Heimir Hallgrímsson

[Eminence Grise]

Decided a good while back that if the headline, subhead or lede shows that Dunne is quoted in the article I won't bother reading it. Keith Treacy (https://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2024/1007/1474099-obrien-omission-from-squad-grating-on-me-treacy/) is another lad who could do with a long hard think before he shills himself for an interview. Pair of mealy-mouthed rent-a-quotes with nothing good to say.

[CraftyToePoke]

Another international window, another new low lads. This time a coverage one.
Just fcuk off Dunne if that's all you have to contribute.

[Razors left peg]

This one to me also shows Dunnes lack of awareness of the mood of the fans. Everyone was furious over O'Shea taking the lead in the England game and the vast majority of fans want him nowhere near the team. To come out in the next window and say that O'Shea is waiting in the wings to take over is an absolutely incredible level of obliviousness to the world around him.

[CraftyToePoke]

They want their buddy in the job, and it starts & ends with that. Whether he'd be any good or not doesn't seem to come into it or whether it'd be good for the game here, or not. You'd swear they own this side the way the ex pro talking heads push for O'Shea. So long as their guy is in the big seat & a few crumbs might fall their way that's all they want. Fcuk the overall wellbeing of the game, the fans, any of the rest of it.

[joey B]

1843576895704838315

This to me is a new nadir for football journalism in Ireland, McCadden should be ashamed of himself for writing it. Richard Dunne still touting his mate O'Shea to step in for Hallgrimsson also shows why O'Shea should never have been kept around firstly, but also that Dunne should never get paid to comment of Ireland games on tv since his bias is beyond ridiculous.

Absolutely bizarre, was surprised Dunne came out with it to be honest, he's a terribly boring pundit so didnt think he had much controversy in him.
I wouldn't give O'Shea the job if Hallgrimsson himself resigned tomorrow either....

[Acornvilla]

I hope to god we get some sort of result v the Finns for Heimir's sanity, there's far too much noise. I think we'll get at least a draw anyway, but if one of our many promising strikers decides this is the time to take the jersey, that would be nice. We'll probably die out in Greece afterwards and lads like Dunne will hammer him regardless but lord we need a bit of good news.

[tetsujin1979]

Why Wyscout? Inside football analysis site used by Heimir Hallgrimsson to keep tabs on Ireland squad
https://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/international-soccer/why-wyscout-inside-football-analysis-site-used-by-heimir-hallgrimsson-to-keep-tabs-on-ireland-squad/a2050249832.html
(Paywalled, usual workarounds apply)

[Demesne Lad]

Hallgrimsson may be wondering if he inherited Kenny's luck as well as Kenny's squad: Bazunu, Ogbene, Taylor, unavailable for November internationals, probably Smallbone and possibly Brady too.

[Olé Olé]

One thing I would say is that it might be a good window for bad luck to strike. We are not going to trouble England in Wembley and that Finland side coming to Ireland we should be capable of beating with Festy replacing Ogbene. Taylor had an impact v Greece but could Szmodics play that role too? If we need someone physical, Knight or Molumby might manage it. I feel as though his impact was more tactical than personnel related.

Brady at left back would be a worry. His set pieces would be a loss. Manning is probably the most natural alternative as he covers the set pieces too but his relationship with the national side has been confusing.

[Eirambler]

I don't think that's an especially bad injury list. Ogbene is the main one that we know is out, we don't know about Brady yet I don't think. Smallbone isn't a nailed on midfield starter, it's a toss up between a few players, Bazunu is the clear second choice keeper now and Taylor is a squad player.

[Demesne Lad]

Will Keane still crocked - a thigh tendon injury (Lancashire Evening Post, 29 Oct).

[Eirambler]

Very poor form from Stephen Bradley today having a go at Hallgrimsson in his press conference after losing to Bohemians. Especially given that Hallgrimsson is only being honest and truthful in what he's saying. God help us if Bradley ever gets anywhere near the Ireland job.

[Razors left peg]

Very poor form from Stephen Bradley today having a go at Hallgrimsson in his press conference after losing to Bohemians. Especially given that Hallgrimsson is only being honest and truthful in what he's saying. God help us if Bradley ever gets anywhere near the Ireland job.

What did he say? What did Hallgrimsson say?

[Olé Olé]

What did he say? What did Hallgrimsson say?

1891187035811074452

Here is Bradley from about 1.40 on.

Halgrimsson said he hoped that players involved in European run for Rovers would get a "career change" out of it through being scouted.

Fairly disheartening comments.

https://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/soccer/arid-41575870.html

[Eirambler]

Hallgrimsson is just saying it like it is. We'll likely pick a squad in a few weeks time that won't include anyone playing at a lower level than the Championship. Everyone knows League 1 is a level above the domestic league and we call up almost nobody from that division now.

