Defining moments from Northern Ireland’s progress to their first European Championship line the walls of their training base at Parc de Montchervet. Alongside, images of George Best, Gerry Armstrong, the Antrim coast and the Giant’s Causeway remind Michael O’Neill’s players of what they can accomplish and represent in France. The Irish Football Association has clearly been inspired by its manager’s meticulous attention to detail when organising its first tournament for 30 years.
“The IFA got in touch with all our families before we came out and have put pictures of our wives and kids in our rooms, just little touches that make the place feel more homely and help us settle,” the Reading midfielder Oliver Norwood said. The personal touch was kept from Northern Ireland’s players until they checked in at the plush Château de Pizay in Beaujolais on Sunday, having arrived from Slovakia where a goalless draw extended their unbeaten record run to 12 matches.
Norwood’s midfield colleague Chris Baird said: “When you walked into your bedroom, just above the telly, you’ve got the final group table – how it looked – your picture beside it and then, and I didn’t know about this, a picture of the family. It’s my wife and two kids in a bedside picture. Your name is on towels as well. Seeing the family side of things was really nice because I haven’t seen them in a long time. It just makes it seem more homely. We didn’t expect it at all.”
Northern Ireland players who do not ply their trade in the Premier League – most of them – have been away for three weeks at training camps in Manchester, Maynooth and Austria before arriving in France for final preparations for their opener against Poland on Sunday. The family photos and snapshots of Steven Davis celebrating against Greece, Armstrong scoring against Spain in the 1982 World Cup and Harry Gregg commanding his area at Windsor Park are designed to inspire as well as reassure.
“It is important to have these reminders,” Norwood said. “These are special moments in our lives, in our careers, they are big moments that affected our lives and the whole country. The whole country is behind us. These little touches make a massive difference to us as players. Maybe you don’t think they will but they do have a big effect. Of course we can speak to our families on the phone but the effort the IFA has made to help us settle is really appreciated by the boys.
“You look at pictures from the Greece game and the Finland game and start to remember those moments and the feelings we had when celebrating our victories. They are reminders of what we have achieved but we won’t get carried away. It is a tough group but we are really looking forward to Sunday.”
The final Group F table, showing Northern Ireland as the first team drawn from pot five to finish on the summit in qualifying, is displayed on the floor of their training base as well as in the players’ hotel rooms. It helps explain the quiet confidence running through a group written off in many quarters, despite their record on the pitch, having been drawn against Poland, Ukraine and the world champions, Germany in Group C of the finals.
“We’re 12 games unbeaten, so we’ve proven that we can compete at international level,” said Norwood, who has been linked with a £1.5m move to Hull City. “We’re ready for Sunday. There’s no pressure because of that run – it gives confidence. We qualified from pot five and won the group, which gives us confidence as well. Our aim is to get out of the group. We’re not just here to take part and enjoy this. If people underestimate us then feel free to do that because they’ll get the shock of their lives.”
For players such as Aaron Hughes, who won his 100th cap in Slovakia on Saturday, Roy Carroll, Jonny Evans and Baird, the European Championship is a late but precious reward for years of toil and falling short with Northern Ireland.
As the 34-year-old Baird explained: “You’re travelling to these places and you’re thinking: ‘Here we go again’, and you’re losing and so on. It would have been easy to chuck it in but I didn’t want to. It never crossed my mind. The new manager came in before the last campaign and I thought: ‘We’ll see how we get on’, but then we finished fifth! So then I thought I’d go one more and I’m glad I did. I’m here now and I can finally tick that off and say I’ve been there – finally.”
