Sports

‘Like a movie script’: Michael McArdle backs Northern Ireland to make history

The Guardian Sport · 8 October 2026 at 13:12

‘Like a movie script’: Michael McArdle backs Northern Ireland to make history

Manager says he has made team ‘play-off ready’ since taking over in March.

They now face Portugal in their quest to reach World Cup For seven and a half years, Michael McArdle worked in the construction industry while playing semi-professional football, studying for a degree in building services engineering and raising three young children together with his wife.

Any leftover earnings he put into funding his football coaching badges.

Eventually he took a big risk and decided to take “probably a 300% drop in salary” and commit to coaching, a life-changing moment that now may be leading towards a World Cup in Brazil next summer as the Northern Ireland Women’s manager.

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‘Like a movie script’: Michael McArdle backs Northern Ireland to make history

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