In their latest Nations League fixture Northern Ireland will take on Belarus in Hungary on Saturday, the neutral venue the result of Uefa restrictions on the hosts. Fifty years ago, it was Northern Ireland playing in homes away from home with no international football staged in Belfast between October 1971 and April 1975. BBC Sport NI looks back on the side’s nomadic years.

Sammy McIlroy still vividly remembers what it was like to see George Best in the flesh for the first time.

While the two would later become Manchester United and Northern Ireland team-mates, for a 13-year-old to watch the soon-to-be Ballon d’Or winner against Scotland at Windsor Park in October 1967 was “absolutely mesmerising”.

“To this day I can still see things George did with the ball,” remembers the midfielder who went on to win 88 Northern Ireland caps before managing his country.

“I’ll never forget it. The crowd, the atmosphere, it was electric.

“I’d never seen anything like that, a player with the ball tied to his boots. It just made me want to go back home and get the ball out on the street.”

It would be a rare privilege soon denied to the people of Northern Ireland.

By the time of McIlroy’s own international debut against Spain in a Euro ’72 qualifier just five years later, Northern Ireland were the “home” team in a game staged at Hull City’s Boothferry Park, an arrangement enabled by Terry Neill being the player-manager of both sides.

The early 1970s provided the bloodiest years of the Troubles, the name given colloquially to the decades-long sectarian conflict in the country and, after a 1-1 draw against the USSR in October 1971, Northern Ireland was deemed unsafe to host international football.

“To be honest, I was devastated it wasn’t in Belfast,” says McIlroy of the 1-1 draw with Spain, the first of 18 consecutive fixtures played outside of Northern Ireland.

“I was delighted to play, to make my debut for Northern Ireland, it just took the gloss off it that it wasn’t in Belfast in front of my home fans. That was very, very sad.”

During the following years Northern Ireland would play in front of a small mix of expats and curious locals, using Goodison Park, Highfield Road, Hillsborough and Craven Cottage just to fulfil their World Cup ’74 qualifying fixtures, as well as those in the British Home Nations Championship.

Goalkeeper Angus Gunn is injured.

So are right-backs Aaron Hickey and Nathan Patterson. And three starting central defenders in the shape of Jack Hendry, Scott McKenna and Kieran Tierney.

Second-choice left-back Greg Taylor is hobbled too.

Lewis Ferguson, John McGinn and Stuart Armstrong will be at home instead of in the Scotland midfield.

And strikers Tommy Conway and Lawrence Shankland are absent too.

It leaves the squad looking alarmingly undermanned, but can you eke a coherent XI out of the players who are left behind?

Getty Images

Getty Images

Passionate time

“It’s difficult in international games – you don’t have a lot of time to implement your style of play, and I know exactly the way he wants to play. We’ve seen some clips of the way he wants to play and tomorrow it’s about us, how we can cancel that out.

“I know he wants to play good football as we did at Burnley, especially that first season. But it’s always difficult when you only have four or five training sessions, so it’s definitely going to take time for him to implement his style on the team.”

The start of Bellamy’s tenure has rejuvenated Wales, with a bold new style of play apparent during last month’s opening goalless draw with Turkey, followed by a 2-1 win in Montenegro.

Wales are clearly more aggressive off the ball than they were under Bellamy’s predecessor Rob Page, while they are also more creative and dynamic in possession.

“We have had discussions about it but he’s only two games in and the way he wants to play perfect football is not there,” Gudmundsson added.

“So we have to be wary at what comes to us. The pitch could be trouble as well, as it was in Montenegro. The way he wants to play was not possible there. Against Turkey, you saw more of the way he wants to play.

“It will be interesting. We have looked at the way they want to play and we’ll definitely do everything to cancel that out and implement our style on the game as we are playing at home.”

Iceland started their Nations League campaign with a 2-0 win at home to Montenegro before losing 3-1 in Turkey.

Fiorentina forward Albert Gudmundsson was acquitted of sexual assault charges in Reykjavik on Thursday and is now eligible to play for the national team.

He has not played for Iceland since scoring in their Euro 2024 play-off final defeat by Ukraine in March.

