‘Disciplined, brave, relentless’ – new NI boss McArdle lays out plans

Michael McArdle, the Scottish FA’s head of elite women’s football and former interim head coach of Scotland, has been appointed Northern Ireland manager.

McArdle, who is Tanya Oxtoby’s permanent successor, replaces interim boss Kris Lindsay, who presided over Northern Ireland’s two opening defeats to Switzerland and Turkey in their Women’s World Cup qualifying campaign last week.

Lindsay will return to his role as Northern Ireland men’s under-16 boss.

Glaswegian McArdle will start his role on 1 April and will lead NI in their remaining qualifying fixtures, starting with a double-header against Malta at home on 14 and away on 18 April.

The former Ayr United assistant took charge of Scotland’s first four Nations League A games last year – all defeats – as the Scots looked for their own permanent head coach in Melissa Andreatta.

Once Australian Andreatta was appointed, McArdle returned to his lofty role within the SFA, which included managing various youth teams, including recently, Scotland Under-23s, while being responsible for identifying and developing talent and creating pathways to the national team.

McArdle said that “history and ambition” attracted him to the Northern Ireland role.

“This is a group in transition, with exciting young talent developing at international level while remaining competitive,” he said.

“There is a good balance of experience alongside a generation of players currently breaking through, and I want to support them with the elite level structures needed to turn that potential into a consistent national standard.

McArdle’s appointment brings to an end the protracted search for Oxtoby’s permanent successor which dragged on for four months after her departure to Newcastle United in November.

The 46-year-old has had vast coaching experience at the Scottish FA culminating in those four games as interim manager of the senior side last year.

When his interim role ended, he said he would have liked to take on the role permanently but the association opted for Melissa Andreatta.

Now he will get the chance to work as a full-time manager at Northern Ireland, with a young side that is going through a transitional phase.

McArdle will relish the chance to work with NI’s crop of talented youngsters that are coming through given his previous experience with Scotland’s under-17 and under-19 squads and his decision to call up a number of young players during his interim spell for the Nations League.

Kris Lindsay in his two games as interim manager built a solid defensive foundation for NI. Although they lost both fixtures to leave them third in their World Cup group, they were rarely cut open by either Switzerland or Turkey.

The real challenge for McArdle will be going the other way and trying to get players to step up in the absence of striker Simone Magill and shoulder the goalscoring burden with NI struggling to create any real chances across those first two games.