‘I don’t sense from others that it’s a crisis’ – Heimir Hallgrimsson sticking to his plan as Ireland face rankings low

But even after stints in charge of the national teams of his native Iceland and Jamaica, