Northern Ireland boss Ian Baraclough hails the Irish League

The 49-year-old, who has been promoted from the Under-21s to succeed the hugely successful Michael O’Neill, believes players staying and plying their trade at home can benefit in the long term and has used the likes of former Glenavon duo Bobby Burns and Mark Sykes and ex-Crusaders winger Gavin Whyte as perfect examples.

Prior to making the switch across the water the trio gained valuable first team experience and played a host of competitive games, which Baraclough feels has helped them get their respective moves across the water and also led to them making an impression so early on into their full-time careers in England and Scotland.

Baraclough, who was appointed O’Neill’s successor at the weekend, also feels building up relationships with Irish League coaches and managers has helped him during his stint as U21 boss and hopes those relationships can become even stronger.

“I’m pleased that I’ve managed to build a lot of good relationships with managers and coaches. I felt that was something I needed to do as soon as I came over here,” he stated.

“A lot of young players are starting to play in the first teams over here and that was definitely to my benefit when I was taking players into the (U21) squad compared to taking players from U23 or U18 level in England or Scotland, because they were much more battle-hardened, they were ready, they’d shown their worth.

“The likes of Bobby Burns, Mark Sykes, Gavin Whyte have gone on and proven that they can make the trip across the water and make an impact.

“Over here they’ve played 70, 80 games so they have the confidence to go over there and are probably a bit better off; they’re older, better able to deal with a change in environment in leaving home.

“There are one or two who can definitely make that move.”

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