O’Neill turns down Blackburn job to remain with NI

Michael O’Neill will not be taking the Blackburn Rovers job on a permanent basis and will remain in his role as Northern Ireland manager.

O’Neill was appointed interim Rovers boss in February until the end of the 2025-26 campaign, combining the role alongside his position as NI manager.

The 56-year-old won five, drew five and lost five of his 15 games in interim charge as Blackburn finished 20th in the second tier and avoided relegation.

During his job share, O’Neill repeatedly said that he would be unable to do both roles permanently and would have to choose one or the other.

“Following discussions with the club, Michael has decided to continue his long-term commitment to his role as Northern Ireland head coach, with a focus on leading the national team towards qualification for the Uefa European Championships in 2028,” Blackburn said in a statement.

“Blackburn Rovers is a historic football club with a proud tradition and passionate supporters. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time working with the players, staff and everyone around the club,” O’Neill added.

“After careful consideration, I have decided that my long-term focus must remain with Northern Ireland and the journey towards the European Championship campaign ahead. I would like to thank the owners, board, staff, players and supporters for the welcome and support shown to me during my time at the club.”

Blackburn Rovers said they will now begin the process of identifying and appointing a new permanent head coach, with further updates “to be communicated in due course”.

Across his two spells in charge of his country, O’Neill has picked up 38 wins, had 23 draws and suffered 43 defeats from his 104 games in charge.

He will now aim to lead Northern Ireland to their first appearance at the Euros since he guided his country to the finals in 2016.

Northern Ireland will have two friendlies in June against Guinea in Cadiz and France in Lyon, before they begin their Nations League campaign in September.

O’Neill’s side have been drawn against Hungary, Georgia and Ukraine in Group B2.

“We are delighted Michael has decided to stay on as Northern Ireland manager. He has built another exciting squad of players and we now look forward to building on this momentum as we plan for both the Uefa Nations League campaign this autummn and the subsequent qualifiers for Euro 2028 with Michael at the helm,” said an Irish FA statement.

Northern Ireland fans will be delighted that O’Neill has agreed to continue in his role as manager, especially given the foundation he has laid for possible future success.

He had said that he would “return to the status quo” for Northern Ireland’s June fixtures when asked about his future in March, but then said in April that a decision was still to made, which would have set alarm bells ringing.

Thankfully, for all parties, a decision has been made swiftly, allowing O’Neill to work towards preparing his NI squad for June’s friendlies and the upcoming Nations League campaign, while Blackburn now have plenty of time to appoint a permanent boss ahead of the 2026-27 campaign.

O’Neill, like in his first spell, inherited a struggling Northern Ireland side from predecessor Ian Baraclough and while they missed out on qualifying for Euro 2024 and this year’s World Cup, he has certainly shaped them into a more competitive and attractive side.

The average age of O’Neill’s starting team for the defeat against Italy in their World Cup play-off in March was just 22.5 years – the country’s second youngest on record since World War Two.

Add in three key players in Conor Bradley, Dan Ballard and Ali McCann, who were missing for the game and the age profile remains the same, demonstrating the high ceiling this youthful but talented team has to grow.

With O’Neill remaining in the role, belief will really start to grow that he can guide the team to another European Championships as he did after a period of building with his squad in 2016.

The Irish FA would have known that the job would have been much more attractive now to potential candidates than before O’Neill returned in 2022, but will be pleased that he has decided to stay on for the next qualifying campaign and there won’t be any upheaval before the Nations League starts in September.