Former Ireland player and current football pundit Richie Sadlier has slammed the FAI for their role in finding a Stephen Kenny successor after several long months.
This week, it was announced that Ireland's new boss would be Heimir Hallgrímsson, a former Iceland and Jamaica coach and an Icelandic dentist.
"It is an honour to be appointed Head Coach of the Ireland Senior Men’s National Team. Ireland is rightly a proud footballing nation that has consistently produced talented players and enjoyed many memorable moments at major international tournaments," said the new Ireland coach this week.
After months of reports linking the likes of Lee Carsley, Roy Keane, and Gus Poyet to the role, Hallgrímsson's appointment is one that nobody saw coming.
The process is now at an end, finally, but many are not happy with how long the process took. The FAI, for example, claimed that they planned to bring someone in around April, but that never came to be. John O'Shea was appointed on a temporary basis for two international windows as a stopgap.
"The Irish support is unique. The Irish are a proud, hard-working people and you can build a lot around that, the team should represent that..." 🇮🇪
First interview with our new Head Coach Heimir Hallgrímsson 💚 pic.twitter.com/e0xPLNGXCN
— Ireland Football ⚽️🇮🇪 (@IrelandFootball) July 10, 2024
Sadlier, speaking this week, said that whoever was involved in the process has a blotch on their CV. “Who were the other candidates he spoke to? What does this candidate have that the others didn’t? Did he offer the job to anyone else? Who turned it down?
“My overriding feeling today was just relief. The process is over. It’s been painful watching it, and it’s been painful trying to make sense of it.
“It’s a stain on the CV of everyone involved. It’s been a mess."
Hallgrímsson's finest moment to date is the win over England in Euro 2016. The unfancied Iceland beat the English in one of the biggest shocks in tournament football ever.
Doyle, who sat beside Sadlier this week while doing Euro 2024 punditry work, believes that if the new Ireland boss manages to get Ireland to where Iceland were in the FIFA rankings, then that would be an ideal situation.
“I had to do a fair bit of research like the rest of the country.
“He does have a decent international pedigree as manager.
“They ended up 18th in the world rankings. Listen, if he could get even halfway near that with us, he’d be doing a very good job."
Ireland and Hallgrímsson's first game will be against England this coming Saturday.
