While Heimir Hallgrimsson main task as the new Republic of Ireland manager will be improving results on the pitch with the players that are currently part of the squad, you can be certain that he will look to add a few new faces to the dressing room during his time in charge.
Some of those are likely to come from the youth ranks, with the likes of Bosun Lawal, Joe Hodge, and Sam Curtis set to be among the players pushing for a senior call-up over the next couple of years.
Of course, there is also the possibility to add players who are not currently declared for Ireland.
This is something Stephen Kenny did during his time in charge, sorting out the eligibility of Chiedozie Ogbene, Mikey Johnston, and Sammie Szmodics before adding them to his squad. Kasey McAteer is another player recruited by Kenny, although he has yet to make his Ireland debut.
There are a number of interesting ‘granny rule’ candidates that would be exciting additions to the Ireland squad. Liam Delap is one such player, while Dennis Cirkin is another.
It remains to be seen if either of those players could be convinced to play for Ireland, although the FAI seem to be making the recruitment of such footballers a priority moving forward.
READ HERE: Report – Championship Trio Set To Battle It Out For Cut-Price Transfer Of Ireland Striker
FAI To Launch New Ireland Role With Focus On ‘Granny Rule’ Players
One of the most notable aspects of Hemir Hallgrimsson’s time with Jamaica was the amount of ‘granny rule’ players he brought into the squad, most of which were born in England. That is something he will look to replicate with Ireland.
Speaking at an Ireland fan forum last week, he said he will be looking to bring in a number of such players to the Ireland squad during his tenure. He also revealed that the FAI are close to appointing someone in the role of ‘talent ID’ who would be tasked with sourcing Irish-eligible footballers born overseas.
I was really aggressive getting players to play for Jamaica. I spent a lot of time doing that, I could see myself doing that in the future.
I think time will be needed though. I don’t want to call a player and say, ‘Come and play for Ireland’ if he’s not good enough to be in the squad…
There is someone being hired a head of talent ID for the federation, this would be his kind of job…
It is like Jamaica, necessary to find this player at a younger age and start to play them for Ireland. Because once they become good, there is always the thought, ‘I have a chance to play for England’.
Same in Jamaica, then we got them when they were 26 or 27, when they felt they could not play for England.
I think that it should be really aggressive scouting, in the youth departments in England because probably most Irish eligible players are in England. I know there is a lot elsewhere as well with Irish heritage.
Ireland have a strong track record of making the most of the ‘granny rule’, most notably during Jack Charlton’s time in charge of the team.
With the lack of success on the pitch in recent times, it seems as though the new manager is keen to go down that route once again in an attempt to improve results moving forward.
SEE ALSO: Rio Ferdinand Uses John O’Shea Example To Criticise Manchester United Transfer
