Steven Davis’ international retirement depends on Rangers role – Michael O’Neill
Northern Ireland boss Michael O’Neill said Steven Davis needs more time to decide whether to call time on his record-breaking international career.
Davis, who was placed in temporary charge of Rangers on Sunday after they sacked manager Michael Beale, has not played since December due to a knee injury.
O’Neill does not think the 38-year-old midfielder, who is the most capped British men’s player with 140 Northern Ireland appearances, would be able to resume his playing career if he is still in charge at Ibrox.
“He can’t do both,” said O’Neill, who on Wednesday named his squad for the Euro 2024 qualifiers against San Marino and Slovenia on October 14 and 17 respectively.
“He can’t be a player-manager at Rangers, it’s just not do-able that and Steven would know that.
“The days of that type of dual role are long gone. So it will be determined by how long he’s in that position.
“Then the player will have a decision to make based on the situation at Rangers from a management point of view and his injury situation in terms of getting back from the injury.
“So those are all things for Steven and those are discussions which don’t need to happen now, he’s got enough on his plate really in the next three or four days. I’ll get a chat with him over the international break.
“So he’ll probably get a little bit of time when his feet can touch the ground and then we can discuss all of that in more detail.”
Davis will take charge of Rangers for the first time in Thursday’s Europa League game in Cyprus against Aris Limassol before Sunday’s Scottish Premiership fixture at St Mirren.
O’Neill added: “Steven’s situation as a player is different from the situation that has arisen now as a manager and I’ll get the chance to speak with him about that in due course.
“He wasn’t a player that was going to be available for these (Euro qualifier) games and he wouldn’t have been available for the games in November either.”
O’Neill has recalled Jamal Lewis and Callum Marshall to his squad for the Group H double-header against San Marino and Slovenia.
📣 Michael O'Neill has named his squad for home matches against San Marino 🇸🇲 and Slovenia 🇸🇮 #GAWA
— Northern Ireland (@NorthernIreland) October 4, 2023
Newcastle defender Lewis, on loan at Watford, missed last month’s defeats in Slovenia and Kazakhstan through injury.
Striker Marshall has forced his way back into O’Neill’s plans after scoring nine goals in 12 appearances for West Ham Under-21s.
Midfielders Brad Lyons (Kilmarnock) and Paddy Lane (Portsmouth), defenders Eoin Toal (Bolton) and Brodie Spencer (Motherwell) and QPR winger Paul Smyth have all retained their places in the squad.
Oxford defender Ciaron Brown has not been included after sustaining an injury against Slovenia last month, while Blackpool striker Shayne Lavery and Portsmouth winger Gavin Whyte have also been left out despite recently returning from injury for their clubs.
O’Neill will be without defender Craig Cathcart, who announced his retirement last month, while Davis (Rangers), Corry Evans (Sunderland), Stuart Dallas (Leeds) and Shane Ferguson (Rotherham) are still recovering from long-term injuries.
Liverpool wing-back Conor Bradley and Nottingham Forest defender Aaron Donnelly are also unavailable through injury.
Northern Ireland’s qualification hopes are over after O’Neill’s injury-hit squad slipped to five straight group defeats and the former Stoke boss is now building for the future.
