Northern Ireland manager Michael O'Neill says he will be picking the brains of former Ireland boss Mick McCarthy ahead of Euro 2016.
The North will be making their first major tournament appearance in thirty years next year after topping their qualifying group and as he and his staff prepare the logistics for their French adventure, O'Neill told Off The Ball that McCarthy is among the managers he will consult.
"I had a lovely text from Mick McCarthy and I said I would speak to Mick first of all because Mick's obviously been to Saipan and I'm sure that wasn't the easiest tournament to prepare for," he said.
"I think any manager who goes for the first time will inevitably make mistakes, so the important thing is to try and de-risk that and make sure you make as few as possible. I'll speak to Roy Hodgson because Roy's been there with Switzerland as well which is a small country."
O'Neill also believes that any arguments that the North had a relatively easy group is not accurate.
"I think the difference in our group was that Greece capitulated as the Pot One team. But Romania and Hungary almost qualified for the previous World Cup and Finland finished third in their group as well, so that gave an indication of the strength of the group," he said adding that the fixture computer had left the team with a tricky start to the qualifying campaign.
The former Shamrock Rovers manager also detailed how he lifted the team from the debris of a few difficult qualifying campaigns.
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