O’Neill: I relish playing underdog role but my players will always have belief

AS HE prepares for his greatest test as an international manager, Martin O’Neill will draw deep from his 45-year experience on football’s front-line. Just like his mentor Brian Clough at Nottingham Forest, he will not be afraid to play the underdog card in public, while emphasising the opposite in the dressing room. It’s something O’Neill did at Leicester City, to telling effect, and which is working too with the Republic of Ireland who are 180 minutes from returning to the World Cup finals for the first time since 2002. ‘There are comparisons with the job I did at Leicester and what I’m doing at Ireland — it does bring out something in my personality. ‘The love of the underdog. I had that as a player at Nottingham Forest too when we won the League and the European Cup. That stays with you as a manager,’ he said. ‘Clough used to play on that, in the media, the underdog thing, but he never gave a feeling of inadequacy to the players. Far from it, in fact. The best managers do that.’ For O’Neill, the supreme challenge is to make ordinary players do extraordinary things, even if that means switching tactics and selections. ‘You have to find a way to get the best out of what you have but I’ve never played the same system throughout my career. You set up your team to find a way to win. ‘For me directing the players during a game is crucial.’ O’Neill isn’t the most vocal presence at training but his eyes see everything. ‘People might have said I’m a bit aloof but I’m among the players without inconveniencing them by telling them what to do all the time. They know I’m watching.’