Michael O'Neill: Northern Ireland manager set for talks with SFA over Scotland job

Northern Ireland boss Michael O'Neill is set to hold talks with the Scottish Football Association in the coming days about the vacant Scotland job.

BBC Scotland understands the Irish Football Association has honoured a gentleman's agreement and granted O'Neill permission to speak to the SFA.

The 48-year-old is the organisation's preferred candidate to succeed Gordon Strachan as national manager.

The IFA agreed to the SFA's request after a board meeting on Friday.

It has already offered O'Neill an improved contract in an attempt to retain him as manager.

O'Neill has been in charge of Northern Ireland for six years.

He led them to Euro 2016 - their first major finals since the 1986 World Cup - but they missed out on World Cup qualification in the play-offs.

O'Neill steered them to second place behind Germany in a qualifying group that included the Czech Republic and Norway, but they were beaten 1-0 on aggregate by Switzerland.

The former Brechin City and Shamrock Rovers boss, who lives in Edinburgh, is under contract until 2020 on a deal believed to be worth £500,000 a year.

Northern Ireland are 23rd in the Fifa rankings, six places above Scotland.

O'Neill's overall record in charge of Northern Ireland. His win % in competitive games is 39%

O'Neill won only one of his first 18 matches in charge of Northern Ireland, but has won 17 and drawn eight of his 35 matches since September 2014.

His Northern Ireland assistants are also based in Scotland - Austin MacPhee is assistant manager at Hearts, while Jimmy Nicholl is assistant boss at Falkirk.

Strachan left in October following Scotland's failure to reach the World Cup play-offs.

SFA performance director Malky Mackay took charge for a friendly defeat by the Netherlands last week, but chief executive Stewart Regan had already ruled him out of the running to succeed Strachan on a long-term basis.

Scotland have not been to a major tournament since the 1998 World Cup.

Their next match is likely to be in March, with talks taking place over a friendly in Morocco, but they do not have a competitive fixture until next autumn.

Under Strachan, Scotland were unbeaten in their final six qualifying matches but finished third behind group winners England and Slovakia.

O'Neill is the manager the Scottish FA want to replace Strachan (left)