{"id":22960,"date":"2011-12-28T19:00:16","date_gmt":"2011-12-28T19:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/12\/oneill-confirmed-as-new-northern-ireland-coach\/"},"modified":"2011-12-28T19:00:16","modified_gmt":"2011-12-28T19:00:16","slug":"oneill-confirmed-as-new-northern-ireland-coach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/12\/28\/oneill-confirmed-as-new-northern-ireland-coach\/","title":{"rendered":"O’Neill confirmed as new Northern Ireland coach"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Michael O’Neill<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Michael O’Neill was confirmed as the new manager of Northern Ireland’s national team on Wednesday, agreeing a two-year contract to lead his country in the 2014 World Cup qualifiers.<\/p>\n

The former Shamrock Rovers manager has been chosen ahead of Jim Magilton and Iain Dowie to succeed Nigel Worthington in the post, and will begin work on February 1.<\/p>\n

Irish Football Association chief executive Patrick Nelson described O’Neill as “the stand-out choice from an excellent field”.<\/p>\n

He is thought to be earning around half the \u00a3450,000 ($695,000) a year given to his predecessor and inherits a side who finished a disappointing fifth in their Euro 2012 qualifying group, ahead of only the Faroe Islands.<\/p>\n

“I am honoured to be chosen to manage my country,” the 42-year-old O’Neill was quoted as saying on the Irish FA’s official website.<\/p>\n

“Northern Ireland has a strong football tradition but one that needs to be refreshed with some more contemporary success.<\/p>\n

“That is my primary objective — to restore a sense of belief and pride in what it means to represent Northern Ireland so that our players will want only to play for their country.<\/p>\n

“That is how it should be. There is a huge amount of work to be done but with the right direction and the necessary passion, good progress can be made.”<\/p>\n

O’Neill left his post at Shamrock Rovers earlier this month after a successful two-year stay with the Dublin club in which he won back-to-back League of Ireland titles.<\/p>\n

He also led them to the group phase of the Europa League this season with a play-off win over Partizan Belgrade, making them the first League of Ireland side to do so.<\/p>\n

He had previously been in charge of Brechin City in Scotland, having spent much of his playing career in the Scottish game with Dundee United and Hibernian.<\/p>\n

He also played for Newcastle United and Coventry City.<\/p>\n

O’Neill’s reign will get under way with a Windsor Park friendly against Norway on February 29.<\/p>\n

Their World Cup qualifying campaign begins in Russia on September 7, with Portugal, Azerbaijan, Israel and Luxembourg also waiting in Group F.<\/p>\n

\u00a92011 AFP<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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