Northern Ireland boss Michael O'Neill has played down talk that he would be interested in taking on the Scotland job should Gordon Strachan step down.

The 47-year-old has been tipped as the perfect replacement for Strachan, whose position has come under fire following a disappointing start to his side's World Cup qualifying campaign.

A 3-0 defeat to England has reportedly left the former Celtic and Coventry City chief on the brink, but O'Neill has already distanced himself from the job, having penned a four-year contract extension in March.

"First of all, there's someone in that job who I have a huge amount of respect for, who is a manager I played under [at Coventry]," he told reporters.

"It's probably the fact I live in Scotland is a bigger driving factor of that than anything else. I haven't given a second thought to that at all. I'd rather not give a comment on that situation at the minute to be fair."

While Scotland have made a slow start on the road to Russia, winning just one of their first four games, Northern Ireland sit second in Group C after claiming seven points from the first 12 on offer.