Stephen Bradley on FAI's 231-day process to find new boss - 'They can't pat themselves on the back'
Rovers boss unimpressed by the spin surrounding seven-month search for new boss.
Shamrock Rovers boss Stephen Bradley has slammed the farcical 231-day process that led to the FAI appointing Heimir Hallgrimsson as their new boss.
Icelander Hallgrimsson was named as Stephen Kenny’s successor last Wednesday, smack bang in the middle of yet another FAI crisis, following allegations that two of their former coaches engaged in inappropriate relationships with female players in the 1990s.
Bradley felt obliged to ‘question the timing of the whole thing’, echoing the words of former Ireland international, Karen Duggan, who described the FAI’s scheduling of Hallgrimsson’s appointment as ‘tone deaf’.
While Rovers boss Bradley believes the FAI may have stumbled upon a good choice - he scoffed when asked if he believed Hallgrimsson was - as has been claimed - the selection committee’s first choice since March.
Bradley laughed: “I will tell the jokes around here… no, no, I don’t think anyone believes that.
“Everyone has said it, the process has been awful. They can’t pat themselves on the back and think ‘we’ve done a good job here’. It’s been awful.
“Let’s be clear, though, there’s no pats on the back here.
“How many days did it go on? (231days). And then to come out and say he was the first choice, honestly, you couldn’t write it.
“But look, the man is in; let’s support him and get behind him.”
The feedback Bradley has received about Hallgrimsson’s coaching work has been entirely positive, particularly in Iceland, where he helped their national team reach the quarter-finals of Euro 2016.
Hallgrimsson said:“I spoke to a few people in Iceland when I was over there, before I went and when I came home and obviously when he got appointed I asked their opinion and they really liked him. They said he’d be very pragmatic, back to basics. He’d be all about winning. They said he’s a very good man, the Irish public will like him.”
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