Soccer

Northern Ireland boss Michael O'Neill dismisses Leicester City manager link

Northern Ireland legend Pat Jennings (left) in front of an image of the 1982 World Cup team, including current Republic of Ireland boss Martin O'Neill, at the official opening of the Irish FA Education and Heritage Centre. Picture By: Arthur Allison, Pacemaker
Northern Ireland legend Pat Jennings (left) in front of an image of the 1982 World Cup team, including current Republic of Ireland boss Martin O'Neill, at the official opening of the Irish FA Education and Heritage Centre. Picture By: Arthur Allison, Northern Ireland legend Pat Jennings (left) in front of an image of the 1982 World Cup team, including current Republic of Ireland boss Martin O'Neill, at the official opening of the Irish FA Education and Heritage Centre. Picture By: Arthur Allison, Pacemaker

NORTHERN Ireland manager Michael O'Neill insists the only reason he'll be going to the King Power stadium is to check on his international players.

O'Neill has been mentioned as a possible successor to Claudio Ranieri at Leicester City but shot down that rumour, saying: "If West Brom or Southampton or Watford are playing Leicester I'll be there, yeah, because I may be watching one of my players. No, I am here in Belfast and looking forward to the game [against Norway]

Asked if there had been any contact from the English champions, he replied: "No, not that I'm aware of – listen, that's a question probably for Patrick [Nelson, IFA chief executive].

"There's speculation, that's the nature of it. Clubs will always draw up lists of managers they think are worth considering; I'm not sure whether I'm on that or not on that.

"The important thing is that, if you're being linked to jobs, you're obviously doing a decent job in the one you're in. I just want to make sure we continue the progress we're making here."

Speaking at the official opening of the Irish FA's Education and Heritage Centre at Windsor Park, the 47-year-old acknowledged the unpredictability of management and said:

"I think there'll come a time when it will be right for Northern Ireland and right for me that we part ways – but at this minute in time I'm not actively looking to get into club football. Equally, hopefully Northern Ireland aren't actively looking for a new manager either," he added drily.

O'Neill expressed sympathy for Ranieri, who was sacked after a poor defence of their title win, which was rightly labelled "a phenomenal achievement" by the NI boss:

"It's the nature of the game now, it's quite sad. The idea of being a manager now is quite different: you do not manage the football club the way you previously would have done in the past. You have to come in and get results, and get results quickly.

"A lot of people thought he deserved longer – there's a part of me as a manager would feel that but in this day in age, particularly in the Premier League with the finances involved, when you're looking at £100m-plus [difference] between not being in the Premier League to being in it, then owners make decisions.

"The owners of clubs now are so influential, they've put a lot of investment into it, and it's changed the landscape for managers.

"But it's sad that a manager who wins the Premier League, particularly with a club like Leicester, then finds himself out of work six to seven months [into the next season]. I do have a lot of sympathy for him."

O'Neill admitted that how Ranieri was treated by the Foxes engendered some fear about taking a club job:

"Yeah, of course it does. It's a totally different environment you're going into, that week to week you almost have to get results, the tenure is much shorter. You have to fit into a structure at a club where you're not necessarily signing the players.

"All of those [factors] make it something you would have to consider very closely before you would take that decision.

"International football comes as a different challenge: you have to maximise the resources you have, you don't always have the best players available to you, and when you have a small pool of players as we have, that's a challenge as well."

The Portadown native laughed when asked if he could see himself managing into his 60s, as Ranieri has done:

"I don't know, to be honest. One thing I have said about management, particularly now, is that it's very difficult to plot a career path the way it would have been easier in the past to do that, when there was a general progression.

"We now have more foreign coaches coming into the UK than we ever did in the past so opportunities for home-based coaches seem to be more and more limited.

"I'll be a manager for as long as I enjoy doing a job. I always envisage myself working in football, in whatever capacity that may be in the future.

"The strain can be a lot and those managers that manage into their latter years, I have a lot of admiration for them".