‘Easy life? I don’t a life in between and the pressure greater than at a
THE look in his eyes borders on scornful but Martin O’Neill’s response to being asked whether the supposedly stressfree lifestyle of an international manager agrees with him, is an honest and revealing one. ‘The lifestyle?’ he retorts straightaway. ‘I don’t think I’ve ever had a life in between because these games are so consuming.’
Even now, 30 years after he became a manager with Grantham Town in the English nonleagues and 46 seasons on from his first game as a player with Distillery in the Irish League, the pain of defeat, of being outthought or outwitted is something he finds hard to endure.
‘I listen to some managers and I think it’s great for them and I think they genuinely believe it, that they can go home and forget about the game that evening,’ O’Neill continues.
‘They can “park it”,’ he adds. ‘I actually believe they think they can do it but it’s not for me. It’s never been for me.’
With international football in particular, those moments of despair linger for months on end. The points that got away, the missed chances and mistakes, they all swirl around until eventually being released when the squad join up to do it all again a several weeks later.
O’Neill is still trying to adjust. He may have enjoyed success since succeeding Giovanni Trapattoni in November 2013, guiding Ireland to the last 16 of Euro 2016, but the dynamics of this job still offer new challenges.
Georgia and Serbia are hurtling into sight over the World Cup qualifying horizon and he has had to make do without the services of Ger Dunne, the performance analyst who puts together video clips for the manager and his close-knit coaching staff who all meet in a Birmingham hotel ahead of international get-together to put their plans in place.
Dunne is currently on honeymoon but O’Neill is not a slave to routine as far video analysis is concerned. ‘We went to his wedding, and Ger is very lucky to get married,’ O’Neill says dryly.
‘Great lad Ger. Stevie Guppy [assistant coach] is becoming pretty adept at sorting out the old film for us. He’s not as quick as Ger at putting it together, but he’s managing.’
Guppy is as trusted a lieutenant as you could imagine for O’Neill. He was there as a player on the first day the Derry man arrived at Wycombe Wanderers in 1990 and the pair enjoyed further success at Leicester City and Celtic before the former England international joined the coaching staff at Sunderland under his old boss.
They have been through thick and thin but, O’Neill admits, being Ireland manager brings with it a greater sense of responsibility than anything he has encountered previously.
He may have been fighting for league titles in Scotland, European qualification as well as relegation in the Premier League, but the sporadic nature of the international game means that matches in isolation place a much greater demand on all involved.
‘You feel as if it’s…you’re back to the pressure of games. Somebody asked me a question there just last week, I was at the Aston Villa game, and a manager asked me, when these games come around, because they’re so few and far between, everything is… there is much more pressure on than club level. You always feel as if you’ve a week to try and get something right the next time.’
Opportunities for redemption are few and far between on the international scene but Ireland are at a point in Group D – joint top with Serbia and four points clear of Wales and Austria – whereby qualification for the World Cup is in touching distance.
‘If you said to me at the start of the tournament “would you take that going into the last two games still in contention for either play-off or automatic?” I would certainly have done that.
‘We were fourth seeds in the group at the end of it all, with a resurgent Wales and Serbia who, I have said from the outset, are probably the most talented side all told. Wales have some really brilliant players, and a world class player in their midst. Honestly, we are miles away from having that conversation if it ever came to fruition.’
But if it did, it would be at that point that discussions regarding a new contract would become a priority and a serious topic of discussion. O’Neill, as proven in the build-up to Euro 2016 when the FAI announced a new deal only for the man himself to contradict the assertion in France, takes a relaxed attitude to these matters.
‘The contracts, what is the point at the end of it all?’ he shrugs.
If he delivers over the coming months, O’Neill will be in a position of power but, he accepts, there will be ‘no excuse’ either should Ireland fall short. The possibility of Ireland also playing games at Aviva Stadium in Euro 2020 is something which excites him.
‘I’m getting enjoyment out of it, it’s been terrific. Now the enjoyment comes from qualifying for the Euros. We’re having a stab here at this minute to get to the World Cup which would be great. And I just think whatever materialises, John [Delaney] and I will sit down at some stage or another and say that this is it,’ he explains.
‘If there is a willingness for all of us to
The defeat in Scotland was less hurtful after qualifying for Euro 2016