Heimir Hallgrímsson

[SkStu]

If only we had waited ~ ~ We could have had Gareth Southgate (w@nk)

Fixed that for you.

[Acornvilla]

A bit bizarre for Hallgrimsson to be laying the path for a successor.

He's only in the job 5 minutes, and his exit is on his mind.
I feel like he's eager to impress everyone and tell them what they want to hear, but doesn't actually know for sure what anyone want's to hear, so is just saying stuff and hoping for the best. I just think he probably needed a bit more time to get his head around the job before he was announced and doing press. Pretty whirlwind turnaround from managing in the Copa to press in Ireland just over a week later.

[seanfhear]

Fixed that for you.
:eek::eek::eek:

[Eminence Grise]

I'm inclined to think of Frank Underwood offering Will Conway a lowly position in his administration when he'd beaten him for the presidency in House of Cards... Offer made, timing not right, mutual admiration and best wishes all round etc etc

[Diggs246]

I would guess HH is trying to lessen the "humiliation" of OShea who was favourite for the job a week ago. I think OShea is a good choice as number 2. Everyone loves him. He can be the conduit from the players to the manager. Even media duties
I really hope HH is given the euros ( assuming it's not a car crash)
Sorry stop stop stop!!!
I meant as a person and as a player
Under no circumstances should he be a coach
I'm assuming HH will be completely in charge of that.

[Razors left peg]

So HH met JOS yesterday to get down on bended knee. JOS was made aware last week that he was wanted, how much time is his highness going to need to decide if he dain to grace us with his presence? He's like a lad on the dole wondering if its worth his while doing a bit of work for not much more cash than he gets doing nothing... maybe we'll get an interim assistant manager to give him the time he needs to decide

[CraftyToePoke]

So HH met JOS yesterday to get down on bended knee. JOS was made aware last week that he was wanted, how much time is his highness going to need to decide if he dain to grace us with his presence? He's like a lad on the dole wondering if its worth his while doing a bit of work for not much more cash than he gets doing nothing... maybe we'll get an interim assistant manager to give him the time he needs to decide

O'Shea probably wants some contractual succession plan assurances and maybe time lines on that too. He's dead right if he can get them. HH already said he'd be the man taking over, bizarrely, so its just putting flesh on that really.

[Eirambler]

He should get nothing of the sort. For all we know HH could do a Charlton and be there for 10 years.

[Razors left peg]

O'Shea probably wants some contractual succession plan assurances and maybe time lines on that too. He's dead right if he can get them. HH already said he'd be the man taking over, bizarrely, so its not just putting flesh on that really.

If the FAI give him that sort of guarantee in writing I vote that we storm Abbottstown

[liamoo11]

https://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/heimir-hallgrimsson.2131427/ some info from a knowledgeable poster on Jamaica on bigsoccer forum

[Eirambler]

"Hallgrimson made a simple calculation: he can go to Ireland, a football nation with a better pedigree, far more resources and vastly superior/more serious approach to everything, and deal with far less foolishness while at the same time making significantly more money and being closer to home."

Well at least the closer to home bit is correct...

[seanfhear]

"Hallgrimson made a simple calculation: he can go to Ireland, a football nation with a better pedigree, far more resources and vastly superior/more serious approach to everything, and deal with far less foolishness while at the same time making significantly more money and being closer to home."

Well at least the closer to home bit is correct...
LOL = = HH has a great sense of humour.

[Diggs246]

"Hallgrimson made a simple calculation: he can go to Ireland, a football nation with a better pedigree, far more resources and vastly superior/more serious approach to everything, and deal with far less foolishness while at the same time making significantly more money and being closer to home."

Well at least the closer to home bit is correct...

Hahaha
Thanks I needed that

[CraftyToePoke]

some info from a knowledgeable poster on Jamaica on bigsoccer forum

Yes, he's a quality contributior consistently.
He's back on there today after a few questions, going into more detail on HH tactically & set up wise.

Probably thinks our midfield is better than it is maybe.


Hallgrimson brought 2 or 3 guys, main ones being John Wall as assistant (and for a short time, also our U20 coach) and Gudmundur Hreidarsson as GK coach. He basically functioned as the nation's technical director himself.

I would say he didn't run our forwards into the ground too badly - plenty of examples of them getting close to the full 90. Not too set piece focused.,

Now, your questions on systems, style, midfield preference, etc are a bit harder to answer in a way that might help get an idea of how he'd be for Ireland, because of Jamaica's specific limitations.

