Tanya Oxtoby: New Northern Ireland manager targeting Euros and World Cup

Tanya Oxtoby replaced Kenny Shiels as Northern Ireland manager

New Northern Ireland women's manager Tanya Oxtoby says she is targeting qualification for major tournaments.

Northern Ireland qualified for Euro 2022 under Kenny Shiels but missed out on the summer's World Cup.

Oxtoby takes on the manager's job after two years as Emma Hayes' assistant at Chelsea.

"When I took on this role I was looking at the Euros and the World Cup," said Oxtoby, who met with Northern Irish media for the first time on Friday.

"What would I like? To be competing in both of those of tournaments. How we get there is going to be a process. We have short-term ambitions and long-term goals as well.

"Hopefully I'm sat in a nice sunny place in the world, with this team competing at a major tournament."

Long wait

Oxtoby, who was also previously in charge of Bristol City, was appointed after an eight-month gap without a manager following Shiels' departure in January.

Northern Ireland missed an international window in February with Irish FA coaches Andy Waterworth and Gail Redmond taking charge of matches while the association looked for Shiels' successor.

Oxtoby says the initial conversations with the IFA aligned with her personal views and that made taking the job the right decision.

"When I initially spoke to Aaron [Hughes, the IFA's technical director] we were really aligned in terms of our views and what the organisation stood for," added the Australian.

"That was really important for me for what my next role was going to be.

"Having conversations with Aaron and Angela [Platt, director of women's football] about where they want to go and how they want to get there, for me that resonated and I think once we realised we were aligned then the rest took care of itself really."

Oxtoby will begin her tenure in Northern Ireland's Nations League opener with the Republic of Ireland on 23 September in Dublin, and says she is really excited for "a different challenge".

She added that she won't get distracted by Vera Pauw's departure as Republic of Ireland manager and says her focus is on her players.

"It's a role for me that is really, really exciting," the 41-year-old said.

"I've been in club football mostly and this is going to be a fantastic new challenge for me. I was lucky enough to see them at the Euros and that sets me up really well.

"It's a fantastic fixture to start with and I'm really looking forward to it. We need to focus on us, we have a lot to do with bringing the squad back in and trying to embed some of the things we want to work on, so it's a great challenge and hopefully we will give everyone something to get excited about."

"The foundations have been fantastic and we have a really good platform to launch the team forward. It's been a really exciting journey and one I want to carry on."

'You don't get Tanya's calibre overnight'

Oxtoby was previously Emma Hayes' assistant at Chelsea

Hughes, who was key to Oxtoby's appointment, added that he felt the Australian was the right person for the job and defended the association's eight-month wait to replace Shiels.

"We sat down and said, 'what are we looking for here?'," the former Northern Ireland defender said.

"To be honest, there aren't many of that calibre [of managers] around, especially knocking around free as most of them are in jobs.

"It was a case of going through a detailed process and doing our due diligence. I suppose to get to the level of candidate that we got, with Tanya's calibre, you don't get that overnight.

"A lot of the pressure comes from the games on top of the time. If you remove the games, the pressure - you look at any other industry in the world, when they go out and they try and get the right fit, they take that time.

"Football just adds that pressure, as you know. We never felt like we were dragging our heels.

"We were always continually in that process and doing our due diligence, taking our time and it's really nice that we can sit back and be really satisfied with having someone like Tanya in the building.

"We can be really proud of our work and be really excited for what's ahead and the success we hope we can have, with Tanya leading that."