Michael O’Neill - Blackburn & Northern Ireland Manager - A Conflict of Interests.

Steve Gilbert said:
Or, and this might be a crazy idea, O’Neill will do what’s best for NI since he is a professional football manager.
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Isn’t it a nothing game?

One would hope decisions are strictly professional, but the situation feels far from ideal.

A bit like a referee who is a supporter of a particular club not getting the gig to referee their games, despite being a professional with integrity.

Footballers are also professional but mysteriously pick up these knocks and injuries before meaningless internationals.

You could argue that they are under pressure from their domestic leadership. The same could be true of O’Neil feeling pressure from the BR hierarchy.

Allowing a situation where decisions can be brought into question like this is definitely a conflict.
 
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It'll certainly be interesting to see how much of the game Brown, Spencer, McDonnell, Donley, Devlin (Portsmouth) and Price (West Brom) play tonight.

I've already sharpened my pitchfork in anticipation.

And if McNair lines up for Hull against us on Friday then I'll have to light a flaming torch as well. No doubt Portsmouth fans will feel similar if McConville starts for Norwich against them. Not sure if McCann is genuinely injured as he didn't play in Italy and didn't play in Preston's last 2 games, but if he turns up in the squad against Leicester then they might be a bit miffed.

Either way, the whole thing stinks and it's unfortunate for us that we have 4 players at risk of injury, as well as the potential to face 1 on Friday that was withdrawn.

Hopefully it works in our favour. Wouldn't it be sweet to see Brown bury a Donley corner and then the two repeat the trick on Friday?
 
holdsteady said:
I was pretty relaxed about it until he released players playing against his relegation rivals but kept players playing for those teams, hard not to smell a rat once that happened.

It will be to late for us but if this works in Blackburns favours and other clubs complain I should imagine a ban on taking the two jobs will be implemented, as I say unfortunately it will be to late for us.
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Same. Absolutely blatant.
 
Osei Yaw said:
It'll certainly be interesting to see how much of the game Brown, Spencer, McDonnell, Donley, Devlin (Portsmouth) and Price (West Brom) play tonight.

I've already sharpened my pitchfork in anticipation.

And if McNair lines up for Hull against us on Friday then I'll have to light a flaming torch as well. No doubt Portsmouth fans will feel similar if McConville starts for Norwich against them. Not sure if McCann is genuinely injured as he didn't play in Italy and didn't play in Preston's last 2 games, but if he turns up in the squad against Leicester then they might be a bit miffed.

Either way, the whole thing stinks and it's unfortunate for us that we have 4 players at risk of injury, as well as the potential to face 1 on Friday that was withdrawn.

Hopefully it works in our favour. Wouldn't it be sweet to see Brown bury a Donley corner and then the two repeat the trick on Friday?
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100% this
 
I guess the only positive for us is we now have options in our squad so

Konak replaces McDonnell
Davies replaces Brown
MPH replaces Donnelly
Long replaces Spencer

And it doesn't really weaken our squad
 
I can see Brown starting tonight, possibly Spencer after his performance. Not sure about Donley and McDonnell.
 
Osei Yaw said:
I've already sharpened my pitchfork in anticipation.

And if McNair lines up for Hull against us on Friday then I'll have to light a flaming torch as well.
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McNair hasn't lined up in back-to-back games for Hull since early February (when they conceded 10 goals in 3 home games).

He only started the last match (at LB) after an injury crisis. If he plays for them on Friday, it's not necessarily bad news for us.

Haiku-wise:

O'Neill's selection
Gives us all a bitter taste
Please no injuries
 
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Hopefully if any of our players picked to play, they treat it like a training exercise and don’t do anything stupid, I know playing for your country is the greatest honour, but this game is about going through the motions. Let’s hope our management team have been in their ears.🙏🏼
 
billyturleyscurlywurly said:
Since when did everyone become so soft?

Big deal if they play or don’t play.
We won’t go down or stay up based off it.

It’s all a load of nonsense and people need to grow up.
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That will be 3 games in 6 days if any of them play, we need our squad to be the fittest it can be in the final part of the season.
 
billyturleyscurlywurly said:
What if all 4 play and play superb which gives them confidence to take into our last 7 games?
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I did wonder if [some of] the NI defence might allow Sparky to run rings around them, score a double hattrick and thus boost his confidence and let him find his goal scoring boots for the run in.....
 
Steve Gilbert said:
What if Brannagan, Lankshear, Long and Mills get injured in training this week?
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That would be a disaster. But the Blackburn manager wouldn't have any control over it, would he?

As an aside, judging by the Blackburn reaction to this I was tempted to describe their fanbase (with a sweeping generalisation) as 'thick as mince'.

But I reckon you've single-handedly prevented me from doing so.
 
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