Michael O'Neill considered quitting 'after nearly every game' at start of NI reign
- Published
First games in charge were the most difficult - O'Neill
Michael O'Neill has revealed he came close to quitting a number of times during the early stages of his reign as Northern Ireland manager.
The Stoke City boss, 50, failed to win any of his first 10 international games after taking over in December 2011.
O'Neill is the guest on this week's Rerun programme, which will be screened on BBC2 NI on Sunday at 20:00 BST.
"Sometimes after nearly every game," he said when asked if he had considered leaving the role early on.
"I found the first few games the most difficult of all because I didn't have the squad, I started to realise that the commitment of the players wasn't where it should have been.
"They didn't see friendly internationals as anything significant, but how do you build a team if you don't have your best players available?
"You just can't come into a qualifying campaign, flick a switch and hope everything works."
O'Neill was appointed Stoke manager in November with the club bottom of the Championship, but he has guided them to safety by finishing 15th in the table.
O'Neill tested positive for coronavirus in June before the Championship resumed
The original plan when O'Neill first took over The Potters was for him to also remain as Northern Ireland boss for the Euro 2020 play-off against Bosnia-Herzegovina, which was due to take place in March.
However, when that fixture was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic - and the tournament itself now not taking place until next summer - the former Newcastle United and Coventry City winger stepped down permanently from his international role in April.
He was closely linked with the Scotland national team job soon after NI lost to Switzerland in their World Cup play-off in November 2017, but he has revealed that there were also two club jobs that he found "appealing" at that time.
"I had spoken to Sunderland and West Bromwich Albion. It was quite a difficult time because my mum died about a week after that game," he explained.
"When a job is offered to you, at that point generally the club is not in a great position, and they want you to come in, take over and just totally throw yourself into a job.
"Because of my mum's health situation it was difficult for me to think 'will I be in a Premier League dugout on Saturday for West Bromwich Albion against someone or will I be in the Championship in Sunderland's dugout'? So I felt it wasn't the right thing.
"West Bromwich Albion went a different route and I decided that Sunderland wasn't the opportunity that I wanted at that point in time."
Former Sligo Rovers and Motherwell manager Ian Baraclough was announced as O'Neill's replacement as NI manager last month.
See the full Michael O'Neill interview on Rerun on BBC Two NI at 20:00 BST on Sunday.