Next Senior Men's Team Manager - Runners and Riders

[elatedscum]

Best Case Scenario: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfNz7Xau2hc
Worst Case Scenario: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpb23DXQ1q8 (10 days ago)

[JR89]

His backroom team will be interesting, I hope we move on from JOS. Id love to see Brian Barry Murphy come in with him, but that might be a pipedream.

I'd be surprised if O'Shea is involved after being overlooked for the job. Hallgrimsson you can be sure will get the who the **** is this guy treatment in the media. Likely from some who are pals with O'Shea and having O'Shea as part of his set up would make it worse imo.

I'd say there's more chance of John O'Shea being involved than BBM. If the FAI could actually get him involved then fair ****s to him. But walking away from City you'd imagine he's going back into management.

This lad was one of his assistant coaches with Jamaica. https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/john.../trainer/36723

Sebastian Boxleitner and Gudmundur Hreidarsson are the other two non Jamaicans that were part of his coaching staff and both also worked with him while with Iceland.

[elatedscum]

FAI spin never fails...

On what excites him to come to Ireland: "I really like the administration, how they approached, their professionalism, and how they treated me with respect etc.", overlaid with Mark Canham smiling and laughing with him signing the contract.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0L9kWhnSJTc

[Razors left peg]

https://youtu.be/0L9kWhnSJTc?si=1haARqBpVVytq_TN

He speaks pretty well. Talks about being involved in the youth structures in Iceland and will expect to do that with us too.

[elatedscum]

I think we'll know a lot more when we see the squad and then when we see them play.

Basic expectations:
- Played better than we did under JOS
- Showing more tactical nuance than JOS did
- Decent results

What does that realistically translate to for the rest of the year? In general in the nation's league, I think 2nd place is par for what we should achieve (that equates to 21st to 24th in Europe). 3rd is probably a touch below expectations - and 4th would be our worst ever result...

[Eirambler]

Says Stuttgart 88!

At least the handle isn't Stuttgart 38!

A total left field appointment. But what I wanted was a serious manager with a decent track record who represents a potential significant improvement on Kenny and O'Shea. And this guy appears to be that. And if he is it's the first time we'll have had that in four years.

If he can get us organised at the back initially he should improve us. Then hopefully develop the team from there as the younger players come through and some of them move into their peak years ahead of Euro 2028. I have hope for this guy, let's give him a chance for a couple of years at least and see what he can do.

[JR89]

Also says he's confident that Hallgrimsson will qualify us for the upcoming WC.

Full interview is here.
https://www.goloudplayer.com/episode...E3OTUwODVhNjg=

[Eirambler]

Hallgrímsson was identified as the FAI’s number one candidate earlier this year with his experience aligning perfectly with the Association’s search criteria.

I can't believe they put in the press release to try and cover Canham. I mean it's technically true, as last week is indeed "earlier this year", but he's some bull****ter trying to pass this off as being the plan all along. Kilbane had him down to a tee with his "fake it until you make it" comment.

[Eminence Grise]

How strange! I dreamed about this only last night. The setting was the Aviva as Ireland lost 5-0 to England, and I saw the news reports the following day.

If Tets is here today… They weren’t very complimentary reports.


But if Tets isn’t here today…




This is what I saw (these aren’t puns, by the way – they’re prophecies).

• What the Viking hell??? – The Sun (never one to let medieval geopolitical inaccuracies get in the way of a good pun).
• It’s All Grim, Son – Daily Mirror
• Less Braun, More Brain

- dentist’s boys brushed aside by England – Evening Herald

• No GUMption – Mail on Sunday
• Open Wide!

- This IS going to hurt - The Daily Star

• Emerald Aisle! Ireland to replace former Iceland manager with former Tesco manager - The Phoenix
• A photo of a laughing Stephen Kenny surrounded by piles of money and training cones – the St Pat’s matchday programme
• ‘Toothless Ireland were down in the mouth as they lacked bite against…’ (continues without any improvement for another 800 words) – Roy Curtis in the Sunday World
• On Crimecall, ‘50,000 people turned on this man when he shouted “Give me a H”. If you recognise his bruised and battered face and know where he lives call us. We were disappointed not to get in on the action ourselves.’

And, finally, restrained yet all the more hurtful as it rubs salt into our collective wounds, The Irish Times…





Ireland Outclassed by Carsley’s England

[CraftyToePoke]

Here's hoping for a veneer of respectability.

[geysir]

What’s your honest opinion on him Geysir?

Re Stu: My understanding was the Lagerbeck was still calling the shots in 2016 - but I’m sure Geysir can provide far more insight

I only give honest opinions

Heimir was most definitely the junior partner in the 2016 campaign, that being said it was also common knowledge that he was being groomed as heir the throne post 2016. He’s been a part of a set up that took one of the lowest ranked countries in Europe to a play off and 2 finals where Iceland, tactically, physically and technically competed against and beat teams many times more talented on a regular basis. What more does a potential manager have to do in order to be a candidate for the Ireland job? It’s beyond bizarre for know nothings to be ‘unpleased’.
He has the credentials, he has personality, more importantly a solid tough as nails character and he’s a Westmann Islander to boot.
He’s also charismatic with a sense of humour. He gets fans, not platitudes or whatever, he’s all for direct communication and nurtured the growth of the the ‘12th man’ - the Iceland 'ultras', from a small cabal to epic proportions.

