{"id":58045,"date":"2025-10-02T22:05:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-02T22:05:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/58045\/"},"modified":"2025-10-02T22:05:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-02T22:05:08","slug":"hallgrimsson-postponed-fai-contract-extension-talks-after-irelands-loss-to-armenia-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/58045\/","title":{"rendered":"Hallgr\u00edmsson postponed FAI contract extension talks after Ireland\u2019s loss to Armenia \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Republic of Ireland<\/a> manager Heimir Hallgr\u00edmsson<\/a> postponed contract extension talks with the FAI<\/a> chief executive David Courell and president Paul Cooke following the defeat in Armenia last month<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Hallgr\u00edmsson asked Courell to reschedule the negotiations until after Ireland\u2019s last World Cup<\/a> qualifier against Hungary in Budapest on November 16th, as a new deal for the Icelander would send out \u201cthe wrong signal\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter the last game, I talked to David and the president [Cooke] and said, \u2018let\u2019s postpone that until after the tournament,\u2019\u201d said Hallgr\u00edmsson during the Ireland squad announcement in Abbotstown ahead of qualifiers against Portugal in Lisbon on Saturday week and Armenia at home on October 14th. <\/p>\n

\u201cProbably an agent or another coach would like to sign a long-term contract and then be fired or whatever. But I\u2019m not that kind of way. I don\u2019t want to be where I\u2019m not wanted.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are fully focused on qualifying, that is now the most important thing and the only thing we are thinking about.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hallgr\u00edmsson was asked if he considered stepping aside after losing 2-1 to a country ranked 105th in the world. <\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, the performance surprised me. But no, I never thought about quitting. But I didn\u2019t want the FAI to send a signal to extend a contract after this loss. That would be a wrong signal to send.\u201d <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Heimir Hallgr\u00edmsson needs a miracle to keep Ireland\u2019s faint World Cup hopes aliveOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

The 58-year-old conceded that a failure to gather at least three points from the games in Portugal and at home to Armenia would end Ireland\u2019s fading chances of reaching a playoff next March to qualify for the World Cup in North America. <\/p>\n

In the same breath, the manager stated that he has brought lesser teams to major tournaments, having guided Iceland to the 2018 World Cup and Jamaica to the Copa Am\u00e9rica in 2024. <\/p>\n

\"DejectedDejected Irish players after the defeat to Armenia in Yerevan on September 9th. Photograph: Ryan Byrne\/Inpho <\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s not start to cry now,\u201d he continued. \u201cWe need players and staff to believe in what we are doing. <\/p>\n

\u201cPortugal is an opportunity to restore dignity, pride, confidence in the team. Whether it will get us a point or three, we\u2019ll have to see.\u201d<\/p>\n

When repeatedly asked to explain the collapse in Yerevan, Hallgr\u00edmsson shifted much of the blame from his coaching staff to the players. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s normal to have one, two or three players not playing their best,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I don\u2019t think anybody can say, \u2018I had a good game against Armenia.\u2019 <\/p>\n

\u201cIn the second half we wanted to go higher, one-on-one. We thought we had superior players than them. To be honest, we struggled in possession. That\u2019s why we looked vulnerable when we lost it.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a coach, we don\u2019t see what we did wrong,\u201d he continued. \u201cIt\u2019s tough for us because we thought our preparation was good, so I wouldn\u2019t point at me and say, \u2018this was my fault.\u2019 But obviously, I\u2019m picking the players. I\u2019m picking the tactics, so I take responsibility on that performance. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a one-off, hopefully. Should we then totally change course and do something different with other players? I think that would be a wrong thing to do, definitely. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe have the quality to qualify for the US in the summer but what I think and what I say is not the most important. It is what the players say and what they believe and they will hopefully show you in this camp that they can play for this nation.\u201d <\/p>\n

Hallgr\u00edmsson also revealed that the FAI\u2019s new director of football, John Martin, intends to appoint a sport psychologist to work across all international teams. <\/p>\n

\"Ireland'sIreland’s Troy Parrott reacts after a missed chance against Bulgaria in the Aviva Stadium in March. Photograph: Ryan Byrne\/Inpho <\/p>\n

The eye-catching changes to the squad include recalls for former captains S\u00e9amus Coleman<\/a> and John Egan, while Troy Parrott will come in to camp on Monday if he gets through AZ Alkmaar\u2019s trip to Telstar in the Dutch league on Sunday. <\/p>\n

Parrott, who sustained a knee injury last month, is not in consideration for the Portugal game, but Hallgr\u00edmsson hopes to use him against Armenia. <\/p>\n

Injuries to Matt Doherty (wrist operation), Bosun Lawal (hamstring) and Jason Knight (groin) prompted the selections of Coleman, Egan and Jayson Molumby. <\/p>\n

The trio bring 138 caps worth of experience and a leadership that was glaringly absent last month when Ireland drew 2-2 at home to Hungary before the debacle in Yerevan. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Five years of woe: Ireland\u2019s diminished place in international football laid bareOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Nathan Collins is expected to retain the captaincy despite his recent form and Coleman\u2019s return. <\/p>\n

Doherty, Lawal and Knight are not expected to recover in time for the November games at home to Portugal and Hungary away. Also, Robbie Brady is still unavailable with a calf injury. <\/p>\n

Southampton midfielder Will Smallbone does return alongside Istanbul Ba\u015fak\u015fehir winger Festy Ebosele and Ferencv\u00e1ros winger Callum O\u2019Dowda, who are rewarded for impressive displays at their Turkish and Hungarian clubs.<\/p>\n

Killian Phillips and Jimmy Dunne have been dropped while Shamrock Rovers wing back Josh Honohan also missed the cut despite replacing the injured Sammie Szmodics last month.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Republic of Ireland manager Heimir Hallgr\u00edmsson postponed contract extension talks with the FAI chief executive David Courell and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":58046,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4700,61,60,43,1842],"class_list":["post-58045","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-heimir-hallgrimsson","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news","tag-republic-of-ireland-mnt"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58045","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58045"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58045\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58046"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58045"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58045"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58045"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}