One manager, two jobs – how will O’Neill’s situation work?

It’s something you normally only see in video games, but Michael O’Neill will manage both club and country for the rest of the season.

The news that O’Neill would join Blackburn Rovers on a short-term deal until the end of the campaign comes just six weeks before Northern Ireland’s World Cup play-off semi-final with Italy.

Northern Ireland have not featured at a World Cup in 40 years and are underdogs to beat both the Italians, and then either Wales or Bosnia-Herzegovina, to reach the finals.

At his new role with Blackburn Rovers, his job is to guide the club out of the relegation places in the Championship with 15 games left.

Northern Ireland supporters could be forgiven for having a sense of deja vu, after O’Neill took charge of Stoke City in November 2019 in a deal that was set to have him guide NI into the Euro 2020 play-offs alongside his duties at the Championship club.

However, the Covid-19 pandemic pushed the play-offs back and O’Neill’s sole focus became Stoke City, until he made a full-time international return in 2022.

“This opportunity came to light and it was something that appealed to me,” O’Neill said on his Blackburn opportunity.

“Having had discussions with the IFA and with Blackburn, we felt it was something that was feasible, and that was the most important thing for both parties.

Having so much on the line for both Northern Ireland and Blackburn has left people questioning how he can balance the two responsibilities.

Northern Ireland fans spokesperson Gary McAllister told BBC Sport that O’Neill’s dual role had “not been well received” by supporters, but the 56-year-old does not have any concerns.

“If I felt for one minute it would distract [from the Italy game], I wouldn’t have taken the opportunity,” O’Neill said.

“And I wouldn’t have done that to Blackburn Rovers, either. It’s important they have my focus.”

For O’Neill to make the opportunity work, preparation has been key. He will take over day-to-day training at Blackburn – alongside Damien Johnson, Steven Davis and Phil Jones – and a lot of his groundwork for the World Cup play-off has already been sorted.

O’Neill said he and his team had studied the Italians, which led him to say “I don’t think there will be any surprises” from Gennaro Gattuso’s side, adding he has already been to Bergamo to visit Atalanta’s stadium for the fixture.

He said: “November to March is a long period of four months which leaves you with a lot of downtime.

“The reality of the situation is we’ve done a lot of work on Italy and we’ve watched them as much as we can watch them.

Northern Ireland face Italy on 26 March – just five days after Blackburn Rovers take on Championship leaders Middlesbrough, and O’Neill feels it will be business as usual after that game as he hopes his NI squad come through their final fixtures unscathed by injury.

He said: “I know my squad extremely well. I know pretty much the squad that I’ll pick for March and I know pretty much the team that I hope to pick in March as well.

“I’ll be sitting in the hotel on 21 March after Blackburn Rovers have played Middlesbrough hoping that my squad’s all going to turn up, and that’s something that’s not in my control.

“For me, the benefit of being on the grass will sharpen me coming into the games in March, instead of coming in after four months and having to be in the technical area.

While O’Neill will job share until the end of the season, he doesn’t feel an international manager could go part time, and the opportunity with Blackburn came about at an ideal time.

Northern Ireland’s last game was against Luxembourg in November, and O’Neill says he has made the most of that time to prepare Northern Ireland for Italy.

From next season, the September and October international windows will be combined into a quadruple header.

“I don’t think it’s possible to do it on a part-time role, but I think a situation like this is possible to do, or else I wouldn’t try to do it,” O’Neill said.

“I think that it’s feasible to do it at this time in the season, but it wouldn’t be something that would be feasible to do September, October and November, because you’re rolling into the games much quicker.”

O’Neill added that the four-month gap between World Cup qualifying and the play-off made the opportunity become a reality.

It all comes back to preparation and organisation.

“I think the biggest difference [to the Stoke City situation in 2019] is the fact that we’re so well prepared already for Italy,” he said.

O’Neill has been brought in at Blackburn to save the club from dropping into League One for the first time since 2018.

However, success with his club could cause issues on the international stage.

O’Neill has consistently spoken about having Northern Ireland’s players playing at the highest level, but a significant number of players will be going up against O’Neill’s Rovers to avoid the drop.

At Sheffield Wednesday, who seem doomed after their points deduction earlier in the season, goalkeeper Pierce Charles has been a positive in a difficult and injury-hit year.

Moving up the table, there is a strong Northern Ireland contingent at Oxford United, with Brodie Spencer, Jamie Donley, Jamie McDonnell and Ciaron Brown.

One point above Blackburn, Terry Devlin’s Portsmouth are also in danger while Isaac Price, who has been such a key player for O’Neill with Northern Ireland, is far from safe at West Brom.

However, for O’Neill, he said he isn’t “having that blood on my hands” and the fate of those clubs lay with their respective managers.

“At the end of the day, my job is to do the best I can for Blackburn Rovers,” he said.

O’Neill refused to be drawn on his future beyond the end of the season but said there was no guarantee he would join Blackburn if he kept them in the Championship.

His comments on the part-time international management rule that out as a long-term option, so his future in the summer will be either club or country, and not both.

“The agreement is in place as to the end of the season and we’re not looking any further than that at this moment in time,” O’Neill said.

O’Neill is contracted until the end of the Euro 2028 finals, and although he said there is a release clause in his contract, he still harbours ambitions to reach that tournament with Northern Ireland.

“I’m ambitious as a manager and I want to manage at the highest level I can,” O’Neill said.

“This is not about leaving Northern Ireland. It’s not about that.