Heimir Hallgrimsson! (original) (raw)
Crystal Palace
Apr 12, 2003
Los Angeles
Club:
Los Angeles Galaxy
Nat'l Team:
Ireland Republic
Salutations everyone!
Remember when we used to post about the national side on this forum? those were good times. Welp, let's get back to it.
After an hugely protracted search, the FAI have finally found their manager in Heimir Hallgrimsson. It might've taken a long time but I like to focus on the positives. He's got a track record of success with smaller nations of limited resources and having them punch above their weight class, and knocked England out of Euro 2016, and qualified Iceland for their first World Cup appearance two years later, and then took Jamaica to the semifinals of the Gold Cup in a situation that was said to be terrible, so he definitely knows how to make the most out of what he's got at his disposal. Also, he's been a dentist in his previous trade so we'll have the most sparkling smiles in all of football!
What say you lads? opinions if any? 2.
Feb 2, 2013
Nat'l Team:
Jamaica
I am not Irish but he did just finish coaching my national team so I'll offer a take. I think he is a quality manager. Jamaica's results under his tenure were quite solid, despite limited resources and our FA being a mess. Our team was more organized, prepared and professional than it had been in years before and I really liked the direction we were headed. We looked more capable and threatening on the field and had some consistency in our squad for the first time in years. I had confidence that with him in charge, we were going to stand a very good chance at qualifying for 2026 (especially with an expanded World Cup field). I'm disappointed we weren't able to finish that 4 year window with him in charge.
He was targeted by Ireland months ago. Myself and some other Jamaica supporters noticed some strange behaviour toward the end of his run - in a few of the June games we seemed uncharacteristically cavalier and unprepared, with more questionable decision-making. Once he resigned and this appointment became public, that all made sense - he had his foot out the door weeks before the June games kicked off and that showed. He was over it, the Copa America was going to be his swan song regardless.
I don't hold much ill will for this, although it is disappointing and does leave us in the awkward position of having to hire a new coach and reset in the middle of a World Cup cycle. As I said before, Jamaica's football landscape is just a difficult place to be. It is dominated by people who are at once profoundly unintelligent and corrupt, resources are scarce, and the culture is just deeply unserious all around (as is the case with broader Jamaican society).
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. The appeal was obvious and the decision to be made was clear. I cannot blame him for this.
All in all, Ireland got a good coach and we will miss him. 3.
Thank you, Athlone.
Did he bring much / many of his own backroom crew to the job ?
What systems / formations did he play ?
How would you describe his style of football while with Jamaica ?
In midfield did he favour workhorse players who disrupt the opposition or did he also select more creative players ? Does he like a winger or are they luxury items?
Are his forwards expected to run themselves into the ground for an hour before being replaced ?
Is he set piece focused ?
Were you more direct during his tenure ?As much as you like if you have time please. Was going to ask you anyway on here. 4.
Feb 2, 2013
Nat'l Team:
Jamaica
Sure, no problem
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. 5.
Interesting & thank you.
Our specific limitations are a mirror image of yours, alongside a development gap which sees us with very few players in their peak years, we only have a few older heads who are mostly past that peak & the rest are 22 & under. Its a painful transition, its leaving scars.
Even among those younger players there isn't a creative 8 who is going to trouble a seed two nation in a European qualification group and only one maybe on the horizon who might. There are several workhorses though of a decent but not top level, players who can cover lots of ground. There is one creative player just promoted to the EPL with Southampton, the others are Burnley, West Brom, Preston, Bristol City grafters - so in that respect we aren't dissimilar at all to yourselves interestingly.
We do have good keepers, defenders, wingers & strikers. Young mostly but shaping up pretty well albeit only the very odd one at clubs involved in the European club competitions.
So you can see why his skillset drew our eye & I think we can see how he'll go about this in all likelihood. It'll be industrial in style rather than arty.
