Martin will be OK... he’s got a thick skin ANDREWS PREDICTS O’NEILL WILL COPE WITH ANY FAN BACKLASH

MARTIN O’NEILL’S ‘thick skin’ means he won’t lose sleep over a potential fan backlash after a week of high drama.

That’s according to ex-ireland international Keith Andrews who feels O’neill’s decision to stay will stand to the team.

But he doesn’t buy claims that O’neill’s players won’t be fussed about the flirtation with Stoke, claiming a number of them will be disappointed.

And while O’neill won’t stress over supporter discontent, Andrews feels the manager needs to build bridges.

While Andrews insists O’neill is still the man for the job, he hasn’t been afraid to stick the boot in.

After the 5-1 World Cup play-off defeat to Denmark, he claimed O’neill’s approach on the night was “clueless, absolutely clueless.”

Ireland fans are split down the middle over O’neill staying on, with his two-year contract extension about to be signed off.

And with no World Cup this summer, fans could turn if his team makes a poor start to the Nations League in September.

But Andrews said yesterday: “He’s got thicker skin than that. I don’t think that will worry him.

“Everything is raw but once he comes back in, we’ll crack on. There has to be contracts signed with firm eyes on 2020. We’re going through transition. We need clarity. We need Martin to be here for the next two or four years.”

But Andrews added: “If I’m in that squad and we’re getting over the disappointment of losing to Denmark, I’d like my manager to be fully committed and focused on us.

“There’s been a lot of uncertainty in the last week so I’m thinking “I’m not too happy about that”, if I’m a player.

“But it doesn’t matter what impact this has on the players now because they’re not wearing an Irish shirt until March. Privately I think they’ll be disappointed the contract issue wasn’t sorted and there was a lot of interest from Everton and more substantially from Stoke.

“I’d be disappointed if I was a player, if this unfolded for my manager, reading snippets and not really getting anything back from the manager.

“But by March, when contracts are signed, players being players will just get on with things because you’ve no other alternative.

“He got us to a Euros and very nearly got us to a world Cup. The style gets criticised sometimes but he’s very much his own man and I genuinely hope he stays.”

But like everyone else, Andrews wants to hear what O’neill has to say about the Stoke City links when put before the media this week.

And he hopes the Ireland boss doesn’t fudge questions about Stoke’s interest in him succeeding Mark Hughes.

“I would imagine it was the day-to-day adrenaline rush that was pulling him towards Everton or Stoke,” said Andrews.

“If that was the case and he came out and said it, then I wouldn’t have a problem with it.

“It’s not one that can just be brushed over and nothing said going into the Turkey game in March. It would be nice if there was a little bit of transparency.”