A shock announcement was made this afternoon, when Icelandic manager Heimir Hallgrímsson was confirmed as the new manager of the Ireland senior men’s soccer team.
The long-awaited appointment of a replacement to Stephen Kenny has been made, but not without a long-winded process that saw a number of managers in the fold.
Names such as Neil Lennon and Chris Hughton had been previously linked, as well as England U21s manager Lee Carsley – but the job is now Hallgrímsson’s.
Heimir has previously managed mostly in Iceland, and was joint-manager of Iceland when they had their famous win over England in Euro 2016.
He then got the Iceland job on a full-time basis after that tournament, but resigned when Iceland exited in the group stage of the 2018 World Cup.
His most recent job was a two-year spell as head coach of the Jamaica national team, where he resigned from that post in recent weeks after a poor performance at Copa America.
