Cowdenbeath boss Jimmy Nicholl last night maintained that the decision to take the Northern Ireland assistant manager’s job should not adversely affect his side’s Championship survival bid.
The lure of his country calling this week proved to be too much for the 58-year-old to turn down as he was appointed Michael O’Neill’s number two, but Nicholl insists that he will be able to combine the two posts without impinging too much on his day job at Central Park.
And while it has emerged that Nicholl will be forced to miss Cowden’s trip to Rangers a week tomorrow due to his new commitments with Northern Ireland, the Blue Brazil boss hopes to keep disruption to an absolute minimum.
“Michael asked what my working week was and if it was possible for me to go and help him, so I spoke to the chairman at length,” Nicholl said of his appointment yesterday.
“The problem is that is does interfere with your work here and that’s the bit that we had to try and get over, but there’s no getting around it and unfortunately I will miss the Rangers game next week.
“But I don’t miss anything else, although I have got to be in Belfast on the Saturday before the Finland game on Sunday so there’s nothing I can do about that.
“At my age it is a fantastic opportunity to do it, but I still needed permission from the chairman to do it so he’s alright with it.
“Lee Makel will stand in on the Saturday of the Rangers game, but the preparation will be all done before it and that’s the only interference.
“I’ll obviously be tuned into that game, and hopefully we’ll be going into it with a wee win against Queen of the South this weekend and Falkirk on Tuesday night.
“It’s only one game in the grand scheme of things, and I’d like to think the supporters won’t begrudge me the opportunity.
“It’s not being unprofessional, it’s not caring about the situation at Cowdenbeath, everything will be in place for the Falkirk game and the Rangers game it’s just the fact that I won’t be there at Ibrox.”
Nicholl has twice before been considered for the Northern Ireland manager’s job outright, having been overlooked in favour of Bryan Hamilton in 1994 and Lawrie Sanchez in 2004.
But that certainly has not deterred Nicholl’s determination to do his best for his country.
“It’s come full circle hasn’t it?” he said.
“I’ve gone from player/manager at Raith Rovers and assistant manager under Billy Bingham to this 20 years later, and Michael (O’Neill) was a player then!
“He was in the squad when I was assistant manager with Billy, and I was just a young manager gaining experience under the guidance of Billy.
“But the other opportunites are just water under the bridge and whatever happened, happened.
“Normally you get asked to probably go and help out in difficult situations, but it’s great to be asked to help out in a good situation.
“Northern Ireland have got off to a great start in their group and we’ve got Finland on the 29th and Romania in June, and I’m sure all the players are excited and so is Michael about the start that they’ve had.
“I’m just looking forward to getting in and doing what I need to do.”
First up for Nicholl in his new role is Wednesday night’s friendly against Scotland at Hampden, although the Northern Irishman hasn’t quite turned his attention to that just yet.
“I don’t know what team Michael’s going to play because the big one is on Sunday night against Finland,” he added.
“I haven’t really spoken to Michael about that I just wanted to get everything sorted out at Cowdenbeath first and foremost.”
As far as Cowdenbeath are concerned, Nicholl delivered the news yesterday that on loan Celtic midfielder John Herron’s season is almost certainly over.
Herron injured his ankle in training and has been ruled out for four to six weeks.
“He did it the Friday before the Hibs game and just went over on it,” he explained.
“The Celtic specialist has seen him and it’s not an operation that’s needed, but he just needs to be looked after so it looks as if that’s the end of his season.”
Meanwhile, Dean Brett has been ruled out for two to three weeks after picking up an ankle knock in the 2-0 loss to Hibs, although Sean Higgins and Colin Nish should both be available for tomorrow’s game at Queen of the South.