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Michael O\u2019Neill believes the redevelopment of Windsor Park played a key role in Northern Ireland\u2019s upturn in fortunes during his eight-and-a-half year spell in charge.<\/p>\nMichael O\u2019Neill believes the redevelopment of Windsor Park played a key role in Northern Ireland\u2019s upturn in fortunes during his eight-and-a-half year spell in charge.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Neill, who was named Stoke boss in November, on Wednesday stepped down as manager of the Green and White Army after it emerged their Euro 2020 qualifying play-offs \u2013 due to be his final games in charge \u2013 would not be played before October due to the coronavirus pandemic.<\/p>\n
It ended a hugely successful spell in charge, highlighted by qualification for Euro 2016 but marked more broadly by consistency in results, with O\u2019Neill\u2019s win rate of 36 per cent second only in Northern Ireland\u2019s history to Bertie Peacock\u2019s 39 per cent between 1961 and 1964.<\/p>\n
After O\u2019Neill was appointed in late 2011, a major renovation of Windsor Park took place between 2013 and 2016, which O\u2019Neill believes helped change his squad\u2019s mindset.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember at the outset one or two senior players coming to me to talk about the pitch at Windsor Park,\u201d O\u2019Neill said. \u201cIt was pretty evident they didn\u2019t particularly enjoy playing at home in Belfast at the time.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s understandable because the ground, for international football, there was very little behind the dug-outs that could be used.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was a portable stand behind the top goal and basically it was pieced together into what was usable. I don\u2019t think any of that situation with the stadium helped the team or previous managers.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember the time when Portugal came to play us and they didn\u2019t have enough room to get their stuff into the dressing room.<\/p>\n
\u201cThings like that I used to think would help us but ultimately our mindset changed with the stadium and the team grew and I think that was shown with our performances.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you look back there are not many games since the redevelopment of the stadium when the team played poorly and the players didn\u2019t play with a tempo and an energy.\u201d<\/p>\n
While he waits for news on when Stoke\u2019s Championship campaign might be able to resume, O\u2019Neill can take some time to reflect on his Northern Ireland reign.<\/p>\n
But while he can pick out certain games as highlights \u2013 beating Greece to reach Euro 2016, drawing away to Portugal in 2012 or beating Russia in 2013 \u2013 O\u2019Neill pointed instead to the pride he helped restore in playing for the Green and White Army.<\/p>\n
\u201cHaving the mindset of every time we took to the pitch, especially at home, we felt we could win,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe sometimes had to fight for our lives but other than the last game (a 6-1 defeat to Germany in November) when we were under-strength, no one wiped the floor with us.<\/p>\n
\u201cI take great pride in beating Azerbaijan 4-0 at home (in November 2016) and then playing a friendly with Croatia. Jonny Evans went home because his wife was having their second child but he flew back in on the Tuesday morning to play in the friendly.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat just wouldn\u2019t have happened in the past and when you see that commitment, that\u2019s when you know you were going in the right direction.\u201d<\/p>\n
With the manager gone and some key players nearing the end of their careers this could be the end of an era, but O\u2019Neill expects the likes of Steven Davis, 35, and Evans, 32, to keep going for a while yet.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know Steven will play on and break Pat\u2019s record,\u201d he said, with Davis two caps shy of Pat Jennings\u2019 record of 119 caps for Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n
\u201cJonny has ambitions to get 100 caps (the Leicester defender has 84) and more, and there will be others.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe players still have an awful lot to play for. My biggest regret in my playing career was not getting more international caps.\u201d<\/p>\n