Republic of Ireland General Discussion Thread 2024 [use match threads for games]

Will we get a new manager before we get another new thread?

Heimir Hallgrímsson.

… I don't know. Ok? Good? Meh?

Iceland played very dour football anytime I saw them play

Is this manager dyslexic and got confused with offer and contact?

Not filling me with much hope that "football manager" seems to be his second profession

EDIT: Also I know it's one of you in here editing his wiki!

there’s only one heimir hallgrimsson…sounds like minor character in Vikings…

Looking at his wiki, it looks like he got Jamaioca to Copa America too?

Sounds pretty decent.

Wow! Saw it on Facebook and thought it was a wind up. No idea what to make of it. He's appointed now, so time to get behind him I guess. One good thing to note, he won't have any loyalty to the likes of the McCleans or the Brady's based on their "past accomplishments". I'd imagine he'll select players purely on quality. Questions still need to be asked about the FAI's role in this. Where they really waiting for end of the Copa America for Jamaica to make this appointment?

I never got that logic. LWB was a pit of woe. Other than Brady/McClean there was only Enda Stevens or Callum O'Dowda. McClean was picked because he WAS (might still be) the best LB. Heimar can't sign a better LB so is stuck with probably Doherty out left which has never been great.

He was in sole charge when he lead Iceland to the 2018 World Cup, that in itself is a serious achievement.

Really not sure what to make of this appointment.

It might be that I'm glad the search is over but it's an appointment that is just a mystery to me. I'm glad it's not some of the names or betting favs like JOS, Lennon, etc we've seen in a while but I'm also not very clued into who he is.

The only real positive here is that he is an international manager with experience of getting teams like us to major tournaments in Iceland albeit a couple of years ago and Jamaica to Copa albeit with a poor group. That said, he got Jamaica past Canada who have been a good team to watch in Copa this month. It's the sort of appointment I've wanted for Ireland to have, a manager with international experience and getting teams to tournaments.

Big job ahead of him.

you have to laugh

because this is embarrassing

no direspect to Íþróttabandalag Vestmannaeyja

In fact I've total respect for what Iceland have managed to do for soccer in their country

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/jan/30/volcano-iceland-national-football-team

but that doesn't make this man suitable for the job.

FAI made a balls of the recruitment

and they will try and feed the line that this was their masterplan all along!!!

to revolutionise the game with an Icelandic manger.

Highly doubt they were waiting till after Copa to appointment Hallgrímsson. Technically resigned as Jamaica manager but would say he probably resigned before he was pushed. Canham likely reached out to him in the last ten days about the job.

He'd want to be mad to resign voluntarily from the Jamaica job, who'll likely be playing at the '26 WC for the Ireland job.

Heimir Hallgrímsson , only a little bit grim, but hopefully chances of a fairy-tale ending?

Happy enough with that to be fair. Good international experience and seems to know how to work with limited teams.

Considering our tough nations league and that we are nowhere near the quality level of WC qualification, its seems like a good time to give this type of appointment a try.

FAI Director of Football Marc Canham commented, “We are thrilled to announce Heimir as our new Head Coach. Earlier this year, we identified Heimir as our number one candidate whose capabilities and experience aligned with our criteria. Not only does Heimir have significant experience at international level with two different countries, but crucially he also has a track record of qualifying for major international tournaments and taking teams up the FIFA World rankings.

“It was also important for us that we recruited a Head Coach who is interested in the overall development of football in Ireland as outlined in the FAI’s football pathways plan and in particular someone who is interested in the development of our underage international teams both of which Heimir is hugely passionate about.

“I also want to thank and pay tribute to John O’Shea and his staff who have guided the team through recent friendly internationals preparing the team impeccably, creating a brilliant environment for the players and achieving positive results on the pitch.”

So apparently this was months in the making. Yeah right. Wondered what happened in April to the so-called appointment being made.

Results are all that matter.

To be fair if there's one FA that's even worse than ours it's Jamaica, this might actually feel like a step up in professionalism for him.

I said on the old thread that I wanted the manger to be someone I never heard of before, because I thought they needed something new rather than the same old names being mentioned.

And boy did they deliver.