COUNT Mark Lawrenson very much among the sceptics of new Republic of Ireland manager Heimir Hallgrimsson.
If nothing else, Irish supporters do finally have someone to rally behind after an interminable appointment process.
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But a sense of trepidation definitely still remains in many corners as he was a rather underwhelming name to emerge from the FAI’s eight-month long search.
Former Ireland defender Lawrenson speaks for people of that view.
Mark Lawrenson was speaking to Paddy Power as he laid out his reaction to hearing that it was the relatively unknown Icelandic gaffer who would be succeeding Stephen Kenny.
He remarked: “I thought it was April 1st[when the FAI announced Heimir Hallgrimsson]!
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“I was like ‘what the hell?!’ because the Chief Exec said last April that they would have someone in place.
“We had all these names, like John O’Shea banded around.
“I don’t know anything about him, but that might not be a bad thing.
“He’s either going to be good, or he’s going to bomb. I don’t think there’ll be any halfway house.”
On Wednesday the part-time dentist conducted a Q&A session with season ticket holders at the Aviva Stadium.
Among the headline-grabbing quotes was his description of his style of play as ‘rock and roll football’.
But Lawrenson knows talk is cheap and that modern football is plagued by such buzzwords with them often not carrying much influence once the games start.
The 67-year-old added: “His teams press but everyone’s teams press nowadays.
“We’re like sheep – teams pressing only because other teams are.
“The first thing he needs to do is win games. It’s dead simple. If you win games, you can get away with murder!
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“He’s got to win games. There’ll be no problem with the lads, they’ll give him absolutely everything because that’s the way they are.
“They’re a little bit short on quality and I don’t think Evan Ferguson is fit yet and they’re still missing him.
“He needs to win games and be lucky.”
Friday did at least bring with it some encouraging news on the injury front for Ireland…as Jude Bellingham was ruled out of England’s September 7 visit to Dublin.
The 21-year-old picked up a plantar fasciitis injury in his right leg in training with Real Madrid which is expected to sideline him for a month.