AND FOR HIS NEXT TRICK...
‘Coach of the Year’ O’Neill eyeing fresh glory for Northern Ireland at Euro 2016 after taking them on an adventure beyond their wildest dreams
MICHAEL O’NEILL is preparing for the most intense summer of his life, yet it’s the extended lulls of international management that could motivate a return to club football after Northern Ireland’s Euro 2016 adventure. Engrossed in his preparations for the country’s first major finals in 30 years, O’Neill is also in advanced talks with the IFA over a new contract. Crucially, the final details concern the terms under which he might depart the job.
Having made history by qualifying – as group winners no less – O’Neill’s stock has never been higher. The Coach of the Year award at both the RTÉ Sport and the BBC’s Sports Personality awards may be an irrelevance by comparison to his achievements, but it served to raise his profile further still.
There are many who believe O’Neill will be the next manager of Celtic. Such talk is premature and, quite properly, he refuses to entertain a question that remains hypothetical while both he and, indeed, Ronny Deila have so much unfinished business to attend to.
Nevertheless, it’s natural that he should ask two questions of his own at this juncture. Could he possibly achieve more in a job which limits his scope to a pool of players no deeper than 40 full-time professionals?
And, as he prepares to enter the spotlight with matches against Germany, Poland and Ukraine this June, will his opportunities of landing a top club post ever be greater?
‘The discussions have been positive,’ he states. ‘There are a couple of things that need to be ironed out. It has to be right for me and for the association.
‘I have done the job for four years but I still regard myself as a young manager so, if opportunities present themselves to me, I want to be able to have a look and see if it’s the right thing for me. Equally, I would want the association to be rewarded.’
Scotland remains central to O’Neill’s life and, possibly, his future employment prospects. He first set up home in Edinburgh when he played for Hibernian in the ’90s and it’s from there that he has schemed Northern Ireland’s success.
Having also played for Dundee United, Aberdeen, St Johnstone, Clydebank and Ayr United during an itinerant playing career before coaching at Cowdenbeath and cutting his managerial teeth at Brechin, his links with Scottish football are strong and enduring.
He remains on cordial terms with Scotland boss Gordon Strachan, under whom he played at Coventry City, but the two men are at entirely different stages of their respective careers.
At 58, the sedate pace of international management suits Strachan. O’Neill is 12 years younger and constantly finds himself trying to fill his diary.
Six of his players operate in the Scottish top flight, so there is mileage in road trips to Aberdeen to check on Niall McGinn or to Dingwall where Ross County’s Liam Boyce has been in sparkling form.
Last weekend he took in the FA Cup tie between Peterborough and Preston before heading to London where he made an appearance on the sofa at Sky Sports.
On his return to Edinburgh he meets
for a coffee and makes for engaging company, frequently breaking into an endearing giggle.
The next day he was due to catch a flight to the United States and participate in a coaching convention in Baltimore.
For all the fun to be had on planes, trains and automobiles, ultimately it’s the cut and thrust which he craves.
‘The most frustrating thing about being an international manager is how do you improve it?’ explains the 46-year-old. ‘If you have a bad club side you can look for players and sign them.
‘You don’t have staff with you day-to-day and you have to be self-motivated. Sometimes you drive three hours to get to a game and find a player isn’t even playing. But you need to get out and meet people.
‘It’s a lonely job. I don’t know how Gordon has found it but that’s my experience. Gordon has had big jobs, the Premier League and Celtic. If the right opportunity came up, it’s something I would certainly have to consider.’
O’Neill’s success with Shamrock Rovers in the League of Ireland, winning back-to-back titles and making history by becoming the first Irish club to qualify for the group stages of the Europa League, catapulted him into the reckoning for the position with the North.
‘My focus is on these finals in France but I would have to evaluate any job that is put to me,’ O’Neill continues. ‘One aspect I have really enjoyed with both Shamrock Rovers and now the national job is the European thing. There aren’t many jobs in England which will offer you that.
‘When I was at Shamrock Rovers I fancied going to the SPL more than England. Ultimately, I ended up as the national team manager so it’s very difficult to plot your next move.
‘If there was an opportunity abroad then somewhere along the line I would love to do that.
‘I love living in Edinburgh. When I moved away in ’96 I always hoped or knew I would come back. This is a good base but the modern-day manager is used to the scenario where he works away from his family.’
There’s huge irony in the fact that an international coach based in Scotland – and drawing a significant chunk of his players from the SPFL – should be heading to the finals while our own team will suffer the indignity of being the only home nation not to qualify.
