Republic of Ireland manager Heimir Hallgrímsson has said his comments about League of Ireland (LOI) players were not meant to be disrespectful and were misinterpreted.
Back in December Hallgrímsson appeared to suggest that LOI players would need to leave the league to have a better chance of playing for their country, drawing the ire of Shamrock Rovers manager Stephen Bradley.
“For players to leave the League of Ireland to get into the national team, the intention was not [to say that],” Hallgrímsson said on Thursday.
“But if I said it in a way that [suggested] players need to leave to get into the national team, it was absolutely not [my] meaning. My English is not perfect but if I said it in a wrong way, I apologise for that.
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“That’s absolutely not my feeling and if you look at my past as a national team coach, I have regularly taken domestic players into the national team, whether it was the Icelandic league or the Jamaican league, just to shake the boat a little bit and show respect to the leagues.
“Especially when you do as well as Shamrock Rovers did, then for sure you are playing at the level that we are comparing with the other players, so it was not meant in any way as a disrespect to the League of Ireland. If it came across that way, I am man enough to say I apologise for that, but it was absolutely not what I was thinking when I was saying it.”
Hallgrímsson believes that the disconnect between the FAI and league managers such as Bradley and Shelbourne’s Damien Duff dates back before his time in charge of the national team.
“It certainly feels that way, for me,” he said at the squad announcement in advance of facing Bulgaria in the Nations League relegation playoff next Thursday in Plovdiv.
“At least in the media, it feels like it’s a fight.
“I really don’t understand it because if the national team does well it will benefit the League of Ireland, and if the League of Ireland does well I think it benefits the national team. We are all in the same boat.”
The “same boat” comment comes in the week that the42.ie reported that League of Ireland clubs were examining the process of breaking away from the FAI.
“Whatever the issue is, the past or whatever, we just need to solve that and work together towards the future,” Hallgrímsson continued. “That’s my take on it, maybe it is naive, this is how I smell it. I’m new in the job more or less, so I’m trying to get to know the culture.
“For example, this week I stayed in the northwest, two days in Sligo and two in Donegal [Finn Harps] talking to the clubs’ players and coaches to get to know more about the league. I need to do that because I don’t have the knowledge you have on the League of Ireland, so I need to catch up.”
Hallgrímsson believes that Bradley misinterpreted what he said in December about Rovers’ players getting a “career change” from their European performances.
“I don’t want any issues because I think we can help and support each other. If there is an issue, let’s sit down to solve those issues.
“I will not fix what is wrong with Irish football but I will definitely try. I will do the hardest work.
“I have spoken to Damien but I would like to sit down with him for a coffee. I definitely will do that. But it is not me talking to them, they can talk to me, it works both ways.
“There is some jam, I think it is from the past. I would like things to be better than they are because, as I said, we are in the same boat.”
