STEVEN DAVIS reckons it was inevitable that boss Michael O'Neill would leave Northern Ireland at some point after he joined Stoke City.
The 50-year-old was appointed as Potters manager earlier this month but will be in the national dugout for the Euro qualifiers with Holland and Germany in the coming days.
Northern Ireland still have a chance of reaching the finals next summer but captain Davis understands why O'Neill has made the move to the Championship.
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He said: "Selfishly we wanted him to stay because he’s been such a huge part of the success we’ve had.
"All the lads enjoy going away working with him. He’s found a formula that works for us and we’ve come a long way over the years.
"In a tough group we’ve given ourselves an opportunity so we would like to hold onto him for as long as possible.
"Ultimately we knew that day was going to come at some point. I’m sure there have been clubs sniffing around him for a long time. I rate him very highly.
"I’ve got a very good relationship with him and we bounce a lot of things off each other.
"We understand from his point of view why he’s made the decision he has."
Davis is set to win his 116th cap for his country when Holland visit Windsor Park this afternoon for a huge Group C clash.
That would put the Rangers midfielder just three games away from beating Pat Jennings' tally and he could have Peter Shilton's record of 125 caps in his sights.
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Davis said: "I won’t beat it this time but it’ll be a step closer. It’s a massive few weeks coming up with two difficult games for Northern Ireland.
"You never know what could happen there. It’s going to be very difficult.
"Ultimately we might have to look at a play-off then coming back to Rangers and hopefully as weeks go by the games keep getting bigger and bigger."
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