Jim Crawford has described Ireland’s visit to Montenegro last year as the biggest challenge of his Under-21 career so far.
The game came just four days after a 2-0 win at home to Luxembourg - but Crawford’s woes weren’t centred around tactics or injury doubts.
During the build-up to the double-header, Montenegro was on the UK’s Covid red list.
That forced Crawford to name TWO squads for the double header, with one consisting entirely of home-based players - and 13 of those 22 players having never been called up before at Under-21 level.
In the end, Montenegro was removed from the red list, so Crawford could travel with a strong squad.
But it was a logistical nightmare for the Under-21 boss right up to the 11th hour - and the game ended in a shock 2-1 defeat.
“The biggest challenge for me was the whole Montenegro situation where Covid played a part in it,” he said.
“The UK had Montenegro as a red zone, so none of the players could go. I knew well in advance that this could be coming around the corner, so I went to influential people within the association and asked them what we should do.
“It was a nightmare, it really was, having to pick nearly two squads. It just wasn’t enjoyable.
“I still say to this day that I’d have no fear of going out to Montenegro with the extended group that was coming in.
“The players didn’t even know where they stood. It was just in the final hour that it came through saying it was now no longer a red zone for UK players.
“But then certain clubs were saying, we’re not comfortable with our players going there. So you had to respect club wishes too.
“I saw it weeks beforehand and I said, right, what’s the best way to approach this. I know there were certain managers who weren’t happy with it, but hand-on-heart I did the best I could to get the best solution.
“(FAI CEO) Jonathan Hill here was talking to influential people within the English government to get this across the line and we got there eventually.”
Crawford continued: “Covid is probably the running theme here where we were preparing for Italy in the last campaign and all of a sudden you were hearing of a couple of senior players picking up Covid.
“Stephen (Kenny) is on the phone then, saying, we need this player and that player off you.
“That was a challenge as well, but it was something we were always expecting. So we had everything in place.”
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