O’Neill to widen player search

While admitting he harbours reservations about Fifa’s eligibility rules — which allow players who meet certain criteria to switch countries if they haven’t already been capped in a competitive senior international — Martin O’Neill reckons it would be “foolish” if he didn’t use the same rules to maximise the Republic of Ireland’s player pool.

“At the minute those are the rules and whether I like them or not, I am going to go with them,” he said.

Questioned about the always controversial issue in Dublin yesterday, O’Neill pointed out: “Jack [Charlton] used the rules to his advantage and in those days I don’t think anyone complained because the Republic hadn’t had any real success in a long time and Jack brought success. If he brought success with Ray Houghton having a Scottish accent, who really cared?