Now every minute counts, warns O’Neill

Club managers measure the passage of time in days and weeks, international managers in months and years.

Martin O’Neill has freely admitted that, as a first-time national manager, he faced a challenge in adjusting to the long, drawn-out nature of the international calendar, something only compounded in his case by the exceedingly protracted nature of the build-up from the day of his appointment last November to tomorrow’s European Championship curtain-raiser here in Tbilisi.

But, after all the talk and all the friendly fire and all the scouring of stadia the length and breadth of England monitoring talent old and new, the moment of truth is close at hand, the point of definition when O’Neill’s club and country experiences will finally come together. Match day is almost upon us.