Steve Morrow insists the Northern Ireland players are happy for Lawrie McMenemy to carry on as manager.

McMenemy is negotiating a new contract with the Irish Football Association and Morrow claims the players want him to lead them in the 2002 World Cup qualifying campaign.

Some of the Irish fans have lost faith in McMenemy after their dismal Euro 2000 qualifying campaign ended in yet another heavy defeat away to Finland on Saturday.

Northern Ireland finished fourth in Group Three with just five points and one win from their eight games, while their goals tally depressingly reads only four for and 19 against.

However Morrow claims the critics should blame the players and not McMenemy.

"At the end of the day we know when we go out that it's down to the players no matter what happens," said the QPR defender.

"There's no way you can blame the management at all and we accept full responsibility for what we do on the pitch.

"There's no animosity at all towards the manager and if Lawrie's going to get a new contract then we are happy with that.

"We know we've got to sort things out ourselves and the players are good enough."

A month ago when the IFA announced the offer of new deals to McMenemy and his coaching team of Joe Jordan, Pat Jennings and Chris Nicholl, they claimed everything would be completed before the Finland game.

The contracts have yet to be signed, although the matter is expected to be resolved inside the next week.

McMenemy faces a huge task in improving Northern Ireland. They have always struggled to score goals, but perhaps more worryingly they have started to concede them at an alarming rate.

The four they let in against Finland mean they have leaked 11 in the last three games and the defence, which McMenemy has worked so hard on, is in tatters.

Against Finland in Helsinki's Olympic Stadium the Irish backline was at fault for all four goals.

Their lack of pace was painfully exposed after nine minutes by Rangers striker Jonatan Johansson when he raced through on to goalkeeper Jani Viander's long kick to open the scoring.

McMenemy was also dismayed by the ease with which Liverpool defender Sami Hyypia was able to restore the Finns' lead with a simple back-post header on 63 minutes - just four minutes after Jeff Whitley had nodded the Irish level.

Joonas Kolkka then capitalised on a huge gap down the left flank, where Iain Jenkins should have been, to fire home the third in the 73rd minute.

Seven minutes from time Morrow slipped in the box to allow Kolkka to complete the rout.

Although the Irish could take heart from Whitley's outstanding performance on his full debut when he marked Barcelona's Jari Litmanen out of the game, there was little else to be positive about.

Overall Morrow admitted it had been a disappointing campaign.

"It's hard to look forward after getting beat 4-1," he said.

"We knew going into the campaign that second or third was the best we could hope for.

"There's no doubt that one win out of eight games doesn't look the best and we're all disappointed."

Finland: Viander, Lehkosuo, Kuivasto, Hyypia, Tihinen, Wiss (Yla-Jussila 86), Kolkka, Riihilahti (Valakari 86), Litmanen, Paatelainen, Johansson. Subs Not Used: Laaksonen, Kautonen, Kottila, Nyyssonen, Penttila. Goals: Johansson 9, Hyypia 63, Kolkka 73, 83.

Northern Ireland: Taylor, Jenkins (J. Whitley 79), Williams, Morrow, Nolan, McCarthy, J. Whitley, Lennon, Kennedy, Hughes (Johnson 74), Quinn (Coote 68). Subs Not Used: Wright, Hunter, Robinson, Dowie. Booked: Quinn. Goals: J. Whitley 59.

Referee: A Ancion (Belgium).