Ultimately, despite the backing of a new contract that was to run until Euro 2024, Baraclough would lose his job after a record of six wins and eight draws from 28 games and was replaced by the same man he had succeeded in the role, Michael O’Neill.
“There were times we were going over and applauding the fans and you could see that they were frustrated because we weren’t getting the results, but I knew deep inside that this was a project that was going to last much longer than the period of a campaign,” Baraclough says.
“I’d signed a new contract that would take me up to the last Euros campaign, but things happen, Michael becomes available from Stoke, for instance, and decisions will be made that are out of your hands.
“At the time, I found it very, very disappointing that I didn’t get a World Cup and a Euros because that was what, ultimately, you were going to be judged on and I ended up being judged on a Nations League campaign where we were absolutely flooding the squad with these young players. That was the disappointment for me, but, look, there’s no bitterness.”
As such, Baraclough has enjoyed watching from afar as a number of his former players become seasoned internationals.
“Maybe the fans thought that the previous campaign should have yielded more than what it did, but there was no way it was going to just materialise that you go away to the likes of Greece and turn them over,” he adds.
“This World Cup campaign was somewhere where we looked into the distance and thought realistically this is the best time for this group to really start making an impact because players will now have 100, 150 first-team games under their belts, they’ll have 20 to 25 senior caps or beyond under their belts, and now they’re just starting to feel comfortable at this level.
“It’s now come to fruition. To see those players come through and be doing so well at a senior level, it’s fantastic.
“It’s not one person per se that can lay claim to somebody’s success but, just for me, I love looking back and saying I really enjoyed my time working with them and hopefully I helped in some way in developing them as people and as players.”