GARETH MCAULEY

So you’re going into Northern Ireland’s first major tournament since 1986... I think the gap will make it extra special. There are generations of people who haven’t seen us play at a tournament. We’re going there to surprise people.

How has this team been so successful? With Northern Ireland, it used to be that you just turned up and ran your heart out. Now, the manager has a plan for every game and shows us ways we can win. Once we could see that working, it gave everyone the confidence we could turn teams over. His preparation and planning is incredible – probably the best and most detailed that I’ve come across.

Are his team-talks as long as the epic speech he gave at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards? [Laughs] It was brilliant for him to win Coach of the Year. You saw his passion there. The atmosphere in the arena in Belfast was incredible – if they’d cut him short there might have been problems! You scored three times from defence in qualifying. Do you fancy yourself to get a goal at the tournament? I would love to get one. I’ve got seven goals at the minute and I need another one to beat Gerry Taggart, who was someone I watched when I was growing up. I managed to get a couple during qualifying, and again that’s down to the work that Michael does on set-pieces. We see it as a good way to get goals.

Why do you think Kyle Lafferty does so well for Northern Ireland? He’s got a special relationship with the manager. Kyle can be boisterous and unfocused sometimes – he’d probably say that himself – but Michael has got hold of him. The World Cup qualifier at home to Portugal three years ago, when Kyle came on and got sent off, was a real low and I think it was a turning point for him. He had to look at himself, and he sat down with Michael and sorted a lot of things out. Big Laffs has been the talisman of our campaign.