Michael O’Neill reveals honest chat with Blackburn squad after arriving in UK just hours before first win

New Blackburn boss Michael O’Neill has revealed he only arrived at the training ground on Friday before his side’s 3-1 win over QPR.

The former Stoke City manager has been drafted in by the former Premier League champions to replace Valerien Ismael.

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It was announced on Friday that O’Neill had taken the role of interim manager at Ewood Park until the end of the campaign.

He is going to juggle this job with being the manager of the Northern Ireland senior team at the same time.

Northern Ireland take on Italy in a World Cup play-off in March.

But in the Blackburn announcement of his appointment, they made it clear that Damian Johnson would be in charge of the team for their clash against QPR.

However, everyone was stunned to see O’Neill in there, and after the game, he spoke to talkSPORT about it.

He said after his side won 3-1 at Loftus Road: “I had a chat, and I only arrived at the training ground yesterday.

“I flew in from Brussels, having been in the Nations League draw, so I was there at 11 and got involved with the team.

“I got involved with the preparation last night and we felt it would be better, and that I could add something in the dugout.”

On his new team, O’Neill said: “I thought we showed huge character today, particularly the back three – the three centre-backs were terrific.

“When you are in this situation that we are in, it’s not necessarily about how you play your football, it’s about making sure you stay in the game, particularly when you come to a tight ground like QPR. I thought we defended our box brilliantly.”

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He then added about his honest team talk to the Blackburn squad: “I just said to the players, ‘We don’t know each other very well now, but we’ll know a lot more about each other after 90 minutes.’

“And what I found out about my players today, I really liked.”

‘Keeps your mind sharp’

In March, O’Neill will be fully focused on Northern Ireland’s massive World Cup play-off against Italy, which could see his nation heading to North America in the summer.

This isn’t the first time that O’Neill has juggled the Northern Ireland job with a club role.

So, he’s experienced in that, having done it at Stoke, and he was asked how he finds doing both at the same time.

He said: “Normally, if I wasn’t here today, I would have been sat somewhere watching Northern Ireland players in a Championship game or in a League One game.

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“But it’s not like I have a huge selection of players to watch. They are players that I’ve seen.

“But to have me in the technical area, making decisions keeps your mind sharp, and I can only benefit from this going into the game in March.

“We’ve had four months between November and March, and I’ve spent most of December and January concentrating on Italy.

“I’ve been to the ground, and I’ve seen a game at the ground. There is only so much I can do, and Italy won’t play between now and then.

Much-needed

Before the contest kicked off, Rovers were on 32 points and sat in the drop zone, but a win has them three points clear of it, with Leicester City replacing them.

There is still a long way to go, but that was the perfect start for O’Neill.

It was a dream start as well with Mathias Jorgensen scoring a first-half double in between Koki Sato’s strike for the home side.

But any chances of a nervy second half were dismissed just five minutes in as Roya Morishita scored.

They now have a home game against Preston North End next Friday.