To keep it simple, we played a direct style that relied more on defensive-minded, less creative midfielders working with pacy wingers on either side. He favored a 4-4-2 with us although we started to see 3 at the back toward the end of his tenure.

The issue here is some of that wasn't really optional. There's a longer post quoted below that can explain the limits in more detail, but the long story short is that Jamaica's player pool simply doesn't produce creative midfielders who can play competently at a high level, certainly not the level an Irish fan would consider standard (nevermind the level required to seriously compete in Europe). Hallgrimson was forced to rely on more defensive minded players in midfield because, put simply, the best midfielders Jamaica are more defensive minded destroyers, not creative.

He also had to rely on wingers, because that is one type of player that Jamaica can consistently produce at a decent level. We ran a relatively simple 4-4-2 because that's what we had the personnel to work most effectively with.

Ireland has a much deeper player pool and many fewer limitations than Jamaica, so Hallgrimson may try different things there. But I think it's safe to say he'll be a bit more direct than not, you'll see a lot of the 4-4-2, at least initially (he did this with Iceland as well). It won't be flashy - he never scored a ton as coach of Iceland or Jamaica, and there were a lot of grind-it-out low margin wins, even against weaker teams, so that's something to think about. But he's a competent coach who knows how to adapt to the particularities and limitations of the player pool he has in front of him and give his team the best chance to win, even if it doesn't always come off.

[Eirambler]

It's useful info alright. Will be interesting to see how it translates. Could be similar to Trap's 4-4-2 setup, or if someone like Azaz kicks on this season he could maybe swap out one of the two forwards for someone like him. But it doesn't sound great at this point for anyone who particularly likes passing football through the middle or creative number 10s playing behind two forwards, it doesn't sound like that will be happening - pragmatism is back and that's probably no harm.

[JR89]

It's useful info alright. Will be interesting to see how it translates. Could be similar to Trap's 4-4-2 setup, or if someone like Azaz kicks on this season he could maybe swap out one of the two forwards for someone like him. But it doesn't sound great at this point for anyone who particularly likes passing football through the middle or creative number 10s playing behind two forwards, it doesn't sound like that will be happening - pragmatism is back and that's probably no harm.

With Iceland Sigurdsson often played as one of the midfield two in a 442. Might see similar with Ireland. When fit I'd say Ferguson and Szmodics would be his preferred front two and in Szmodics he's got someone that can also play in the hole like Sigurdsson if he's setting up 4411.

[Razors left peg]

With Iceland Sigurdsson often played as one of the midfield two in a 442. Might see similar with Ireland. When fit I'd say Ferguson and Szmodics would be his preferred front two and in Szmodics he's got someone that can also play in the hole like Sigurdsson if he's setting up 4411.

Parrott would also be perfect for that role dropping a bit deeper. I could even see Ferguson being the one coming deeper in that shape with Idah being the "target man" further up. We have good options there now

[CraftyToePoke]

Athlone, the Jamaican poster compares their midfield unfavourably with ours and how that may change his approach with us but at the Copa America their midfielders clubs were, Fulham, Real Salt Lake, Portmore Utd, Coventry City, Charlton Athletic and Coventry City. Overall we are stronger, yes, but relative to trying to challenge third & second seed countries in Europe, he may see it the same way for us as for Jamaica.

That said, in his first interview he said it would be a progression brief & you'll never get anywhere if you keep resetting to square one & not building on previous work done.

You'd imagine its no coincidence a guy with his previous in working around midfield weaknesses got the job & will have a fair bit of leeway in how he chooses to go about it. Equally, too direct will have its critics as well & a short honeymoon.

[Razors left peg]

Athlone, the Jamaican poster compares their midfield unfavourably with ours and how that may change his approach with us but at the Copa America their midfielders clubs were, Fulham, Real Salt Lake, Portmore Utd, Coventry City, Charlton Athletic and Coventry City. Overall we are stronger, yes, but relative to trying to challenge third & second seed countries in Europe, he may see it the same way for us as for Jamaica.

That said, in his first interview he said it would be a progression brief & you'll never get anywhere if you keep resetting to square one & not building on previous work done.

You'd imagine its no coincidence a guy with his previous in working around midfield weaknesses got the job & will have a fair bit of leeway in how he chooses to go about it. Equally, too direct will have its critics as well & a short honeymoon.

