THIS SHOULD HAVE felt – and looked – like a show of strength.
If Wednesday’s announcement by the FAI of Heimir Hallgrímsson as their new men’s senior manager was out of the blue and a whirlwind, his appearance in front of the media at Aviva Stadium needed to bring a sense of calm, to prove that their master plan had indeed come to fruition.
Instead, they’ve somehow managed to make a nine-month search process feel like a rush job.
FAI director of football Marc Canham made it clear that Hallgrímsson was the only man he wanted.
The new manager probably didn’t think he meant that literally.
There are no members of Hallgrímsson’s coaching staff confirmed less than two months out from the visit of England for the start of the Nations League.
Hallgrímsson said he was prepared to work with the existing coaching staff before him.
The only problem is there aren’t any left.
A meeting is planned with John O’Shea at some stage over the next week as Hallgrímsson wants him as his assistant.
“Yeah, I think for me as a foreigner it is really helpful to have an Irish coach that knows the culture, knows the players and he would be the perfect candidate in my opinion. Of course, him being the [interim] head coach for two camps, four games, I understand it’s difficult for him to now be assistant coach, it’s tough for him to make that decision.”
Canham confirmed that O’Shea, Paddy McCarthy, Glenn Whelan and Rene Gilmartin are “the people I’ve presented to Heimir as the current staff. He needs to meet them and talk about that. I wouldn’t want you to take away that 100% they’ll be in, absolutely our starting point.”
How can we still only be at the starting point when this process began nine months ago and the No.1 candidate had been chosen by March?
Allied to that, while Hallgrímsson and O’Shea had a brief video call, The 42 understands that there has been no communication with the other three members of staff.
There have been enough weeds to dig through since Stephen Kenny’s contract was not renewed last November but a few important knots still needed to be untangled to get a real sense of the planning that had gone into this appointment.
It was back in December that Hallgrímsson first emerged on the FAI’s radar according to Canham. There were “informal, exploratory conversations” about the position and, as per Canham’s timeline, it was in March that he and the rest of the recruitment panel settled on the Icelander as the No.1 target.
When Canham stated that a candidate would be announced in early April, and that only “existing contractual obligations” prevented him from confirming who, it was Hallgrímsson that he was referring to.
However, there had only been informal chats at this point and when Canham said they were “down the road” to an appointment it was “because in our minds we had made the decision what we were going to do.”
Except nothing was confirmed as Hallgrímsson made it clear from day one of talks that he would remain with Jamaica until after the Copa America.
“We would have hoped we could have put on our best persuasion skills but that wasn’t possible and we respected that completely,” Canham said.
With Hallgrímsson by his side, it was clear all of this drama was news to him.
“If I can jump in here, hearing all of this, I don’t know when we are talking about, I always knew with what I said I could not be the candidate until it came to after the Copa. Just hearing this is kind of reflecting how lucky I am now that the job was still available after the Copa.
“I realised saying this Ireland could actually take another [candidate] and this would not be available when I was available, so I’m happy that it ended this way.”
It could have ended differently up until last month.
Canham sat alongside Hallgrímsson in the main press conference room at Aviva Stadium before moving to a smaller gathering with football reporters in one the dressing rooms.
Hallgrímsson’s wife, Iris, was also present at the back of the room with preprations in place to move to Ireland.
It could have easily been Ecuador.
Hallgrímsson informed the Jamaican FA in early June, before the Copa America began, that he would be leaving his job after that tournament.
Ireland and Ecuador were the two offers on the table but by the end of last month he had yet to nail down his decision, even if the FAI’s proposal was the preference.
“I was leaning on that one for sure,” Hallgrímsson said.
Considering he had not settled on which job he would take by the start date of the Copa on 20 June, it means it was sometime in the last three weeks that he informed the FAI he was willing to come to the table.
Indeed, Canham confirmed that “formal contractual conversations” only took place “over the last nine to 10 days.”
No wonder, then, that Hallgrímsson admitted he had not been able to do a lot of research on the squad he is about to start working with, other than watch some videos from their last few games.
“No, no, I haven’t. I know some. I’m not going to say I’m an expert,” he said.
The 57-year-old was also candid enough to admit that he has not got enough time to be prepared for the visit of England in the Nations League.
“For September, probably not, but we will try to do our best. Normally I am a hard worker so I will do my best to be ready myself. Of course I would need an assistant and a lot of help and I know I will get that from the people around me.
“Probably it’s finding out what we need to improve and that will be my task now for the next two months.”
It was at this point Canham interjected.
“In the short-term, obviously, Heimir has got challenges – eight weeks to the first game – but we’ve now got a coach that has been to three major tournaments and the semi-final of another emerging competition – the [CONCACAF] Nations League.
“We see that as invaluable experience, not only do we want to qualify regularly; that’s the next step of course – we want to do well at the tournaments and Heimir has got that experience in three major competitions in two different continents. That’s massive. That’s added value for us. Of course, September 7th is the nearest crocodile to the boat. There is a bigger picture.”
But it will be positive results on the pitch in the immediate term that will allow for Canham to execute the wider plans for Irish football.
The FAI chief cited a need “to be adaptable and flexible which is based on principles” and Hallgrímsson then laid out why Canham was prepared to wait so long to land his man.
It’s a gamble that only pays off for Canham if the man he has gone all in on can repeat the success he had with Iceland by being successful in the Nations League and qualifying for the World Cup – or even threatening to do so.
“I don’t favour formations,” Hallgrímsson said of his philosophy. “I play more or less all formations. Four at the back for Jamaica. Against the bigger teams, we play three at the back. Number one, is what players are available.
“Also, [it] depends on who you’re playing. Formation is secondary. It is more about principles, in-game, how you react to scenarios. How you defend, dropping off. They are more important. When you are a national team coach you like to build on what you did last time.
“You must understand that players coming in for a camp, they come from different clubs, different cultures, different styles of play, and they come to this environment. They must know when they come here, ‘We do it like this’. First thing you need to build when you come as a coach so when you come here: This is how we play. This is how we train. This is how we dress. This is how we talk to the media and all of those things.
“These principles will always be when you come to play for the national team of Ireland. Then the players go back, maybe for a month, two months, six months, before they come back and they’ve totally forgotten everything that they did six months ago. They’ve had 500 team meetings. A lot of games. So you always need to come back to this.
“That is why it’s important to have continuity because the time is so limited. Hopefully we will start a relationship that will be fruitful.”
That’s the plan.
