Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Belfast Live
Belfast Live
Sport
Gareth Fullerton

Northern Ireland fans updated on Michael O'Neill 'tribute'

Northern Ireland fans are set to pay their own special tribute to Michael O'Neill - but it won't happen at Saturday's game against Holland.

The Euro qualifier with the Dutch in Belfast could be O'Neill's final home game as international boss after he was named as Stoke City's new manager last Friday.

Part of the deal will see the 50-year-old manage Northern Ireland in their final two Euro 2020 qualifiers - against Holland on Saturday and Tuesday's game against Germany in Frankfurt.

The Irish FA also announced that O'Neill will remain at the helm for any potential playoff next March.

Some fans had been considering paying tribute to O'Neill at Saturday's game against Holland.

But Amalgamation of Official Northern Ireland Supporters' Club chairman Gary McAllister said they would organise a "proper tribute" at a later date.

"A number of fans have asked if there's anything planned for Saturday in relation to Michael moving on," McAllister told Belfast Live Sport.

"The biggest difficulty has been the lack of time to organise something which would be worthy of the event and we'd rather do it properly.

"There's been some indication that Michael will be asked back as a guest and it would be our intention to organise a proper tribute to him at that point."

O'Neill became a fans' favourite with the Green and White Army during his eight years at the helm.

He led the country to its first-ever European Championships when they qualified for the 2016 Euros in France.

Northern Ireland also narrowly missed out on qualification for last year's World Cup finals in Russia, losing out to Switzerland in a playoff.

Check out this week's That's What I Call Football podcast (below) to hear what our panel had to say about Michael O'Neill's move to Stoke City...

Keep up-to-date with all the very latest news, what's on, sport and everything else in Belfast and beyond with the Belfast Live app.

Only select news that interests you by picking the topics you want to display on the app's homepage. Plus, our enhanced user experience includes live blogs, video, interactive maps and slick picture galleries. Download it now and get involved.

Click here to get it from the App Store or here for Google Play .

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.