'It's not a risk playing for your country, it's a reward'

BBC News

18 hours ago

Striker Josh Magennis has won 82 caps for Northern Ireland and will be part of BBC Sport NI's coverage of Saturday's friendly with Denmark after missing the game through injury.The difference in the attitude towards summer friendlies now compared to when I started, it's night and day.I actually made my debut during one of these windows.Under Nigel Worthington, we went to America and we played Turkey and Chile in 2010. I had got called in late because so many people pulled out through injury or had other plans. While I benefited from it massively, there were a lot of people talking about who wasn't available. The only senior pros were Gareth McAuley and Stephen Craigan, everyone else either from the Under-21s or early on in their career. But when Michael O'Neill came in, he laid it out clearly. He said if you're not available in the summer, you're not available in season. That's what turned around the availability. He just asked for that buy-in.
Then senior players like Steven Davis toeing the line made a pathway for the up and coming boys, the likes of myself, Corry Evans, Oli Norwood, to just follow suit.What makes Michael different is his man management, how he handles other men. He doesn't mollycoddle you, he doesn't micromanage you.When you're working, he expects you to give everything you've got, when you have a bit of downtime, you're free.He gives you the parameters, to look after yourself, but he doesn't tell you what to do.And if he finds out someone has been messing around, he's got that ruthlessness about him that you won't be back.It's not a fear factor as such, I think it's just respect. Boys know not to cross a line.Then when you get results, it's easy for people to follow and Michael managed to do that quite early on in his Northern Ireland career the first time round and then again coming back.
'International football can be a selling point'
If you don't know where you'll be playing next season, the biggest risk factor is injury, but that can happen anywhere at any time. And when your club future is uncertain, I think there's a selling point to playing international football. If you're playing League One or Championship, people will be thinking if Michael O'Neill is picking him to play senior international football, he must have some qualities.That's the way I've always looked at it, going into the summer. There's no grey area for me, I love playing for my country. Last year when I was looking for a club, if I was going to get injured and it was my last games, if I was able to say I did it playing for Northern Ireland, I'd have had no problems with that. I don't think that's just me, that's all of us. Nobody thinks it's a chore, nobody thinks it's hard work.It's not a risk playing for your country, it's a reward. You can't top it.
I've always loved playing for my country but you don't realise how much you'll miss it until you aren't doing it anymore.Firstly when I wasn't in the squad for March as Michael knows what I can do and wanted a look at other players, and then now because of my hip surgery.This week, you miss the camaraderie, meeting up on the first night and having the chats, talking to boys about their season.But it just keeps that fire burning to get back into pre-season, to keep doing what you do, and to make sure you get called back in for the World Cup qualifiers coming up in September.
Josh Magennis was speaking to BBC Sport NI's Jonathan Bradley.Watch Denmark v Northern Ireland live on BBC iPlayer and BBC Two NI; listen on BBC Sounds and follow live text commentary & in-play clips on the BBC Sport website. Kick-off in Copenhagen on Saturday is at 18:00 BST.