Northern Ireland name O'Neill

The 42-year-old former Newcastle, Dundee United and Hibernian player will take control of the national team from 1st February.

Last week skysports.com revealed O'Neill had been offered the job to succeed Nigel Worthington and he is 'honoured' to be named their new manager.

O'Neill insists there is much hard work to be done after Northern Ireland finished fourth in Euro 2012 qualifying group C with nine points from 10 matches.

Honoured

"I am a proud Northern Irishman who was fortunate enough to win 33 senior caps and it was always an ambition to manage my country."
Michael O'Neill Quotes of the week

"I am honoured to be chosen to manage my country. I am a proud Northern Irishman who was fortunate enough to win 33 senior caps and it was always an ambition to manage my country," he told the irishfa.com.

"To be entrusted with the role early in my managerial career is quite humbling but I am confident that we can make progress. Northern Ireland has a strong football tradition but one that needs to be refreshed with some more contemporary success.

"That is my primary objective - to restore a sense of belief and pride in what it means to represent Northern Ireland so that our players will want only to play for their country. That is how it should be.

"There is a huge amount of work to be done but with the right direction and the necessary passion good progress can be made. The board and the CEO have a clear plan for the future and have given me responsibility to set about the task of renewal within the context of a long-term plan.

"At the same time, in the interests of everyone involved, most particularly our supporters my job is to work with the players to sustain a competitive performance throughout the qualifying phase of the 2014 World Cup finals."

Delighted

Irish FA president Jim Shaw is delighted O'Neill has accepted the country's offer while chief executive Patrick Nelson has described him as the 'stand-out' candidate.

"I am delighted that Michael has accepted the role of managing our senior international team and I would like to wish him every success as he prepares for the World Cup qualifying campaign next year," said Shaw.

Nelson added: "Michael was the stand-out choice from an excellent field. The selection panel was very impressed with his thoughts and plans for football in Northern Ireland over the coming years. We are all looking forward to 29 February now when we take on Norway at Windsor Park."