Iceland boss Age Hareide said he did not know if it was possible for the 27-year-old to line up against Wales, with Turkey’s visit to Reykjavik on Monday a more realistic date for his potential return.

“We have to call Fiorentina and ask for that,” said Hareide. “We are late anyway, so it could be impossible. We don’t know. We will have to wait and see.”

Northern Ireland winger Caragh Hamilton will miss October’s Euro 2025 play-off with Croatia because of a “significant” hamstring injury.

Nottingham Forest manager Carly Davies said that Hamilton, 27, will be on the sidelines “for a prolonged period of time”.

Davies said:, external “She’ll be working closely with the medical team with the support of the Northern Ireland national team as well.

“We’ll just be hoping to get her back on the pitch as soon as possible.”

Hamilton joined Forest, who are unbeaten in eight matches in the FA Women’s National League Premier Division North – in the third tier of English women’s football – from Lewes in the summer.

She has won 46 Northern Ireland caps and scored six goals.

Tanya Oxtoby’s side travel to Croatia on Friday, 25 October before the return fixture at Windsor Park on Tuesday, 29 October.

Northern Ireland qualified for the play-off by finishing second in Group B3, with three wins from six matches.

Croatia were third in Group B4, behind Wales and Ukrainez, and if Northern Ireland progress they will face Norway or Albania for a place at the Euro 2025 finals.

There was an element of Carsley giving the public what they wanted with this potential thrill-ride of a teamsheet. They did not want it by the final whistle, judging by thousands of empty seats and the resounding boos.

Carsley’s courage in attempting it was commendable but from the first whistle it was exposed as folly.

The general feeling was that this was Carsley’s England job to lose, the Football Association preferring another graduation from the Under-21 production line that delivered Southgate, one also used to great effect by countries such as Spain, with coach Luis de la Fuente taking that same path to success with the seniors at Euro 2024.

This may not be the night Carsley lost the England job but the shoddy show that so disappointed Wembley will do nothing to help him win it.

Carsley, in the aftermath, made it clear he has never taken it for granted that the role would be his, even appearing to suggest he would be glad to have a job to return to with the Under-21s.

“I was quite surprised after the last camp [that there was talk] in terms of ‘the job is mine’ and ‘it’s mine to lose’ and all the rest of it,” he said.

“My remit has been clear from the start – I’m doing three camps. There are three games left and then hopefully I’ll be going back to the Under-21s. It has almost no impact.”

Carsley added: “I never at any point thought that I have got it cracked. It was a case of let’s try something different and I’m happy to take blame for that. It was totally my idea.

“I thought about it long and hard, in terms how it might look, how it might build and how it might feel. It is something that didn’t come off but I don’t think we should rule out having that opportunity to try something different.”

He added: “We tried something different and tried to overload the midfield. We tried it for 20 minutes yesterday [Wednesday], we experimented and we’re disappointed it didn’t come off. It’s unrealistic to expect too much and we will have to try again. It’s definitely an option going forward.

“We tried something different. It doesn’t change anything. My remit is to do three camps.”

If there was a system, it almost impossible to detect what it was.

“Release the handbrake” was the cry for much of Southgate’s reign – on this night, the doors fell off and the engine exploded.

Jude Bellingham was in the false nine role but too often there were too many bodies around, with Phil Foden struggling to find any room to operate, while Cole Palmer could not make any impact in a deeper role. Gordon and Saka were ineffective on the flanks.

It left Declan Rice running around outnumbered trying to plug gaps, England’s vulnerable defence wide open time after time as possession was turned over, Greece scenting their chance.

The signs were bad from the opening minute when Bellingham was robbed, Greece broke and Pavlidis should have done much better than curl a shot wide. He was to make up for it later.

It all made for a night of confusion, from England’s chaotic game plan to Carsley’s messaging about his future in his current post.

England and Carsley will at least have the chance to deliver something approaching clarity when they travel to Helsinki to face Finland on Sunday.

Carsley’s ill-fated gamble means the stakes have just got higher. He is unlike to play such a high-risk game again any time soon.