John Fallon: FAI succession sequel best avoided
BIG PICTURE: FAI Director of Football Marc Canham with new Ireland mens Manager Heimir Hallgrímsson at Páirc Ui Chaoimh. Pic Credit ©INPHO/Ryan Byrne
Barely a week into his reign as Ireland and already it appears Heimir Hallgrimsson is at his most threatening with an injection in his hand.
Thankfully, it's his dental patients during brief decamps to his native Heimaey who are subjected to the anaesthetic rather than the players he takes ownership of for the first time in September against familiar foes England.
The Icelander has made all the right noises since being presented last Thursday, his gleaming teeth and pale garb a brightening antidote to the darkness his employers seem perpetually inhabiting.
Those blue eyes of his and cherubic smile remained constant while the pair flanking him inside the Lansdowne Road conference room, Marc Canham and David Courell, churned out prepared statements and scripted answers on the various controversies, including the botched search to land on Hallgrimsson .
Representatives of their external PR company, sitting in the back row, knew they couldn't be accused of shortchanging their client with recommended banalities.
Those inquests will linger, but in their place for now, is that concoction of apprehension and excitement that a fresh perspective brings.
To place in context, this is the first surprise arrival to the post since Giovanni Trapattoni all of 16 years ago.
His successor, Martin O'Neill, was simply a case of when, rather than if, and Mick McCarthy's unfinished business always appealed to John Delaney.
Any novelty aspect to Stephen Kenny's anointment was neutralised by the two-year advance notice. His planned apprenticeship as U21 boss was only culled by Covid-19.
Hallgrimsson was different to Trapattoni in many ways above appearance and CV. These straitened times for the FAI meant a salary less than half the €1.8m shelled out to the Italian reduced the pool of candidates.
His initial approach too has been at variance to Trapattoni, O'Neill and McCarthy. Whereas they effectively surrounded themselves with their staff bar one Irishman – think Liam Brady, Roy Keane and Robbie Keane respectively – the 57-year-old is effectively the sole foreigner.
His pattern while working with Iceland and Jamaica was enlisting compatriots to his backroom team, yet Paddy McCarthy, Glenn Whelan and Rene Gilmartin are being offered continuity from the interim spell they were involved with John O'Shea.
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One can only presume this was the new gaffer's intention when surveying the landscape. At absurd suggestion by the FAI when they were scrambling in February about a collaborative slant to staff employment could only have hindered rather than helped entice contenders. Any prospective manager with a backbone would run a mile from a sniff of interference – especially before a ball is kicked.
IT is O'Shea's persuasion which will influence whether those plans unfurl but the very fact Hallgrimsson is going Irish, plus setting up base here in Malahide with his wife Iris, represents a clean start to his tenure.
That said, the altered length of the contract from half the four-year deal initially broached following Kenny's release last November, has already attracted the spotlight on the end of that tenure.
Contractually, unless the World Cup playoff are sealed in March 2026 or an unlikely direct qualification navigated from the group, the FAI might be positioned to cease his employment without a cent of compensation once the final group game concludes in November of next year.
Like someone planning their funeral, Hallgrimsson has been clear about his likely parting.
Two-year managerial stints have been his habit, from Iceland to Qatar and most recently with the Jamaicans, from whom he quit with the majority of the World Cup qualifiers remaining.
"I think it should always be about leaving your shirt in a better place, however you do it," he insisted this week, discussing the objective of management.
Were he not to improve Ireland's seeding from the lowly 60th he inherits, well then the shirt deserves to be taken off him.
That's why this appointment made sense with the clock ticking towards the FAI's third deadline of September 7. Hallgrimsson's record of improving middling nations, allied with his affordability and accessibility, saw him land the gig and bring an end to embarrassment for the hunters.
What he enables the latter to do is groom his successor. O'Shea was the right man at the wrong time – an astute, articulate ambassador making his way up the coaching ladder without the burden of final decisions. The same limitation applied to Anthony Barry, in the view of decision-makers. Bundles of potential, yet no experience of being The Don.
That the England game would have been Barry's first time to pick a team or face a press conference drifted him to the margins of the hierarchy despite contact being made when the field narrowed.
O'Shea, if, as is anticipated reacts favourably to the invitation, will be firmly positioned to assume control next time around.
Hallgrimsson was even amenable this week to a joint-managerial transitional period, one he flourished in under the veteran Lars Lagerbäck at Iceland.
What cannot be countenanced is that being set in Stone.
In the same way O'Shea could be tempted by alternative routes, for instance as a sidekick during Wayne Rooney's revival, the FAI too are entitled to keep their options open in 2025 or 2026.
That stated preference for an Irishman at the helm, from top to the players, might come good then and not necessarily in the form of O'Shea.
Who's to say Lee Carsley won't. at this stage, finally believe the FAI is an environment he can thrive in?
Until then, we're in another stopgap phase, a holding pattern of sorts, however, much gnashing of teeth that creates.
Now that the slow bicycle race for Ireland men's team boss has stumbled over the line, the next mystery to be solved in the FAI is the identity of the new chief executive.
Recent history has informed us that the person at the top of the organization can be similarly, or more, influential on the game's machinations than the one picking the senior team.
A target date of year-end for the newcomer's was projected when Jonathan Hill's departure was eventually announced for the end of April, coming not long after his second calamitous appearance before a Government committee at Leinster House.
Interest from far and wide was lodged through recruitment firm Odgers Berndtson for a post commanding a starting salary of €258,825. That equates to the annual wage of a general secretary, the civil service grade which the State's Memorandum of Association set as maximum. Those terms wedded to the bailout of 2020 have recently expired and the FAI confirmed to General Assembly members that no successor has been brokered.
It's understood the filtering has been refined to a shortlist, two of which are current FAI personnel. Clearly, interim appointee David Courell is one – and the FAI's handling of the historical abuse is testing his candidature – but the other contender will be of major public interest. Let's see how this unravels.
Transfer activity for the Irish this summer has been slow, but Sinclair Armstrong appears to be the next striker to move after Troy Parrott.
AZ Alkmaar last week ended Parrott's time at Tottenham Hotspur by prising the forward in a £7m switch and his former youth teammate is also likely to be leaving London behind in a multi-million deal.
Armstrong – the 21-year-old handed his senior Ireland debut by Stephen Kenny as a late substitute against Netherlands – is only under contract at QPR by virtue of the year's extension they club activated midway through the last season.
Bristol City have been long-time admirers of his and were on track to hatch a deal until fellow Championship outfit Stoke City upped their interest in recent days.
Both clubs are understood to have reached QPR's valuation, considering he'll be available on a free next summer, and have left the decision in the player's hands.
Where Stoke may hold sway is the player's past relationship with compatriot Jon Walters, this year elevated to the position of Sporting Director at the club he lined out for.
Walters worked as an assistant of Ireland Under-19 manager Tom Mohan during Sinclair's year at that level and came to appreciate the prowess he provides in attack. A dilemma for the player but a nice one to deliberate over in the coming days.