The litmus test for HH is not the England game but the Greek game on the 10th of September. If we are crap in that and don't really look much better than the recent games his honeymoon period will be very short. By being a relative unknown he needs a couple of good early results AND performances to get the majority on board

[Eirambler]

Seems a bit harsh to judge him after a week or 10 days with the squad. Especially when his predecessor got three years before the die hards finally gave up on him!

Let's at least give him the full Nations League before we start to make judgements.

[SkStu]

Seems a bit harsh to judge him after a week or 10 days with the squad. Especially when his predecessor got three years before the die hards finally gave up on him!

Let's at least give him the full Nations League before we start to make judgements.

Totally agree. He deserves the same grace that was given to Kenny. His team was crap against England early on and he got another few years. Hopefully HH can exceed some pretty reasonable expectations and continue to build.

[Razors left peg]

You misunderstood me. Im not talking about the likes of us on here giving up on him after 2 games. Its the Ole Ole brigade on social media Im on about. The fellas who go to games but until about 4 or 5 months ago couldnt have told you who Sammie Szmodics was and if you mentioned Bosun Lawal to them today they'd give you a blank stare. These are the people who were saying sure give it to O'Shea cos theres no one else. I had one lad text me saying O'Shea was shafted!

Most of us on here wouldnt give up on HH after 2 games, but a good performance against Greece and a big improvement on the previous 2 games against them would certainly generate a bit of excitement on here

[JR89]

1813935753111474216

Stephan Bradley not a fan of the January camp for home based players.

[Eirambler]

Bradley just sounds bitter about not getting a look in for the job to be honest. Has thrown a few digs at the new man since he came in.

Given where his team are in the league in spite of their relative budget and the hard work they made of beating their unseeded Icelandic opponents this week he might be better served focusing on his own job rather than taking much interest in another one that appears to be well beyond his capabilities.

[backstothewall]

1813935753111474216

Stephan Bradley not a fan of the January camp for home based players.

What an utterly pathetic response.

This guy comes into Irish football having previously taken a country with a population smaller than Cork through European qualifying to the finals of major tournaments on 2 occassions. HH offers an idea about something we might do differently, and he goes in front of a TV camera with the sort of arguement Id expect from the teenager.

"I don't understand the whole January concept"

"Having a camp in January doesn't make sense to me"

Those 2 quotes are, in a nutshell, everything that's wrong with the western world. I don't understand something, therefore instead of trying to better inform myself, I'm just going to write it off. Intellectually incurious Trumpian ******** and lazy to boot.

Given he's spending the biggest budget in the League of Ireland and his side are sitting in mid-table I'd say there's quite a few concepts used in elite international managment he wouldn't understand.

It's becoming clear to me how Stephen Kenny enjoyed such success in the League of Ireland and was found out as a bluffer in Scotland and the International game.

[SkStu]

You misunderstood me. Im not talking about the likes of us on here giving up on him after 2 games. Its the Ole Ole brigade on social media Im on about. The fellas who go to games but until about 4 or 5 months ago couldnt have told you who Sammie Szmodics was and if you mentioned Bosun Lawal to them today they'd give you a blank stare. These are the people who were saying sure give it to O'Shea cos theres no one else. I had one lad text me saying O'Shea was shafted!

Most of us on here wouldnt give up on HH after 2 games, but a good performance against Greece and a big improvement on the previous 2 games against them would certainly generate a bit of excitement on here

I wasn't actually responding to ER in the sense that i thought it was about you - more so reinforcing ER's point that he needs and deserves time; just like his predecessor. And anyone of the Ole Ole brigade who want him gone because we're missing another party can GTF.

Although it wouldnt surprise me if you had sent your knife in for a spit and polish. ;)

[liamoo11]

Yes, he's a quality contributior consistently.
He's back on there today after a few questions, going into more detail on HH tactically & set up wise.

Probably thinks our midfield is better than it is maybe.

Yeah that athlone poster is quality. He posts a good bit on the dual national thread on big soccer and his knowledge of Jamaican eligible youngsters in English clubs is ioff the charts. It's very rare that we feature in terms of competing for dual qualified english players compared to the likes of Jamaica or even Portugal or Germany

[Razors left peg]

Although it wouldnt surprise me if you had sent your knife in for a spit and polish. ;)

If he veers too far from the gospel according to Stephen Kenny and instead worships at the altar of Big Fat Sam then the whetstone will be ready for my knives ;)

Joking aside though his personality seems great so far and you can't help like him. Type of guy that will probably get more leeway because he will interview well in the media

[CraftyToePoke]

The drive to Waterford bore fruit. O'Shea said yes in the least surprising and worst choreographed shimmozle so far.

https://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/soccer/arid-41444653.html

[JR89]

Would have preferred Hallgrimsson to bring his own staff in but if he feels that the interim staff are worth keeping on then let's get cracking on. Particularly happy to see Paddy McCarthy kept on. Not surprised to see them kept on either as all bar McCarthy might be based in Ireland already.

