When the press release was finally issued eight months after Stephen Kenny’s departure, most Republic of Ireland fans expected John O’Shea to get the nod. The former Ireland international had been in interim charge for four friendlies in the wake ofKenny’s November exit and had done reasonably well against nations off to Euro 2024. Kenny’s Ireland had not come within an ass’s roar of getting to that tournament having failed to take a point from opposition more exalted than Gibraltar in the qualifiers, and its final was played four days after the Football Association of Ireland’s big reveal: O’Shea had been overlooked in favour of a far-from marquee signing in the form of an Icelandic dentist by the name of Heimir Hallgrímsson, who many Irish people had never heard of.
An Icelandic what? Heimir who? The catastrophic state in which the FAI’s coffers were left after years of mismanagement by John Delaney, their former chief executive, meant the organisation he quit in September 2019 would always be shopping for Kenny’s replacement in the bargain aisle. Even so, the familiarity of many of the old faces who lined its shelves smacked of a serious lack of imagination. Although Gus Poyet, Roy Keane, Neil Lennon and Steve Bruce may never have been serious contenders, their names were linked and hugely underwhelmed most who heard them. The reported hot pursuit of Willy Sagnol and Lee Carsley left Ireland fans nonplussed, even if the former proved to be one of the great characters of Euro 2024 as he oversaw Georgia’s riotous white-knuckle ride to the last 16. Carsley, reported to be the FAI’s first choice, will also be standing in a technical area at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday.
The resignation in April of Delaney’s full-time successor, Jonathan Hill, after an expenses scandal, had further eroded already low public confidence in the FAI’s ability to focus on appointing a decent manager of the men’s national team. In David Courell, it is employing its fifth interim CEO in five years and since December assorted figures within the organisation have been hauled before a series of government committees and inquiries to prove it is fit for purpose. It would not be unkind to suggest that many of those pleading its case have been far from convincing.
A few days before the appointment of Hallgrímsson, the FAI was forced to deal with another crisis when Courell faced the media to apologise on behalf of his employers to female players who felt sexually harassed and coerced by two coaches in allegations dating back to the 1990s. The FAI says it continues to assist the appropriate authorities in their ongoing inquiries.
The insistence by Marc Canham, the FAI’s director of football, that Hallgrímsson had been his first choice was greeted with scepticism but he may have hit the jackpot in appointing a man who was literally keeping his hand in as a dentist when, in partnership with his Swedish sidekick Lars Lagerbäck, he steered Iceland to victory over England in the knockout stages of Euro 2016. Two years later, Hallgrímsson was in sole charge when he took Iceland to Russia for their first appearance at a World Cup. He has since spent time in charge of the Qatari club Al-Arabi and left his post as Jamaica’s manager to take the Ireland job after the Reggae Boyz failed to get out of their group at this summer’s Copa América.
While with Jamaica, he was criticised for appearing to empathise with Mason Greenwood, who had been mooted as a potential call-up by the head of the football federation. Hallgrímsson’s remarks were raised at his opening press conference in Dublin, where he faced the questions calmly and head on. “I tried to kind of avoid [the subject] but without saying nothing,” he said, playing a fairly straight if unconvincing bat. “I never needed to decide if [Greenwood] would be selected or not but in the context of what was happening I needed to react.”
Wherever the 57-year-old was on Ireland’s shortlist, he may prove an inspired appointment. A man with vast experience in maximising the talent of fairly average international squads bereft of superstars, he takes on a job where fan expectation could scarcely be lower. Ireland supporters, renowned for the gaiety they add to international tournaments, are in dire need of the kind of pick-me-up their manager has a proven track record of delivering in near-identical circumstances.
“If you look at the Euros, everything is achievable,” he said in an interview with RTE. “You’ve seen nations that probably nobody expected to succeed – nations like Georgia, Slovenia and Slovakia – doing really well. With a good team spirit, good teamwork, hard work, focus, discipline, everything is achievable in football today and the gap between the best nations and the others is always getting smaller and smaller.”
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Hallgrímsson has relocated to Dublin and become a visible presence at local matches, despite the negligible amount of players the League of Ireland contributes to the national team. He has also retained the commendably ego-free O’Shea as his assistant and is keen to play down the significance of Ireland’s looming Nations League match against England despite the historical enmity between the sides.
On the floor and going nowhere fast is the current prognosis for an Ireland side packed with competent players but extremely light on stardust. You could say they are not dissimilar to an Iceland team that charmed the world as their fans thunder-clapped them through the Euros group stage and on to victory over England eight years ago. On Saturday, Hallgrímsson gets what amounts to another free hit against the same opposition. He will instantly endear himself to the Green Army if he can once again knock it out of the park.