Ian Baraclough: Important to resolve manager situation - Irish FA president Kirkwood

Irish FA president Conrad Kirkwood says the organisation's Board will seek to resolve the situation around the future of Northern Ireland manager Ian Baraclough "as soon as possible".

"It's important for us as a Board to be giving that a lot of thought.

"We will be doing that over the coming weeks," explained Kirkwood.

Baraclough was appointed to succeed Michael O'Neill as manager in June 2020 but failed to secure a place at the rescheduled Euro 2020 finals via the play-offs.

The present qualification campaign has been a relatively disappointing one, bar a convincing away win over Lithuania and a home draw with Switzerland.

With final qualifying games at home to Lithuania and Italy still to come in November, Northern Ireland are battling for third place in their group and the future of the former Motherwell boss has become a major talking point.

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"It's a Board matter but it's also important to focus on the next qualifying game against Lithuania," insisted Kirkwood.

"There has been a changeover in terms of playing personnel and there is a certain element of a transition period so we have to be realistic.

"You look at the Under-21s and it's exciting to see the young players coming through, especially those of the quality of Conor Bradley."

The IFA president went on to explain that a paper will be put to the Board outlining future plans for the women's international team as they prepare to take part in next summer's Euro finals.

"We are working to a position where there is a greater parity as regards pay but also working with employers to try and allow us to have access to the players full-time," he said.

"In addition, we are trying to assess what the bounty might be that we get from the Euros competition and how that might be given to the players in the same way as the senior men's team., treating them with the same respect as the men's team is treated."