ONE of the main complaints of international managers – and voiced by Heimir Hallgrímsson at his unveiling – is the amount of time they get to work with their players.
The job does, however, provide long gaps between international windows to prepare for that short face-to-face interaction.
It was a little surprising, then, that Hallgrímsson confessed to being no expert on the Ireland squad and that he had not yet sorted his backroom staff.
Remember that, according to the timeline provided by the FAI, there was initial contact soon after Stephen Kenny’s departure in November and that he was informed in March that he was the Association’s no 1 candidate.
His desire to remain in charge for the final stages of the CONCACAF Nations League in March and the Copa America in the summer may have been understandable from his point of view.
But, surely, Hallgrímsson – who moved back to Iceland in January – could have filled at least some of the time in between getting up to speed on his next job.
Séamus Coleman was the only player namechecked in Thursday’s Press conference.
That was in the context of him having called the Ireland captain earlier in the day.
Maybe it was a deliberate tactic in terms of showing no favouritism to any existing or prospective player but, set alongside his admission that he had done limited homework on his squad, the optics were not great.
He has six weeks in which he has to finalise his coaching team and choose his squad ahead of the visit on September 7 of England.
ENGLAND CLASH
Yes, it is a country whose demise he oversaw at Euro 2016 but it is also one which he expects to be crowned as continental champions on Sunday.
And he accepted that, in wanting to leave his previous role on his terms, he had provided himself with a more difficult start to his new position, with John O’Shea presiding over four friendlies which could have aided him immeasurably.
Hallgrímsson said: “Surely, surely, of course it is, you would always like to have friendlies to prepare the team but I had a commitment.
“I promised the Jamaican Federation that I would do this and I thought for them it is a good time after the Copa.
“They have Nations League in September and October like Ireland so that’s a good new cycle for another coach in Jamaica. I would really like that project to keep on growing and working.
“In that respect, I did what was best for Jamaica, what was honourable to me.
“I knew this would limit my chances if I would get the job after the Copa. I understood they wanted the coach earlier.
“I couldn’t do it. I wanted to finish. I was excited to be in Cope America. I’d never been in that tournament before.”
It is the FAI’s willingness to indulge his wishes which are now under scrutiny.
Despite Hallgrímsson making his intentions to stick around until the summer clear, the Association said it never wavered in its decision to make him its preferred option.
NUMBER ONE
Remember, that we had been previously told of how it would be desirable for the new manager to be in place by the end of February.
That would be in order for them to prepare for the friendlies in March, never mind the two in June.
But, if the account presented by David Courell and Canham is to be believed, that was trumped by its preference to get Hallgrímsson in ahead of other, immediately-available, candidates.
So, if this does not work out, this is on them.
They were reduced to, Mrs Doyle style, trying to badger him into taking the job earlier but he really did not want that cup of tea which led to Canham having to back-track on his claim the Association would have the new manager in place in April.
Canham said: “We would have loved to have done that, but Heimir to be fair was consistent around that. We had the conversation and fair play, he was consistent.”
Whilst there is, finally, a new man installed, there have been whispers that Canham would follow departed CEO Jonathan Hill out the exit door and was eyeing up job options in his native England.
Asked if he was committed to his job, he said: “Yes is the short answer. I genuinely don’t read all of the stuff, but naturally I am intuitive.
“I get a feel of the mood music and people share stuff with me, I’m only human.
“But I am absolutely committed.
“We have just launched a football pathways plan, we have a relatively new head coach in Eileen Gleeson and a brand new head coach in Heimir.
“I am really excited about the next few years and what we can develop for Irish football.”
The assertion that nobody else was offered a contract may well be true in a literal sense but that does not mean there were not advanced talks with others.
Canham insisted that the FAI was in control of the process all along but also said he was unaware that Hill had said in December that the new manager would be given a contract up to and including Euro 2028.
That seems like quite a key issue to now know but absent from the five bullet points Canham provided as the criteria and the three key stages he said made up the process.
Hallgrímsson’s deal covers the Nations League and 2026 World Cup, a tournament the Icelander was eyeing up as Jamaica coach as recently as last month if an interview carried by FIFA’s website is to be believed.
It all meant that what was being characterised as the longest courtship since Pepé Le Pew took a shine to Penelope Pussycat instead looked like a desperate dash to find a partner when Amhrán na bhFiann began to be aired before the lights went up in the nightclub.
GREEN LINE
Where then does all this leave the ‘Green Line’, an identifiable way for Ireland teams to play given Hallgrímsson has already drawn a distinction between his approach and that of Stephen Kenny?
Canham said: “If we’d spoken to Heimir and he wanted to play a way that was completely different to what’s in our heads then he wouldn’t sat here.
“There’s an alignment in terms of what we want the game to be.
“We’re always going to be in a qualifying group that has one or two teams – like an England and Spain – and then you’ve got a Gibraltar, you’re going to have to play a slightly different way if you’re the middle team.
“We want to play progressive football, but we want to be adaptable and find ways to play differently and play against different teams and find winning ways.
“We’re in a project over the next six months to write that down in detail and what that looks like.
“Heimir will be part of that which is great. I watched the games in Copa America – they’re very similar to how we want our teams to play moving forward.”
Jamaica lost all three games in that competition. For the FAI’s sake, it needs Hallgrímsson to do considerably better in his next three.