The Football Association (FA) borrowed a trick from the Football Association of Ireland’s playbook when it secured the appointment of Thomas Tuchel as England’s manager. Despite executing this in a swifter timeframe of two months, compared to the FAI’s eight month process to enlist Heimir Hallgrímsson, the parallels are evident.
In the period it took to secure foreign managers, temporary managers for England and Ireland, Lee Carsley and John O’Shea, respectively, oversaw four games. It was eventually revealed that the smarter strategy for a victory at the 2026 World Cup was the appointment of Hallgrímsson and Tuchel.
This led to a situation where O’Shea and Carsley were prompted to give ambiguous responses to simple queries, fully aware that they wouldn’t be appointed as the full-fledged managers for England or Ireland. Carsley was subjected to unwarranted mockery by the FA before he resumed coaching their under-21s. Now that it’s widely known that his statement indicating England’s requirement for a “trophy-winning, world-class coach” referred to Tuchel, who finalized his contract on the 8th of October, it’s likely that Carsley will receive multiple offers for club or international roles in the coming year.
O’Shea, interacting within a constrained media environment, dodged similar mockery before he was confirmed as Hallgrímsson’s assistant. From this entire process, there’s a crucial lesson worth noting: always be cautious with employer interactions in the future.
Hallgrímsson may earn a significantly lesser sum than Tuchel. Nevertheless, the message from the FA and FAI is similar—they have insufficient faith in their in-house coaching resources to encourage internal promotion. This revelation follows Stephen Kenny’s unremarkable 40 games as Ireland’s manager and Gareth Southgate’s 102 international games as England’s manager, which included two Euro finals and a World Cup semi-final. However, the journey didn’t end in trophy success.
It’s thus, no surprise that FA and FAI opted for the expertise of proven, foreign head coaches. Tuchel and Hallgrímsson have illustrious records – Hallgrímsson led Iceland and Jamaica to major tournaments, while Tuchel, renowned as a knockout-specialist, spurred his Chelsea unit to outwit Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City for the 2021 Champions League final crown.
Hallgrímsson’s proficiency in communication, such a key requirement for the modern day manager, has been demonstrated in two Nations League camps. His strong characteristics often become evident when faced with inquiries.
Consider the unfortunate blunder by Nathan Collins that resulted in a goal by Finland. Hallgrímsson’s response was simply, “Such issues occur.” Or when Caoimhín Kelleher’s mistake led to Greece scoring a goal, he defended his player saying, “As per my goalkeeper coach, football is considered a team sport until the goalkeeper errs, at which point the team element seems to disappear.”
These instances illustrate an Irish manager safeguarding the key young players of his team, an encouraging action to witness. Distinctly, Hallgrímsson has taken up the role for one World Cup cycle just as Tuchel did, unencumbered by any past history. He brings a fresh outlook to the struggling Irish football scene, finding it tough to understand the worth of attending multiple English Football League Championship matches when he could spot Jack Taylor during a visit to Ipsicwich Town whilst viewing Sammie Szmodics and Chiedozie Ogbene.
Nevertheless, if Ireland manages to pull off a defeat against Finland in Dublin next month, supplementing the three points achieved in Helsinki, who will care if Hallgrímsson conducts his player monitoring from an office in Abbotstown through the Wyscout app?
His mission is straightforward: instill his coaching ideology into a group of budding professionals and be appreciative of the football deities for the left foot of Robbie Brady.
Brady proved instrumental in three ways that were missing in previous performances of Ireland, namely enthusiasm, a splendid assist for Liam Scales’s header and a well-executed goal. At the age of 32, Brady is aware that his international career is drawing towards an end. He understands the upcoming World Cup might be beyond his reach, but he is determined to exert every bit of energy to see his nation compete across the Atlantic Ocean in 2026.
When a veteran, who lacked commitment in September, was made an example of by Hallgrímsson, Ireland claimed a victory in Helsinki. The decision to promote Festy Ebosele over Matt Doherty turned out to be wise. Much-needed enthusiasm can be injected into every Ireland team in the form of a sub like Ebosele; this was evident when Stephen Hunt was poised to join the game, creating a visual image of the disruption he was about to cause down the left wing. Hunt could be relied upon to take control and challenge his opponent.
Ebosele replicated his performance from the Finland game last Sunday in Greece, causing Liverpool’s Kostas Tsimikas to be deployed on the left wing. However, neither the performances nor outcomes in the Finland and Greece matches indicate an imminent resurgence for the Irish. Despite this, a hard-fought away win certainly warrants recognition, and the second half against Greece—prior to Kelleher’s blunder—provides motivation for an impressive display at Wembley in November.
Actual headway would be consecutive victories against Finland along with Hallgrímsson’s clear choice in selection. Starting with Evan Ferguson’s return to game readiness, the continued selfless contributions from Szmodics on the left, and hopefully either Andrew Moran or Finn Azaz establishing themselves as the creative midfield choice.
Importantly, there now exists a range of player options that previous Irish teams were lacking. Additionally, the FAI have secured a budget version of Tuchel in Hallgrímsson. Although it’s a temporary fix, it’s imperative to remember that international football always pivots on upcoming results.