His tour de force with Iceland was in the WCQ 2018 campaign as sole manager, the peak was reached topping the group after going into the penultimate round of games when Iceland were destined for 3rd or 4th place, but the surreal happened with a 3 nil victory in Istanbul, then we switched over to watching Croatia at home conceding a last minute equaliser to Finland. Not only do you dodge a destructive comet but win the lotto on the same evening.

The questions arose later at the WC especially with mistakes he made in the 2nd game v Nigeria, a game which should have been won. It was regarded as a big fail not to progress to the last 16.
I haven’t followed his career since he left Iceland,

My attitude to this appointment is, why not Heimir?

[Fixer82]

Hopefully he can get to the root of the problem and really drill his ethos into the team. Some players might need to fill a few gaps so we better brace ourselves. Not sure I have the palate for this tbh

[Razors left peg]

I only give honest opinions

Heimir was most definitely the junior partner in the 2016 campaign, that being said it was also common knowledge that he was being groomed as heir the throne post 2016. He’s been a part of a set up that took one of the lowest ranked countries in Europe to a play off and 2 finals where Iceland, tactically, physically and technically competed against and beat teams many times more talented on a regular basis. What more does a potential manager have to do in order to be a candidate for the Ireland job? It’s beyond bizarre for know nothings to be ‘unpleased’.
He has the credentials, he has personality, more importantly a solid tough as nails character and he’s a Westmann Islander to boot.
He’s also charismatic with a sense of humour. He gets fans, not platitudes or whatever, he’s all for direct communication and nurtured the growth of the the ‘12th man’ - the Iceland 'ultras', from a small cabal to epic proportions.

His tour de force with Iceland was in the WCQ 2018 campaign as sole manager, the peak was reached topping the group after going into the penultimate round of games when Iceland were destined for 3rd or 4th place, but the surreal happened with a 3 nil victory in Istanbul, then we switched over to watching Croatia at home conceding a last minute equaliser to Finland. Not only do you dodge a destructive comet but win the lotto on the same evening.

The questions arose later at the WC especially with mistakes he made in the 2nd game v Nigeria, a game which should have been won. It was regarded as a big fail not to progress to the last 16.
I haven’t followed his career since he left Iceland,

My attitude to this appointment is, why not Heimir?

Good to get the opinion of someone who has seen him close up, makes me even more enthusiastic about the appointment.

[CraftyToePoke]

Hopefully he can get to the root of the problem and really drill his ethos into the team. Some players might need to fill a few gaps so we better brace ourselves. Not sure I have the palate for this tbh

This is it exactly.

Maybe win a plaque.

[SkStu]

I just can’t wait for his name to be butchered on here like Bazuna, Obamadele and McLean.

[SkStu]

I’m quite optimistic about this appointment to be honest. He’s probably more qualified and experienced than anyone else that we had on the realistic list, except possibly Sagnol (who would probably approve of his appointment).

Basically, we may never lose again.

[samhaydenjr]

So... not as good as we might have hoped but better than we had feared is probably a good way to describe this appointment. In fairness, leading Iceland to top the 2018 World Cup qualifying group was a pretty impressive achievement, and even getting Jamaica to the Copa America was no mean feat, beating three teams who had recently qualified for World Cups and taking the US to extra time.

Could well be a good bridge to a time, perhaps four years from now, when Robbie, Duffer, BBM, Carsley and even JOS could be viable candidates,

[Olé Olé]

Sounds like his style of play isn't the most attractive. That means he will need results to keep the media and supporters off his back. Might well be a better version of Michael O'Neill in some regards and I think that we have all seen what he has extracted from incredibly limited resources.

Additionally, he has been a busy man in tapping up eligible players for Jamaica. Hafliðason on OTB specifically said he spent a lot of time in the UK going around speaking to the players he brought into the Jamaica side. Not sure who he brought in though - Hallgrimsson appears to have begun that post in 2022 and Pinnock, Antonio and a few others declared in 2021...

If he's a man for 4-4-2 or something similar, he's probably looking at our squad and thinking that he has good options in the back 5, different choices and combinations up top (Ferguson and Szmodics?), a few lads who can play on the wings (Ogbene for sure, Johnston maybe) but is shy in midfield. He might prioritize that as somewhere to go after in the eligible player pool.

[Fixer82]

Sounds like his style of play isn't the most attractive. That means he will need results to keep the media and supporters off his back. Might well be a better version of Michael O'Neill in some regards and I think that we have all seen what he has extracted from incredibly limited resources.

He's already had some of the Twitterati going after him for saying he'd love to get Mason Greenwood to declare for Jamaica

[brine3]

A dentist becomes Ireland manager you can't make that up!!

Makes sense, sure watching Ireland is like going to the dentist anyway.