[osarusan]

The drive to Waterford bore fruit. O'Shea said yes in the least surprising and worst choreographed shimmozle so far.

https://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/soccer/arid-41444653.html

Supremo, sidekick, centurion, trashed out (sic)..what tabloid language.

I remember about 30 years ago some rag like the Irish Sun referred to Limerick manager Billy Kinane as 'the Lims Supremo'. Our family jokingly used that term for years afterwards.

[JR89]

John O'Shea officially announced as assistant head coach with Paddy McCarthy and Gudmundur Hreidarsson
joining as assistant coaches.

[Razors left peg]

A ridiculous move to keep O'Shea on in my opinion.

[SkStu]

A ridiculous move to keep O'Shea on in my opinion.

Agreed and I don't know who i am more disappointed in. HH for keeping him on (when a) he's not a great assistant and b) I wouldn't trust him if i was in HH's position) or O'Shea for not wanting to prove himself somewhere, anywhere and make a real case to be the heir apparent. Right now he is behind Duff and Robbie Keane on experience and i don't see how this gets him any further ahead.

[Razors left peg]

Yep it makes no sense on any level. We were told that O'Shea turned down Tony Pulis to stay on as an assistant because he wants to go off and be his his own man, now hes acting like a 40 year old living in his Mammys spare room waiting for the day he gets the house.

From Hallgrimsons point of view it weakens him, he seems to be a strong character but this comes across like hes just stepping in line with everything the FAI want and happy to pick up the paycheck for doing it. Few bad results and O'Sheas media friends who were pushing him for the job with start acting up and say things might have been better with John.

We just have to hope that Hallgrimson does so well that we keep him on for years to come.

[Jolly Red Giant]

I'd give the job to Paddy McCarthy before any of the three of them

[JR89]

I'd give the job to Paddy McCarthy before any of the three of them

Yup, and honestly O'Shea's chances of succeeding Hallgrimsson are slim at best anyway. In two years time either Hallgrimsson flops and leaves, does an alright job and gets a new contract, or does a good job and is poached by a better team.

If he flops the whole management team will be moved on. If he does a good job and is poached then that means he's left us in a better position than he found us.

Makes the job more attractive than it was recently and should lead to better options than we were shopping amongst the last few months.

Wouldn't be surprised if O'Shea is gone within 12 months. Leaves for another job and that's why they kept Paddy McCarthy around rather than Glen Whelan who already works for the FAI.

I can see O'Shea leaving before next summer and Paddy McCarthy becomes the no 2 with someone like Whelan or McShane stepping up as no.3

[Eirambler]

Whatever happens with Heimir we at least just about dodged the bullet that was Neil Lennon - signed 12 players, managed 6 games, didn't win any of them, may or may not have taken a leak on the training pitch and has now been sacked by Rapid Bucharest. And had it not been for the PR difficulties associated with his private life he would probably have gotten the Ireland job.

[CraftyToePoke]

So there was a Q&A etc tonight with HH which STs were eligible to enter a competition to attend. Did anyone here go & what did they hear from him ?

Or, y'know, we could just keep repeating the same arguments re Kelleher / Liverpool we've been doing back & forth at each other for way too much of our adult lives.

Anyone ?

[JR89]

So there was a Q&A etc tonight with HH which STs were eligible to enter a competition to attend. Did anyone here go & what did they hear from him ?

Or, y'know, we could just keep repeating the same arguments re Kelleher / Liverpool we've been doing back & forth at each other for way too much of our adult lives.

Anyone ?

O Shea will take over after him.
Whelan with the u21.

FAI will appoint an employee to sorely recruit young dispora and bring them through the underage set up rather than when they are in their twenties.

He said Iceland had a strong group of young players who stayed with the 21s and qualified for the euros rather than get promoted to the senior squad, which was a partial reason for their success in 2018 World Cup.

This was posted on YBIG by one poster, but then others who were there are asking when did he say O'Shea will be taking over after him. They said some journalist were at it so should see articles soonish or tomorrow morning.

Hiring someone whose job it is to work with the young diaspora is a good idea.