O’Neill (below during his playing days with Hibs) has sympathy but laughs off the notion that somehow the qualification draw was much more favourable to his team, who started the process as fifth seeds. That Greece, the first seeds in Northern Ireland’s section, should finish bottom while world champions Germany topped the Scots’ group would suggest fate was kind to O’Neill. In the politest possible way he deconstructs that viewpoint. ‘People have said that to me but look at your group,’ he counters. ‘The previous World Cup qualifying Poland finished fourth, Scotland finished fourth and Ireland finished fourth. Gibraltar was a penalty kick and then there’s Georgia.
‘Our group – Greece got to the last 16 of the World Cup. Romania had
been in the play-offs. Hungary finished third, Finland finished third and the Faroes aren’t Gibraltar.
‘Our group wasn’t sexy but it wasn’t easy. The bottom team finished with six points, that’s the highest of any group. Romania had the best defensive record of any team in the tournament.
‘In qualifying there’s your Pot One teams, eight to 10 maximum who are really good, and then you have your weak teams, the Andorras and San Marinos.
‘In that middle band I believe most countries are capable of beating each other. Scotland are probably a bit like us.
‘The Scottish fans will be missed and it would have been great to have all the home nations there. Having played under Gordon, I was disappointed that didn’t happen. ‘Ultimately you also need someone to stick the ball in the net. We were the top scorers in our group with 18, which really pleased us. We had Kyle Lafferty, who got seven goals for us which made a difference.’
Lafferty’s contribution may have been vital but qualification was a consummate team effort (inset, above), led by O’Neill’s infectious man-management. The award from the BBC seemed fitting not least because the presentation ceremony was held in Belfast. Ever the networker, O’Neill used the evening as an opportunity.
‘It was a brilliant night,’ he exclaims. ‘Apart from our golfers we don’t often attract that level of sportsman to Belfast. The Davis Cup lads got team of the year and I met the captain Leon Smith. It turns out he actually lives in the same Edinburgh development as me. We live 50 yards apart and I’d never met him!
‘I actually used that night to tap up people like AP McCoy because we like to bring people in. International duty can drag. I’m looking at this tournament and we’ll be together a minimum of 30-34 days.
‘The players will see their families and we’ll have guests dropping in – a bit like Craig Brown used to do with Scotland, bringing in
My focus is on these finals in France but I would have to evaluate any job put to me
Rod Stewart and the like.
‘We’ve had Carl Frampton in and Gary Lightbody from Snow Patrol. We put Gary in the crossing and finishing at the end of training for a bit of fun and then he played a couple of songs.
‘The players really respond to these things and Gary was so positive, too – he told me it had been one of the best days of his life.’
O’Neill can also count on the support of the world’s No 1 golfer. Rory McIlroy sat with boxer Frampton in the Windsor Park crowd the night the team sealed qualification with a win over Greece and has been pencilled in for a guest appearance.
‘We’ve not had Rory in yet because of his schedule but hopefully before the Euros he’ll make it along,’ added O’Neill. ‘We’ll maybe get him to do a wee golf clinic and I know he loves his five-a-sides too!’
Prior to the finals O’Neill will drop in on Ireland’s national rugby coach Joe Schmidt to get some tournament pointers after last year’s World Cup but the logistics have already been taken care of, with the team set to base itself in Lyon, the site of their second group fixture against Ukraine.
‘This base gives us minimal travel,’ he notes. ‘We start against Poland in Nice and face Germany in Paris but game two will be crucial for us – if we’ve got something from Poland that means we could potentially qualify. You look at the potential tally and, if you had four points and didn’t finish in one of the qualifying third place spots, you’d be unfortunate.’
As a player, O’Neill arrived just too late to experience tournament football and he admits to being excited about the prospect of leading the team into its first ever European Championships and a first major tournament since the Mexico World Cup of 1986.
‘I first joined the squad in ’87 when I was 18. I had left school and was transferred to Newcastle in the October and then I made my debut in Greece four months later.
‘I saw our squad evolve over time and I’ve seen some really good players not get the chance – the likes of Keith Gillespie, Michael Hughes and David Healy.
‘I’m pleased for the likes of Steven Davis, Aaron Hughes, Gareth McAuley and Chris Brunt. It’s great their careers will be remembered for the fact they got to the Euros.
‘We will enjoy these games. There are no banana skins for us at the Euros – we’re the banana skin! But remember this, we’re here as group winners. We’ve made our mark.’
As has O’Neill. It will be fascinating to watch him operate on the big stage in France... and to see where he ends up next.’