Fans Did Northern Ireland Proud: IFA

The Irish Football Association's Head of Community Relations, Michael Boyd, has praised the Northern Ireland team's fans for their support and conduct, not only at the side's ultimately unfruitful trip to Spain on Wednesday but throughout the entire qualifying campaign.

“I travelled to Spain on the Amalgamation of Official Northern Ireland Supporters Club’s charter flight and the atmosphere was electric.

"Over 4,000 fans made the trip to Spain and the behaviour of our supporters could not have been better.

"The Green and White Army are superb ambassadors for Northern Ireland football and even when faced with some over-the-top policing and poor crowd management when trying to get into the stadium they behaved impeccably.

"It was great to see so many families and in particular so many women at the game in Spain," he said.

"Our fans have created a real family atmosphere both at home and away games in recent years and they deserve praise for making sure the Northern Ireland games are fun, safe and inclusive.

"On the way home," he continued, "we had the BBC's Jackie Fullerton on our plane and he summed it up when he said we now have world class fans and a world class team!

"Although we may not have qualified there is no doubt the future of Northern Ireland football looks bright and with our world class fans we have a team and support that the whole community can be proud of."

However, while the fans were 'winners' the giant-killing fairy tale hopes for Northern Ireland's soccer team ended in Gran Canaria this week and with that any chance of reaching the Euro 2008 finals.

The team was defeated 1-0 in Las Palmas on Wednesday night, and in any case, as well as Nigel Worthington's side needing to win their game to have any chance of qualifying, Northern Ireland could not have gone through anyway, as Sweden beat Latvia 2-1.

They would have also had to achieve the highly unlikely outcome of beating the Swedes to allow Northern Ireland through.

But despite the disappointment, Northern Ireland will look back on their 12-match series with a sense of achievement.

See: McClaren Axed On Euro Defeat

(BMcC)