Those comments about the Iceland U21s I'd figure we aren't likely to see any young lads promoted this year. That HH will work with the lads that are usually in the senior squad.

[Eirambler]

He's looking for a nasty b*stard apparently.

Jason Molumby is probably the man for the job.

[Razors left peg]

https://m.independent.ie/sport/soccer/im-looking-for-a-bd-in-the-team-ireland-boss-heimir-hallgrimsson-admits-some-of-his-players-are-too-nice/a880063600.html?fbclid=IwY2xjawEzOuZleHRuA2FlbQIxM QABHcKVsFsww6XA8qAzVUjEpYutb36bxxU3Ogpta_KKMcqPqnR INSombzR-Wg_aem_Xbi4XLFoUmGA4aSx3AxR9Q

[JR89]

He's looking for a nasty b*stard apparently.

Jason Molumby is probably the man for the job.

He's also got one in Sammie Szmodics. There's Jamie Vardy vibes off Szmodics that he'll be taking **** towards opposition players trying to rile them up.

[CraftyToePoke]

He's also got one in Sammie Szmodics.

He does, I agree, I watched him at Peterborough a fair bit & he does have that side to him. Particularly remember one game he turned on the bench from out on the field near halfway and abused Ferguson solidly for thirty seconds and another night he was on the bench, last sub went on, it wasn't him and you could hear him wrecking the dugout. Delightful young man. Maybe we do need that, but its got to be channeled.

[CraftyToePoke]

O Shea will take over after him.
Whelan with the u21.

FAI will appoint an employee to sorely recruit young dispora and bring them through the underage set up rather than when they are in their twenties.

He said Iceland had a strong group of young players who stayed with the 21s and qualified for the euros rather than get promoted to the senior squad, which was a partial reason for their success in 2018 World Cup.

This was posted on YBIG by one poster, but then others who were there are asking when did he say O'Shea will be taking over after him. They said some journalist were at it so should see articles soonish or tomorrow morning.

Hiring someone whose job it is to work with the young diaspora is a good idea.

Those comments about the Iceland U21s I'd figure we aren't likely to see any young lads promoted this year. That HH will work with the lads that are usually in the senior squad.

More & more disputing the O'Shea thing was said at all.
Bit misleading you led with it in your post there maybe & didn't make clear it was a quote from one poster elsewhere until much further down ?

[JR89]

More & more disputing the O'Shea thing was said at all.
Bit misleading you led with it in your post there maybe & didn't make clear it was a quote from one poster elsewhere until much further down ?

Because I copy and pasted it from YBIG and then wrote my message underneath. My deepest and heartfelt apologies for not putting [quote] brackets around it so everyone knew ASAP that it was a quote from someone else.

[CraftyToePoke]

Because I copy and pasted it from YBIG and then wrote my message underneath. My deepest and heartfelt apologies for not putting [quote] brackets around it so everyone knew ASAP that it was a quote from someone else.

Accepted.

[CraftyToePoke]

https://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/soccer/arid-41460577.html

More from earlier.
Does want his own fitness guy. For starters.
.....

Backroom

The vast majority are sticking around, including Crystal Palace coach Paddy McCarthy, but his efforts so far to entice an unnamed Spanish fitness coach have come up short.

“I’m happy with the staff but like to see how things go and how we grow,” he explained about his main priority since taking charge.

“We can add in, especially having a bridge between the medical team and fitness coaches.

“I was trying to get a Spanish guy. He worked with me previously in Qatar and came into the Jamaica camp in the six weeks leading up to Copa America.”

......................

His first squad announcement on Thursday week will be predominantly selected by the interim staff for the four friendlies contested between March and June as the FAI’s search descended into a saga.

He flanked O’Shea in attending the recent opening Championship match between Luton Town and Burnley, a game featuring four Irish players.

“I’m not going to lie by saying I’m an expert on the Irish players,” he confessed.

“This selection will be, more or less, based on their opinion. After three league games of the season, I can’t jump in and say you’re in the squad because you played well once. I will know more as I go on.”

[Eirambler]

I like a lot of what he says, he seems to get international football - that it's not a straight transition across from the club game, and that with the short windows that the coaches have with the players you need to keep things simpler. Defensive structure, set pieces, uncomplicated football. Kenny never got his head around that, Hallgrimsson gets it.

[Jolly Red Giant]

He's looking for a nasty b*stard apparently.

Jason Molumby is probably the man for the job.
Molumby isn't nasty - he just does stupid sh*t on the pitch