Abundance of caution as new coach arrives

With the national senior men’s coaching situation seemingly resolved, former national assistant coach Bradley Stewart and Harbour View General Manager Clyde Jureidini say that adaptability concerns will be one of the main obstacles that will have to be hurdled quickly by the new man at the helm, former Iceland head coach Heimir Hallgrimsson.

The 55-year-old Hallgrimsson is set to be introduced at a press briefing today. Hallgrimsson replaces Paul Hall, who served as interim coach of the Reggae Boyz following the sacking of Theodore Whitmore late last year. Hall coached the team through the final part of the World Cup qualifiers and the Nations League, where he guided the team to qualification for next year’s Gold Cup.

With yet another foreign coach taking the reins, Stewart said that the new man will have to ensure that he can adjust to the nuances of the local players in communicating his philosophy.

“He is going to have some issues understanding the cultural differences that exist between him and the local-based players. He has to spend some time getting to understand what our local culture is all about,” Stewart told The Gleaner.

Hallgrimsson was the assistant coach for Iceland between 2011 and 2016 and a part of the staff under then head coach Lars Lagerback that guided them to the quarter-finals of Euro 2016. He took over from Lagerback as head coach after the Euros, leading them to their first-ever World Cup qualification in 2018, leaving after their group-stage elimination. His last coaching stint was in Qatar, where he managed Al-Arabi until June 30 last year.

In addition to the technical challenges, Stewart says that establishing a relationship with the local coaches will be key, as well as defining his role in how he bridges the gap between the established and emerging talents.

“How do we now determine the relationship between local coaches and the head coach of the national teams? Is he going to be assigned to the national senior team only, or is he going to be involved in developing the entire system that we need to develop, where we have a developing group with the age group teams? And how does he relate to the coaches? Does he now say to the coaches, this is what you need to do to develop the skills of individual talents? How do we mould all of that into providing an efficient national unit?” Stewart questioned.

Hallgrimsson’s immediate concerns will be the friendly against Argentina, and Jureidini says that he will have a brief honeymoon period with this game, with an opportunity to see the strength of the overseas-based talent.

“He can’t be blamed, win, lose or draw. He is just coming to the party and he will be handed a group of largely foreign-based players. This is a big match where the English-based players are available to come in a FIFA window, where they are highly motivated,” Jureidini says. “But that won’t always be the norm. The norm will be when they are not available, like the last game; and he has to go and look at the local-based players, who he knows nothing about, and start from the base, then merge the squads.”

daniel.wheeler@gleanerjm.com