THE SPECIALIST
Expert O’Neill would return Scots to big stage, says Brown
FORMER Scotland boss Craig Brown says ‘European specialist’ Michael O’Neill is the ideal man to lead the nation out of the international wilderness.
Discussions will be held with the Northern Ireland manager this week after the SFA agreed a compensation figure with their Irish counterparts.
Hampden chiefs expect to find out by Friday if their preferred candidate to succeed Gordon Strachan will accept the post.
O’Neill (below), who is based in Edinburgh, took Northern Ireland to a major finals for the first time in 30 years when they qualified for Euro 2016.
In 2011, his Shamrock Rovers side become the first Irish club to reach the group stage of a European competition when they knocked Partizan Belgrade out of the Europa League qualifiers.
Brown, the last man to lead Scotland out at a major finals in France ’98, believes O’Neill’s achievements with club and country set him apart.
And the 77-year-old insisted it is unfair to suggest he got lucky by being drawn in a European qualifying group with top seeds Greece, who lost home and away to the Faroe Islands.
Brown said: ‘I hope Michael O’Neill says yes. What he’s done for Northern Ireland is tremendous but I also think he’s a European specialist.
‘If you look at what he did with Shamrock Rovers, it’s amazing. To take them to the Europa League group stages with the opponents they faced tells you he has ability.
‘He has an international pedigree but he’s also done it at club level in Europe. Europe is a slightly different scene from international, but he’s proved he’s tailor-made for both. You don’t think of Shamrock Rovers as a group-stage team but he made them into one.
‘And I don’t think any team can be considered lucky if they win their group. It’s always tough. If Greece were top seeds who finished bottom, then other teams were more than capable. It’s unfair and disparaging to say they got through a soft group.’
Former Dundee United and Hibs winger O’Neill has been offered a new six-year deal with the Irish FA worth between £600,000 and £700,000 per annum.
The SFA are prepared to make him the highest-paid Scotland manager of all time but Brown believes if O’Neill was moneymotivated he would be heading for English club football.
‘I don’t think £600,000 is exorbitant in this day and age,’ said Brown.
‘A manager in the English Premier League will command much more than that. Even in the English Championship the wages apparently on offer by the SFA wouldn’t be considered high end. And Michael is capable of getting a job in England, so the money will not be the inducement.
‘Michael is near enough Scottish. He is a Celt. He will also be likely to bring his own backroom staff, who know the Scottish scene.
‘Jimmy Nicholl is at Rangers but he could do both. Austin MacPhee is at Hearts and, while I know that opinion is divided on him in football circles, I’m a big fan. ‘Is this Scotland squad capable of reaching a major finals? I hope so. I think we’re getting better. I don’t think the quality of players are as good as the ones I had in my time as Scotland manager. But they are at least as good as the ones he has at Northern Ireland. ‘One thing Michael is very good at is organisation and team shape. The defending and taking of setpieces is well rehearsed. He can bring that to Scotland.’