Former Northern Ireland player doesn't rule out return to the international set-up

Former Northern Ireland player Chris Brunt hasn’t ruled out a return to the international set-up as a coach.Brunt won 65 caps for Northern Ireland and was part of Michael O’Neill’s success story that led to Euro 2016 in France.He was unfortunate to miss out on the finals due to a bad injury but went as a fan and pundit.

He believes the team can qualify for next summers Euros again under O’Neill.“When you look at what that did for the country in 2016 it was amazing,” Brunt recalled.“It would be incredible to do it again and I do believe they can qualify from this group. It will be really hard because there is so much youth in the side but if anyone can do it Michael can.“And if he can squeeze a couple more years out of the likes of Steve Davis, Jonny Evans and Conor McLaughlin that will really help.”In his new role as Loans Manager at West Brom, Brunt was watching a player on loan at Burton quite a bit so came across young Northern Ireland striker Dale Taylor and was “very impressed” by him.He met Michael O’Neill at one of the games towards the end of the season watching Taylor.He said: “We had a good chat and yes we had conversations about possibly helping out within the IFA but I’m happy at the minute in my role. It’s great because I’m seeing both sides of football. I’ve done my coaching badges with the IFA so it’s something I might be interested in in the future.”Northern Ireland beat San Marino 2-0 in their opening away game of the Euro 2024 qualifying campaign in March but returned to Belfast with a 1-0 defeat to Finland a few days later.“We need to make Windsor Park a fortress again,” added Brunt.“Michael will be frustrated with the Finland defeat but it’s early days in the campaign hopefully these summer games will go our way.

"Denmark will be tough but we have proven we can win away and if we get back to winning our home games that gives us a good chance in this group.”O’Neill’s side take on Denmark in Copenhagen on Friday night before Kazakhstan visit Belfast on Monday. 

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