With Northern Ireland not qualifying for the 2010 World Cup there has been some speculation that Manager Nigel Worthington is ready to step down to go back into club management and reacting on that news VC Bet have opened up a market on the Next Northern Ireland Manager Odds. At the top of the market are former Manager Lawrie Sanchez and Gerry Armstrong who are both looking short, one that we like who is not working at the moment is Iain Dowie and his price could offer some good value.

Next Northern Ireland Manager Odds with VC Bet as of 11/12/2009 – Click to Bet

Lawrie Sanchez 7/2
Gerry Armstrong 7/2
Pat Rice 5/1
Jim Magilton 5/1
Jimmy Nicholl 5/1
Gerry Taggert 8/1
Jim Harvey 9/1
Brendan Rodgers 12/1
Jimmy Quinn 12/1
Iain Dowie 12/1
Sammy McIlroy 14/1
Bar

Nigel Worthington is the current Manager of Northern Ireland and he is trying to lead his side to the World Cup in South Africa in 2010. Northern Ireland have struggled to qualify for Major Tournaments in recent years having not appeared in one since 1986. Their fortunes have improved in recent times with some near misses in qualification and they are once again going well in their qualification group for the World Cup 2010, and will be looking to end the drought this time round.

Current Performance

The side currently are in a five way battle for the top two spots in their group and are in with a good shot at sneaking a Play-Off place which will be deemed a successful campaign after such a solid start. They have performed above expectations on a regular basis and Worthington has proved a successful boss who the Northern Irish FA will be looking to keep hold of.

The upcoming qualification matches will prove crucial for Northern Ireland and some good results there may see the team into those prestigious top two slots in what is probably the tightest qualifying group of them all. They have already had some good results including a 3-2 home win against a strong Polish team at Windsor Park to lift their confidence.

Manager History

As you can can see below, Northern Ireland like to hold onto their Managers for as long as possible and this list shows they are normally happy to allow the boss a certain amount of time. Expectations are reasonably low for a small footballing country which benefits the Manager as he looks to steer the team towards qualification. Often Managers who perform well in this job move onto bigger and better things in England which is what Lawrie Sanchez did when he moved to Fulham.

Peter Doherty (1951–1962)
Bertie Peacock (1962–1967)
Billy Bingham (1967–1971)
Terry Neill (1971–1975)
Dave Clements (1975–1976)
Danny Blanchflower (1976–1979)
Billy Bingham (1980–1994)
Bryan Hamilton (1994–1998)
Lawrie McMenemy (1998–1999)
Sammy McIlroy (2000–2003)
Lawrie Sanchez (2004–2007)
Nigel Worthington (2007–present)

Popularity: 2% [?]