So, for any player playing domestically to become of relevance to Hallgrimsson, they're going to have to leave. That's not realistically going to ever change, the aim for the league is to become one that can consistently develop future international players, but it's not going to be where they will play when they're in the senior team. I find it pretty amazing that Bradley can't see that.

[Buckett]

Bradley's dead right. If that Icelandic lad shows up to a LOI ground he should be ran out

[CraftyToePoke]

Bradley is just making noise, there wasn't any disrespect towards the league there and he's only saying what the better Rovers players are already thinking & what is factual, anyway. The respect / disrespect card gets played way too often these days and it is mostly nonsense, its an Anglo thing as well, from Sky era coverage of the game mostly by halfwit ex pro talking heads who can hardly make coherent sentences most of the time, shame to see Irish men copying that carry on & lowering themselves to it, then again he is a Dub. Bradley needs to shut up because he'll be shopping himself around English clubs as well, will he stay in the league if / when the right opportunity comes ? He's already spoken to one club I think, AFAIK.

All that said, HH started his reign spouting about a B international for LOI players to graduate to the national side, he's a long way from that initial message now he's had a look around. He should maybe say less as well.

[Eirambler]

The issue for me is that Farrugia going to Barnsley (which seems to be at least partly behind Bradley's comments) should be being put out there as a success for the club and should encourage others to sign - come and play for Shamrock Rovers and you can earn a move to a very decent team overseas. Instead Bradley is, indirectly, having a go at the player for leaving and trying to better himself.

So he's either saying that players should just stay in Ireland and not look to make the most of their short careers, or he's deluding himself into thinking that his players should be getting Ireland senior call ups (anyone who watched today's game at the Aviva would be able to see fairly quickly why they won't be). Either way it doesn't reflect well on him.

[Razors left peg]

Its pretty simple really, we should aim for the day that players aspire to play their career in the LOI and it's at a high enough standard that they are legitimately contenders for the national team.... we are not there yet and players should always aspire to better themselves. Would it be disrespectful for a Championship player to say he want to play in Premiership or Champions League? Bradley full of crap here and far too sensitive

[Fixer82]

Professional sport is a mercenary game.
If the LOI can pay players the same as they can get in England they’ll stay put.

Until that happens the best players will travel for higher wages and play at a higher standard

[CraftyToePoke]

come and play for Shamrock Rovers and you can earn a move to a very decent team overseas.

Bit of a loose description there no ?

Imagine a player being told a very decent team from overseas has come in for him & he asks who it is to be told the word Barnsley.

It'd really kill the buzz, wouldn't it.

[Razors left peg]

Bit of a loose description there no ?

Imagine a player being told a very decent team from overseas has come in for him & he asks who it is to be told the word Barnsley.

It'd really kill the buzz, wouldn't it.

But if Barnsley we paying double or 3 times his salary for Rovers it would keep a bit of that buzz :)

[TonyD]

Hallgrimsson is just saying it like it is. We'll likely pick a squad in a few weeks time that won't include anyone playing at a lower level than the Championship. Everyone knows League 1 is a level above the domestic league and we call up almost nobody from that division now.

So, for any player playing domestically to become of relevance to Hallgrimsson, they're going to have to leave. That's not realistically going to ever change, the aim for the league is to become one that can consistently develop future international players, but it's not going to be where they will play when they're in the senior team. I find it pretty amazing that Bradley can't see that.

I think you’re missing the point. It’s not really that he said that players playing in the league here wouldn’t be considered, after all, every Ireland manager has applied that policy, with few exceptions. The way he spoke was more to the effect that now that players had done well for Rovers in Europe, they might have a chance of joining a “real” club.

[Eirambler]

Ah, I think that's stretching it out of all proportion. He said they might have a chance to play at a higher level, which hopefully a few might. Open to clarification, but I very much doubt he said Shamrock Rovers weren't a "real" club.

[rebelmusic]

Could we not generally agree that HH should have chosen his words a little more carefully and that Bradley had an overreaction? Storm in a teacup comes to mind

[elatedscum]

Could we not generally agree that HH should have chosen his words a little more carefully and that Bradley had an overreaction? Storm in a teacup comes to mind

Exactly this

[Razors left peg]

Imagine if an L1 manager got upset by the England manager suggesting that their player needs to move to a higher standard league to be in contention for England team. No one would bat an eyelid and any manager that got sensitive about it would be laughed out of a press conference.

Hallgrimsson has done nothing wrong here at all and any controversy is solely on Bradleys obviously very delicate shoulders

[SkStu]

Could we not generally agree that HH should have chosen his words a little more carefully and that Bradley had an overreaction? Storm in a teacup comes to mind

I really have a hard time with identifying what HH said wrong, especially with English being his second language. Bradley being a bit silly.

[nigel-harps1954]

It's true, but it's disrespectful to the league.

That's the gist of it really.

[Eirambler]

It's true, but it's disrespectful to the league.


