Championship manager hints at quitting job immediately after avoiding relegation

Michael O’Neill has hinted that he will leave Blackburn Rovers at the end of the season.

O’Neill was drafted in by the Championship club in February in a dual role alongside his position as Northern Ireland boss.

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The 56-year-old was tasked with keeping Blackburn in the second tier, while also preparing for a World Cup play-off match.

Northern Ireland were beaten by Italy in March, ending their hopes of reaching the 2026 World Cup in North America.

However, he achieved his other task of keeping Blackburn up, as they secured their Championship survival on Wednesday night.

Their 3-1 win at Sheffield United saw them mathematically safe with just one game of their season left to play.

Sheffield Wednesday and Leicester are already relegated, with Oxford only able to catch Charlton for the final place in the drop zone.

Speaking after the game, O’Neill admitted there is no chance he can do both jobs going forward.

“You can’t do both, there’s no way you could do both because I was only able to do the two things because the [play-off] game was in March, there’s no way you could do it when the games are in September, October, November, it’s just… it’s not possible,” O’Neill told BBC Radio Lancashire.

“It was tough enough to be honest and I maybe underestimated that a little bit but I was fortunate I had a really good staff at Northern Ireland.

“The team was extremely well prepared for the Italy game. Unfortunately we didn’t get over the line in that game, but at some point I’ll have to make a decision one way or the other.”

Blackburn talks planned

Blackburn face already-relegated Leicester in their final game of the 2025/26 season.

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O’Neill has a contract with Northern Ireland until 2028, where he will hope to lead them at the European Championship.

“Look, of course those discussions will take place, you know the club have a decision to make themselves, on what direction they want to go,” he said.

“I’m a contracted manager, so the situation doesn’t really change from, I suppose for any club, if they wanted me as a manager, they would have to go through the IFA, they would have to meet the terms of the release clause and I would have to want to do it.

“That’s existed at any point of my management career at international level and it’s the same now.

“This was a loan. I suppose given where we are it’ll be deemed as a successful loan.

“I’ve enjoyed the club, there’s a lot of really, really good people at the club and, you know, I’m sure conversations will happen one way or the other obviously in the weeks ahead.”