sports commentators Stephen Watson and Liam Beckett both passed on their best wishes as O’neill aims to get back to full health as soon as possible.

Fans also voiced their support.

“Late to the party, but I obviously wish the very best to Michael O’neill following the news about his positive test. I’m delighted he currently seems healthy,” tweeted Ben Rowley.

“This is more than Stoke’s start maybe being delayed, this is our manager’s health and wellbeing. We’ll be with you.”

Meanwhile, Irish League club Glentoran posted a picture of their former player, also wishing him a full recovery.

Two weeks ago another high profile manager from Northern Ireland, Brendan Rodgers, revealed that both he and wife Charlotte had contracted coronavirus.

The Leicester City boss described suffering a headache unlike any he had felt before, losing his sense of smell and taste and enduring breathing difficulties similar to the altitude problems he encountered when climbing Kilimanjaro in 2016.

Rodgers is the second Premier League manager after Arsenal’s Mikel Arteta known to have caught the virus.

The 47-year-old from Carnlough said he had symptoms in March.

He added: “I wasn’t well and it was later detected I had the virus. A week after that my wife had it.

“We were nowhere near as bad as a lot of people but we lost our smell and taste for three weeks, we lost our strength, so I had a little feeling of whatever it must be like. It was tough.”