Does that mean it's now considered inappropriate to say things about the league that are true?

[Buckett]

If your Mrs was carrying a few extra pounds and I called her fat, that would be true but disrespectful. There's some things people in certain roles shouldn't say

[Razors left peg]

If your Mrs was carrying a few extra pounds and I called her fat, that would be true but disrespectful. There's some things people in certain roles shouldn't say

If you were the one in charge of the gym the Mrs went to lose weight it wouldn't be disrespectful to call out the obvious.

Like it or not the Ireland manager is the figure head of football in the country. It's not his job to placate and sugar coat the standard of football in the country. It's his job to pick the best players and the standard domestically isn't good enough for him to even consider picking any players

[Buckett]

If you were the one in charge of the gym the Mrs went to lose weight it wouldn't be disrespectful to call out the obvious.

Ya, but you wouldn't publicly announce that about her, you would need to say it in private.

[tetsujin1979]

This analogy isn't going to end well. Can we move on from it?

[Eirambler]

Didn't Trap once say something along the lines of "in Ireland there is no league" or something similar to that? I mean that's factually incorrect so fair enough to call him out on that, but it feels like HH is getting a harder time for expressing sentiments that are actually true.

[Eirambler]

If your Mrs was carrying a few extra pounds and I called her fat, that would be true but disrespectful. There's some things people in certain roles shouldn't say

For what it's worth, my Mrs is very slim, so this is unlikely to ever be an issue!

[zero]

If people call you fat you should just ignore them.

You're bigger than that.

[Jolly Red Giant]

Imagine if an L1 manager got upset by the England manager suggesting that their player needs to move to a higher standard league to be in contention for England team. No one would bat an eyelid and any manager that got sensitive about it would be laughed out of a press conference.

Hallgrimsson has done nothing wrong here at all and any controversy is solely on Bradleys obviously very delicate shoulders
HH has put his foot in it more than once - and his comments here were a bit stupid (even given the fact that English is his second language - he is pretty fluent) - from Bradley's perspective, it is keeping the media attention on him rather than his team in the run-up to tonight's game.

[TonyD]

Ah, I think that's stretching it out of all proportion. He said they might have a chance to play at a higher level, which hopefully a few might. Open to clarification, but I very much doubt he said Shamrock Rovers weren't a "real" club.

Well obviously I was paraphrasing, but it’s not too difficult to read that interpretation into it. I wouldn’t be getting the pitchforks out, and probably Bradley should have ignored it ( not a huge fan of his public pronouncements anyway) But the Irish international manager could just have congratulated Rovers and left it at that.

[pineapple stu]

I suppose you could argue the case that HH is saying the LoI is definitely a potential source of players. But we all know the LoI isn't really a high enough level to make an impact in the senior squad.

[Olé Olé]

I suppose you could argue the case that HH is saying the LoI is definitely a potential source of players. But we all know the LoI isn't really a high enough level to make an impact in the senior squad.

Neil Farrugia moved to League One and we haven't had to pick players from League One for a couple of years now. So, yes.

[pineapple stu]

Yep.

And yet if he does well there and moves up a division, then he could well end up getting a few caps and proving HH right while also showing the LoI is a legitimate player development route

[Eirambler]

Which is exactly what the league should be aiming to be, not a place for current senior internationals, but for future ones.

[Olé Olé]

Which is exactly what the league should be aiming to be, not a place for current senior internationals, but for future ones.

This Ozhianvuna lad tonight looks like he has the potential to be a future international.

[Elfman]

Anyone see Sadlier's comments last night that poured petrol onto this fire? I only saw them on the RTÉ article this morning but they already appear to have edited the article and removed the video from their Twitter page:
https://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2025/0220/1497798-sadlier-loi-frustration-over-tone-deaf-fai-comments/

[Eirambler]

This Ozhianvuna lad tonight looks like he has the potential to be a future international.

Definitely has something about him alright, sometimes you can just see it straight away with a player.

[Razors left peg]

Definitely has something about him alright, sometimes you can just see it straight away with a player.

He was good when he came on against Bohs too.

[Olé Olé]

He was good when he came on against Bohs too.

Thought he was good v Bohs too but tonight was a bit more of a showcase of his talents. Tighter pitch which meant he had less time to take the ball under pressure and less space to attack when dribbling. But he looks very exciting when doing both due to a combination of pure braveness and what looks like fairly high level ball control. Turned 16 last month...

[rebelmusic]

Anyone see Sadlier's comments last night that poured petrol onto this fire? I only saw them on the RTÉ article this morning but they already appear to have edited the article and removed the video from their Twitter page:
https://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2025/0220/1497798-sadlier-loi-frustration-over-tone-deaf-fai-comments/

Yeah very mysterious. He basically said he has inside knowledge that more crap about Canham is going to come out over the next few days.

[Stuttgart88]

Oooh, bring it on....