We also have a large section of the support who backed the last manager because he was a purist, he insisted on passing it out, insisted on good possession numbers but didn't have us competitive against sides we'd see as the ones we have to be beating to stay in groups. So it will be a balancing act for HH, too direct & there will be discontent. The support his predecessor retained despite failing, because it was easy on the eye was remarkable.
Its also a pressure cooker of a goldfish bowl job. Scrutiny is intense & constant from many quarters. Daily coverage whether there's anything to actually report or not, is it like that in Jamaica ?
What was he like with recruiting 2G & 3G players ? We have loads of eligible ones, half of England's finals team are dual Irish. So are several of their up & coming players as well as lads in Germany / Spain / Portugal / Austria & elsewhere. I know Jamaica is front foot in this regard, as an Association, but did you find HH willing to talk to players, meet them & get them involved personally ?
Thanks again. 6.
Feb 2, 2013
Nat'l Team:
Jamaica
Will definitely be more intense in Ireland - Jamaicans don't follow the national side or take football as seriously as you do.He was very good with recruiting for us, very vocal and involved and arguably enhanced our recruiting efforts. He integrated many dual nationals at the senior and youth levels and maintained running lists of prospects to continue pushing for. I'd expect Ireland under Hallgrimson will be very aggressive and proactive on the recruiting front. 7.
Father Ted BigSoccer Supporter
Manchester United, Galway United, New York Red Bulls
Nov 2, 2001
Connecticut
Club:
Manchester United FC
Nat'l Team:
Ireland Republic
Quality updates @Athlone I hope Jamaica gets back on track and qualifies for WC26. It's a weird qualifying schedule, a number of games last month and then nothing until next June? 8.
Feb 2, 2013
Nat'l Team:
Jamaica
Yes, it's odd, but there are CONCACAF Nations League matches in September and October, and I expect we will fill the period between October and June with friendlies in November and March (and maybe a couple off-FIFA dates just for domestic league players or players in North American off-season), so we will remain busy.
The path in CONCACAF is doable. Mexico, Canada and the USA won't be participating, so the real threats are Panama and Costa Rica. Fortunately, once this round of qualifying ends in June, we will move to the final round of CONCACAF qualifying, which will split teams into 3 groups of 4 (top team gets WC spot). The top 3 ranked teams in the region will be split up, so we will be able to avoid both Costa Rica and Panama in that final round if we just stay steady and don't fall to 4th place. Fortunately, we are waaay ahead of Honduras (20 spots on the latest FIFA rankings), so there's a good chance we pull that off. After that, just have to do the job and win that group.
It's far from a guarantee but its as good a chance as we have ever had. Very doable if we recruit/manage the player pool properly and get this next coaching hire right. 9.
Got to warn you, McClaren managed in Holland once for ten minutes and started doing a Dutch accent in interviews. So get ready for that
I for one can't wait to hear him apply some Caribbean cool & sound absolutely ridiculous. Again. 10.
Feb 2, 2013
Nat'l Team:
Jamaica
Hard to find many people online commenting on him as an actual coach. Every comment is a joke about him adopting a Jamaican accent soon.
But digging in to his background, on top of the little bit I knew already from his multiple club spells and that poor England run, I like the hire and think this will be solid for us. This is about as good as we could have done as a bounce back from the Hallgrimson loss. Excited to see where it goes. 11.
Some very impressive successes, Middlesbrough winning a trophy & particularly FC Twente winning a Dutch title, that one showed a guy who can coach sufficiently to close those margins. Or could. Those high days are all well over a decade ago & there's a pattern whereby a job goes really well or very badly & brief.
Hope he's in point to prove mode & not winding down one for you guys. The European jobs market seems to have deemed him yesterdays man and he never registered anywhere for the Ireland job, in the bookies long lists, the endless speculation in the press, most out of work guys in his bracket got mentioned, he didn't.
Pedigree, definitely has that & hope he does well for your team. Can see why you're cautiously hopeful. 12.
Celtic
Republic of Ireland
Sep 24, 2024
Activity would improve if our team did. I mean, why is it that we just can't keep up?