Sanchez looks to move forward

Four weeks after Northern Ireland's historic 3-2 victory over Spain in Belfast, their manager, Lawrie Sanchez, finally, formally, met the Irish press here yesterday to discuss the events of that night at Windsor Park.

Sanchez, however, refused to go into detail regarding his alleged post-match verbal resignation, but he did say he is committed to seeing out the rest of the European Championship qualifying campaign over the next 13 months.

Asked if he would depart then, Sanchez replied: "Not necessarily. In life you never know what is around the corner, certainly I don't. So to say that I'm leaving the job, as I read in some of the papers - I'm swapping managers with Norwich or I'm going to West Brom or Leeds - that certainly hasn't come from me. I love doing this job, most of the time."

When pushed for his version of what happened after Spain, Sanchez said: "I've already addressed that in my statement. It's old news, the situation has moved on and I don't believe it's a major issue with anyone beyond yourselves in this room. I'm here, pleased to be here and looking forward to the remaining games in this campaign, hoping that we can perform (against Denmark on Saturday) as we did against Spain."

It was not a pleasant experience for Sanchez or the press yesterday, with the mutual trust that had existed now gone, but the issue will only be of relevance should it affect Sanchez or his players in the coming two Euro 2008 qualifiers against Denmark or at home to Latvia next Wednesday.

Certainly the manager would now like the subject to wither. It was three days before Sanchez spoke publicly after the game against Spain, and when he did it was to release the statement that said he would be remaining. He also thanked the Irish fans and accused the media of bias and sensationalism.

Sanchez did acknowledge his personal situation had clouded the aftermath of a famous victory: "If I have any regret it is that the gloss was taken off the performance, but in two or three years' time all you will hear about and talk about is the result and David Healy's fantastic hat-trick. You will not be talking about any other stuff."

But there was no willingness to reveal detail of that "other stuff", and ultimately no confirmation as to whether he did offer his resignation. "The facts have been well-documented, I've said my piece in my statement, I dealt with the facts. From your side you have commented on the facts as you saw them. Both parties have had a good say, but it is old news. I've said everything I want to say."

Sanchez commented that he was sure the Spain manager, Luis Aragones, was not experiencing the same "grilling", and he was adamant this was not him "re-affirming" his commitment to Northern Ireland because "my commitment has always been to the Northern Ireland job".

"Sometimes outside factors distract you unnecessarily from the job in hand. As my players showed in the Spain game, despite unbelievable pressure put on them and myself, they were more than equal to the task. I still do wonder sometimes why you dealt both with the team and myself . . . after everything that I have achieved in the past two years."

The improvement in the Irish under Sanchez cannot be disputed. When he took over from Sammy McIlroy, Northern Ireland's Fifa ranking was 124 - today it is 58 - and they had failed to score in 13 games stretching back more than two years.

But in the last 11 months, as Sanchez happily said: "We have beaten two teams in the top 10 (England and Spain) - two (World Cup) quarter-finalists - and drawn with one semi-finalist (Portugal). I think that at times we don't get the credit we deserve for that."