BE THE NEW LEGENDS

Boss O’neill urges his squad to create history like the men of 1958, ’82 & ’86 as he admits World Cup finals are ultimate prize

AS a young footballer Michael O’neill was raised on tales of World Cup yore.

As a teenager making his way in the game with Coleraine, he was surrounded by memories and animated insight from football’s greatest stage.

His manager at The Showgrounds in the mid-1980s was former Middlesbrough goalkeeper Jim Platt who was part of Billy Bingham’s 1982 and 1986 World Cup squads in Spain and Mexico.

Felix Healy, who won two of his four caps in Spain, was a team-mate while Bertie Peacock (inset), who played at the 1958 World Cup in Sweden, was part of the Coleraine furniture.

“It was a great time to be around Coleraine,” said O’neill. “Jim Platt drove me and up down from Ballymena and it was great to chat to him on those journeys.

“Felix Healy had also been at the 1982 World Cup while

there was talk of Ray Mccoy being called up to the 1986 squad.”

O’neill, who secured a move to full-time football at Newcastle United in 1987, recalls his mum demanding to know why he was returning home approaching midnight.

Truth was, the then 16-year-old was waiting for his lift home, listening to Platt and Peacock reminisce about Northern

Ireland’s World Cup exploits.

He recalled: “As well as Bertie’s connections with 1958, he had also been at the 1982 World

Cup as Billy Bingham’s assistant.

“When he came to training, both he and Jim would sit and chat about football and past World Cups. I was only 16 and had school in the morning but it was wonderful.”

When Platt and Peacock, who passed away in 2004, talked shop in the 1980s, nobody suspected that Northern Ireland’s wait for another World Cup would stretch beyond three decades. Or that the mop-haired teenager sitting in their midst would be the next manager to lead Northern Ireland to a major finals at Euro 2016. “I suppose there’s a bit of irony there,” said O’neill, who is now just two games away from leading the province to its first World Cup since Mexico 86.

The stakes – and sense of history – heading into tonight’s Swiss showdown couldn’t be higher.

“It would be everything to reach Russia,” said O’neill. “The Euros were a fabulous experience but the World Cup is a level above that.

“How many times will you be 180 minutes away from a World Cup? The prize is massive.

“The players recognise the significance and I have told them not to fear the situation but to embrace it. We have everything to play for. Don’t have any regrets.”

O’neill believes his players are eager to back up last summer’s French odyssey and “do it for the fans” who have supported the team through thick and thin in recent years.

“I think it’s very important,” he said. “We saw the benefit of our support here in Belfast and throughout the country during qualification for France and then at the finals.

“To see what it did to the country, having 10 or 15,000 people at fan zones watching games when we were at the Euros – we haven’t seen that before.

“Back in 1982 and 1986 we didn’t have things like fan zones so it brought everyone together and it was phenomenal. We want to try and replicate that.

“The players will give everything over the next two games to make it a reality.”