Northern Irish still better bet for qualifying

TO stick or twist? That is the question confronting Michael O’Neill after Northern Ireland’s agonising failure to reach next summer’s World Cup finals.

Among observers in Belfast, there is a feeling the end of the road may well have been reached. With key players ageing and his stock still extremely high, this could be O’Neill’s moment to accept a fresh challenge.

Scotland’s interest is no secret. The Edinburgh resident’s record in reaching Euro 2016 and the play-offs for Russia 2018 makes him a credible and convincing candidate to fill the vacancy left by Gordon Strachan’s exit. The benefits to the Hampden hierarchy would seem obvious.

Given the exile from major tournaments approaching 22 years, landing a leader with O’Neill’s pedigree would show a genuine determination to qualify for the Euro 2020 finals.

But what would be in it for him? Former Northern Ireland manager Lawrie Sanchez is sceptical about the sporting merits of the 48-year-old switching to Scotland.

Indeed, while the SFA might summon up a superior salary, Sanchez believes O’Neill would have a greater chance of returning to the big stage with his current squad of players.

‘He probably has more chance of qualifying with Northern Ireland than with Scotland,’ claimed Sanchez. ‘There might be more money in Scotland for managing the team.

‘But he’s got to be thinking if he wants to make another major championship. And there is a great chance of making it to the Euros the next time, because qualification is obviously a little bit easier than for the World Cup. Pretty much half of the teams in Europe qualify.

‘He will think: “Who has the best chance? Scotland or Northern Ireland?” At this moment, you have to say Northern Ireland.’

Interest in O’Neill’s services could emerge from English clubs. Again, Sanchez cautions against leaping into an environment where bosses are granted meagre shelf lives.

‘The thing he’ll be aware of is that when you become a league manager, the casualty rate is phenomenal,’ added Sanchez, in charge of Northern Ireland between 2004 and 2007.

‘You are not given two years. In his first two years with Northern Ireland, I think he (O’Neill) won one game. You don’t get that time in league football. You don’t get that chance to come again.

‘The good thing about international football is they give you one campaign to see how you are going. You get a second campaign if you have done reasonably well.

‘Sometimes in league football, it can be six or eight weeks. You see the casualties mounting up.

‘He has a two-year contract (with the IFA) that he knows is going to be there and he can say this is what I’m going to be doing. You can’t do that in league football.

‘The challenge of the (English) Premier League is there. He’ll want to test himself in the highest level.

‘But day-to-day involvement? He hasn’t had it. He managed in Scotland (with Brechin City) for a bit and then Shamrock Rovers, but that’s not a full-time league.

‘What happens next, though, is for him to decide.’

Should O’Neill be lured away by Scotland or another suitor, St Johnstone’s Tommy Wright would be certain to feature on the IFA’s shortlist of potential replacements.

Sanchez, though, believes the Windsor Park executive will be moving heaven and earth to persuade their man to stay.

‘At this moment the people in Northern Ireland will be saying to Michael that he has done brilliantly and let’s have another go at it,’ Sanchez told talkSPORT.

‘Let’s go out on a high and get to the European Championships again.

‘You’ll be the best-ranked manager for Northern Ireland if you do that.

‘Why take the chance of another country that might not qualify or a job you could be out of by the end of the season?’