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Michael O’Neill knows Saturday’s 3-0 win over San Marino was only a small step forward for his Northern Ireland side but it is still one he said can be important for a young and developing side. Paul Smyth got a goal and an assist on his first international start while there was also a first Northern Ireland goal for Conor McMenamin, with Josh Magennis getting another in a comfortable win at Windsor Park. But while Northern Ireland were always in control, 2-0 up after 11 minutes, the limitations which have seen their qualifying campaign unravel with five straight defeats since an opening victory over the same opposition in March were again on show in an often unexciting display. Northern Ireland finished the match with five players eligible for the under-21s on the pitch, once more deprived of much-needed experience by their long injury list. “For a number of our players they won’t have won a lot of games in international football, they’ve not played a lot of games in international football and they’ve not won a lot, so any win is positive,” O’Neill said. “It’s a good feeling, you feel it in the dressing room. We can take that feeling into Tuesday night’s game (against Slovenia) when there’s a team coming who have got a lot to play for.” Having raced into an early lead and then seen a 31st-minute strike from star man Smyth eventually disallowed for offside after a long VAR check, Northern Ireland lost momentum and the atmosphere fell flat before McMenamin completed the scoring in the 81st minute. This was only Northern Ireland’s third win in their last 18 games at Windsor Park but even then the crowd was quiet, artificially boosted at one point by the sound of chanting being played on the PA system. That reflected Northern Ireland’s standing in Group H, where the only team they have avoided defeat against is the one ranked 207th and last in the world. “All we can do is just continue to work with the players, build them up, try and get confidence,” O’Neill added. Results help build belief in what you're doing and that's the biggest thing the win will give us, a little bit of belief Michael O'Neill “When you’re working with a new group of players and working on how you want to play as a team, results help build belief in what you’re doing and that’s the biggest thing the win will give us, a little bit of belief. “The work we did in the week was pretty much how the opening two goals were scored and that’s something the players took well into the game.” Talk of the injuries that have ravaged Northern Ireland’s campaign is nothing new, but there is no denying their impact and it extends well beyond the headlines names of Steven Davis, Stuart Dallas, and Corry Evans, stretching deep into Northern Ireland’s limited reserves. “Even if you look at Conor Bradley, he’s only played three games for us in this campaign and that’s probably all he will play if I’m honest,” O’Neill added of the Liverpool wing-back. “November will be very touch and go for Conor. That makes it difficult.” The hope for O’Neill and Northern Ireland is that there is something to be gained down the line as so many of those players still around from the famous Euro 2016 campaign near the end of the road. “We have to use what we have done, mainly through necessity, to take us forward because the players we talk about that are missing, we’re not really sure how long they will continue to play for at international level,” the manager added. “We’ve already seen Craig (Cathcart) retire. These players won’t continue forever. “What we have to do between now and March 2025 when World Cup qualification starts is we’ve got to get as much international football into these young players as possible because they will probably form the foundation and the backbone of the team.” Read More Glittering career ends with tears for retiring Ireland captain Johnny Sexton Joe Root dismisses ODI retirement talk with next Cricket World Cup in his plans Ben Stokes ‘getting better day by day’ but Afghanistan game could come too soon PA Sport Trivia (16/10/2023) On this day in 2004: Andy Robinson appointed as England head coach Tommy Fury claims points victory over YouTube star KSI

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Brentford are the only Premier League team to have made the top 10 in a report assessing the country’s most sustainably-run clubs in the top four professional divisions. The Bees are the sole top-flight representatives among the best performers in the Fair Game Index published on Monday. This Index looks at all 92 clubs who were in the Premier League and the EFL last season, rating the performance of each on a weighted scoring system based on financial sustainability, governance, fan engagement and equality standards. Fair Game, a group of clubs and industry experts which campaigns for football reform, believes clubs’ performance against sustainability criteria should be used to determine how the bulk of the centrally-distributed broadcast revenue is allocated. League Two club AFC Wimbledon finished top in the Index. The Dons scored well across the board, underpinned by a firm commitment to never put the club’s financial status at risk. The club aim to always stay well below UEFA’s recommended wage-to-turnover ratio of 70 per cent, nurture homegrown talent and engage with the local community. Newly promoted League One team Carlisle are second, with Cambridge in third. No club who featured in the Championship last season made the top 10, with fourth-placed Plymouth promoted into the second tier at the end of last season. Brentford finished in 10th overall. Cambridge came top on governance in the Index, Lincoln led the way on equality standards and Exeter were first on fan engagement. Three of the six lowest-ranked clubs in the Index are Championship sides – Cardiff, Middlesbrough and League One play-off winners Sheffield Wednesday, while Premier League side Nottingham Forest had the lowest rating of all. Despite Forest being bottom, Premier League clubs had the highest average Index score – 50.0 – driven primarily by revenue being such a big factor in the financial sustainability, but were the worst performing on average for fan engagement. Championship clubs had the lowest average Index score – 38.1 – with clubs often spending beyond their means to either chase the Premier League dream or avoid the drop-off in income that follows relegation to League One. Fair Game has lobbied the football authorities to make clubs’ sustainability central to how much funding they receive, as the Premier League, EFL and the Football Association continue their talks on a ‘New Deal For Football’. Should they be unable to reach an agreement, the Government has said the new independent regulator for English football (IREF) should have backstop powers to impose a settlement via arbitration. Fair Game, which has consistently called for independent regulation, is also lobbying to ensure any backstop settlement includes consideration of how sustainable clubs are. Currently Fair Game says 12 per cent of the Premier League’s annual television income is distributed to the EFL and the wider pyramid. It says this should increase to 25 per cent, and also favours the introduction of a 10 per cent transfer levy on deals involving top-flight clubs, and deals between top-flight clubs and overseas teams. The fan-led review, published in 2021, called for a levy to be brought in but the proposal was not included in the Government’s white paper on football governance published earlier this year. Fair Game has also launched a tool allowing users to calculate how much clubs would earn based on their Fair Game Index score with the distribution percentages as they are now, and how that would change if the percentage increased and a transfer levy was introduced. Fair Game found 92 per cent of clubs outside the Premier League would be better off under its distribution model than the one currently in operation. Fair Game’s chief executive Niall Couper added: “The Fair Game Index paints a realistic picture of what our game could look like, a future where football chooses to reward well-run clubs. “Fair Game are working hard with communities, experts, football interest groups, fans, clubs and politicians to transform this picture into reality. “For the first time, the building blocks are in place.”

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