Michael O’Neill’s men were grounded in John Lennon Airport
Northern Ireland’s preparations for Thursday’s opening World Cup qualifier were impacted today by a delay to their Luxembourg bound chartered flight.
Michael O’Neill and his squad were due to take off from Liverpool in mid-afternoon on Wednesday but were still grounded in John Lennon Airport over two hours later.
An IFA spokesperson commented: “The charter aircraft was late repositioning from Gatwick due to adverse weather conditions in the south of England, followed by some issues with ground handling which, combined, delayed the travel by approximately two hours.”
The Northern Ireland Instagram account posted a video showing the team boarding the plane just before 5.30pm.
The players had smiles on their faces so didn’t seem unduly perturbed.
The social media post declared ‘Next stop Luxembourg’.
It is understood the flight took off around 6.30pm.
Obviously it is not an ideal situation ahead of such an important match.
O’Neill was due to hold a matchday minus one press conference in the stadium at 7.30pm Luxembourg time, which is one hour ahead of the UK.
That didn’t happen with UEFA looking into holding the media briefing at the team hotel a couple of hours later.
The Northern Ireland squad had assembled on Merseyside on Sunday and trained at Liverpool’s AXA Training Centre in Kirby, home to the Premier League champions.
News Catch Up – Tuesday 2nd September
They trained in Liverpool on Wednesday before making their way to the airport.
This is not the first time a Northern Ireland flight to Luxembourg has caused issues.
In 2000 ahead of Sammy McIlroy’s first match as manager, there was a delay to the Luxembourg flight and fears it may not take off at all until eventually the squad got in the air.
The trip ended on a happy note with Northern Ireland winning the friendly in Luxembourg 3-1 with David Healy, then a youngster at Manchester United, scoring twice on his debut.