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Irish FA chief keeps door open to all manner of possibilities as the talk of a return mounts

15th January 2009 By Latest News Leave a Comment

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They didn't say 'No!' but they haven't said 'Yes!'.

That would be one reading of the comments coming out of Belfast this morning as the Northern Ireland FA pondered the prospect of losing their manager to the Canaries – if only, initially at least, on a strictly caretaker basis.

They have, of course, already been down that road before when Lawrie Sanchez answered Fulham's SOS call and job done, was handed the post on a full-time basis and left his international employers out of pocket and without a manager.

Hence their suspicion over the prospect of Nigel Worthington lending Delia Smith and Michael Wynn Jones a 'helping hand' in the wake of Glenn Roeder's exit.

Any suggestion from their 48-year-old boss that 'It'll just be for a couple of weeks, just till things settle down and we get things sorted…' might be viewed very warily in the corridors of power across the water.

But that was where the world appeared to be going this afternoon; towards a quick, local fix. And one with Worthington somewhere in the mix.

Irish Football Association President Raymond Kennedy this morning told the Belfast Telegraph that, as yet, there had been no official contact from Carrow Road.

It is in the very nature of these matters, that you read every word with care. Kennedy's use of the words 'to' and 'date' can be read to suggest that he was expecting contact to be made; that there was no smoke without a fire after both the Daily Mail and Daily Mirror floated the idea of a shock return to Carrow Road for the Northern Ireland chief.

“There has been no contact from Norwich City to date and I wouldn't think Nigel will go, but anything can happen in football,” said Kennedy, clearly leaving the door open to all manner of possibilities.

The word 'can't' likewise didn't feature in his next sentence, either.

“Certainly we don't want him to go and would do all we could to persuade him to stay.”

The whole Sanchez affair has clearly left a bitter taste in the mouth; Kennedy is in no mood to be led up another garden path – hence a compensation clause in Worthington's contract.

“We don't want another situation where a manager leaves mid-campaign which happened last time and had a detrimental impact on our chances. Unlike then though there is a compensation clause in Nigel's contract which would help us,” he revealed, with Worthington's ?450,000 contract due to be up at the end of the year.

Kennedy added: “I think Nigel has done fairly well as our manager and has taken great interest in the overall structure of football in Northern Ireland which should help us in the future.

“We have been unfortunate with our World Cup results so far, but we are not out of the reckoning.”

Worthington has privately told friends that he could happily combine both roles; particularly if a safe pair of hands were in place for as and when international duty called.

With no games on international weekends anyway – and with Sammy Clingan joining him on Northern Ireland's World Cup adventures – he sees little conflict between the two positions.

Particularly if his return is, initially, only of the short-term caretaker variety; helping out his friends Delia and Michael in a time of crisis, might be one way any such move would be spun.

He is also known to be anxious to be out on a training ground again every day – not just every other month with his international charges.

He is, however, not the only show still in town.

Fellow ex-boss Bruce Rioch has no such complicating ties; likewise Aidy Boothroyd – a free agent again after his dismissal by Watford.

One name who appeared to firmly rule himself out of the running today was ex-Canary striker Mark Robins. Never one of football's greatest talkers, his response to questions from the Sheffield Star this morning was typically brief and to the point.

“Let the speculators speculate – we have a very big game here on Saturday against Bournemouth,” he said. “My concentration, and that of my staff and players, is on that and I'm getting on with the job of getting three points from it.”


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