Monday 14 November 2016 17:44, UK
Northern Ireland boss Michael O'Neill had downplayed suggestions he could be interested in any possible managerial vacancy with Scotland, claiming he had 'not given it a second thought'.
Some pundits north of the border have touted O'Neill as the perfect fit for the Hampden hot-seat should Gordon Strachan's four-year tenure be ended following a difficult start to their World Cup qualifying campaign.
Those tipping Edinburgh-based O'Neill for the post have underlined his work in turning around Northern Ireland after he took them to their first ever European Championship finals in the summer while also being well placed after four matches of the qualifiers for Russia 2018.
However, having signed a four-year contract extension back in March, O'Neill insists the possibility of switching jobs at the international level has not crossed his mind.
Asked if Northern Irish fans should be worried about his links with the Scottish post, O'Neill replied: "No, I don't think so.
"First of all, there's someone in that job who I have a huge amount of respect for, who is a manager I played under (at Coventry).
"It's probably the fact I live in Scotland is a bigger driving factor of that than anything else. I haven't given a second thought to that at all. I'd rather not give a comment on that situation at the minute to be fair."
O'Neill began his managerial career with a two-and-a-half year spell with Brechin City before joining Shamrock Rovers in 2008. Three years later he took over from Nigel Worthington at Windsor Park.
"A lot of our key players are 30-plus, but maybe what that gives us in our favour is they don't want this to stop, they want it to last as long as it can," O'Neill said of his squad.
"When you've played a lot of international football you want it to last as long as possible, because they have played through some dark days as well.
"If you get them (memories) at the end of your career you remember it a lot more fondly.
"The legacy hopefully this group of players leave is a positive one, not only from the Euros but going forward, because they genuinely want to go to a World Cup and push for that and be in contention for that."
