Brendan Rodgers, the Celtic manager, thinks that the exciting crop of players in the Scotland squad may tempt Michael O’Neill to walk away from Northern Ireland and accept the head coach role with the Scottish Football Association.
Rodgers isn’t surprised that the SFA have made an official approach to the Irish Football Association for O’Neill’s services, being hugely impressed by the job his countryman has done in charge of the national side.
But with many of the players who reached the European Championships last year and were narrowly defeated by Switzerland in the play-offs for the World Cup on Sunday coming to the end of their international careers, Rodgers believes that the project O’Neill would be taking over with Scotland may well get his juices flowing.
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And with so many relatively young talents in the squad, like Celtic’s Kieran Tierney, Callum McGregor, James Forrest and Stuart Armstrong, Rodgers wouldn’t be surprised if O’Neill was tempted to switch Windsor Park for Hampden.
“If you look at the Scotland squad, it is an exciting group of players there that could go forward,” said Rodgers.
“He has spent six years or so at Northern Ireland and has done a European Championship and just missed out on a World Cup. Their top players over the next few years will move on.
“Michael will be disappointed at missing out on the World Cup but if you look at Scotland, it is an exciting group, and if he can pull them together and develop them then he would maybe have a chance of getting them to their first Championships in 20-odd years and then maybe onto a World Cup after that.
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“I am sure it is one that he will think about. It is also whether he thinks whether after that period of time does he want to do the day to day job, and I am sure that is something he would consider.”
Rodgers enjoys a good relationship with O’Neill, and if he does take the Scotland job, he would look forward to working with him to improve the national side.
“I want to help,” he said. “There is a real energy about the Celtic players when they go there and there is a real core of them that can help. It is a lot of thinking time and he deserves the respect to take his time and see where he is at. He has lived in Scotland for a number of years, he has played in Scotland and he knows what you are all like.”
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