JOSH MAGENNIS, the Kilmarnock striker, has no fears about Northern Ireland's long-awaited participation in a major finals despite the on-going situation in France where the European Championship takes place next summer.
The 25-year-old revealed that all of his family, and even a pet or two, booked their travel and hotels as soon as the Province ensured qualification, knowing that whatever happened on the park that they would party like it was 1982.
And then Paris happened and all of a sudden the idea of a few weeks on the vin rouge did not seem so appealing,
But there was no way the tragedy, or anything else that may happen, was going to stop the Euros from going ahead, and Northern Ireland will be there with a smile on their faces.
“We had a group chat with Northern Ireland and we spoke about basic stuff like your family and going on holiday," said Kilmarnock man Magennis. "I think the security will be stepped up and the organisers will have to take everything into consideration in the wake of that tragedy.
“You never think that going to a football match with your son, daughter or friend, or even going to watch your son play, that something like this would happen in or around a stadium.
“That’s the world we live in nowadays - anything can happen. But for us as a nation, Northern Ireland, we feel we’ll be fully protected by the security company who are coming with us, and we’re still looking forward to going to the tournament, no doubt.
“We have no fears about going out there, whatever the situation will be like next summer. The security around us is always tight normally, and it will be pushed up another notch now
“You see football teams like Belgium now have armed security at their training sessions, in case it’s about to kick off. You don’t want to see anything like that ever happening again - lives being lost. It was unfortunate but our security team will be on top of everything."
There are, of course, far more important things going on in the world aside from whether some footballers will feel safe in their nice hotels.
But when the entire clan is making its way to support you, and there is at least a chance of danger, then some players may have had an understandable rethink.
"As soon as I heard the news from Paris last week, the first thing I thought of was ‘this happened at a football match’. It was more the viewpoint of a bystander who couldn’t believe what happened," said Magennis. "As time went on, people were talking about that’s obviously where the tournament is going to be happening next summer.
“In those situations, you can’t think about yourself. That would make you incredibly selfish. Football usually unites people, bringing different cultures together, so for a tragedy like that to happen in that context is the last thing anyone was expecting.
“After the Greece game, my whole family, including the dogs and the fish, were buying tickets for the Euros next year. Regardless of whether I’m on the plane or just going to support the boys, I’ll be getting over there, one way or the other.
“It’s a very exciting prospect for all of us. You have senior boys who have waited 10 years for this, and the young lads who have only had to wait one campaign to qualify for a tournament.
“As soon as we got the ‘q’ beside our name, it was all hands on deck to get to the travel agents and get everything sorted right away.”
Magennis, a former goalkeeper by trade, is a cult hero with the Northern Irish fans and the good news for his club is that there is little chance of him allowing standards to slip when there is so much to play for from now until Michael O'Neill names his squad for France.
"I’ve never had a bigger year than this," he admitted. "There’s a lot to play for, but the only way I’m going to get to where I want to be - France - is to keep replicating what I’ve been doing for Kilmarnock this season.
“That means playing well and hopefully scoring more goals. The talent at the club can help a lot. Kallum Higginbotham has helped me so much and everyone knows how much Rory McKenzie has helped me as well. It’s up to me to work hard and keep myself fit and hopefully Michael will name me in his final 23 come the end of May."
McKenzie, meanwhile, could be out for the rest of the year after pulling his hamstring at Celtic Park on Saturday.
"It’s not great;" confirmed the winger. "It’s a pulled hamstring so I’ll be out for four to six weeks."
And Kilmarnock defender Conrad Balatoni has signed with the club until the end of season 2017/18 after agreeing a short-term deal only this season.
"I'm thrilled to have signed a long term deal with Kilmarnock," said the former Partick Thistle man. "Since joining in September I've settled in well. I managed to get my fitness levels up quickly and then get a lot of first team game time under my belt, which is what I was hoping for.
"I'm enjoying the style of football that Gary Locke is developing. I really feel that the club is on the verge of achieving something great and I want to be part of that.”
Kilmarnock's team calendar for 2016 is now on sale at Killie Shop and will be available to buy online fromTuesday.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel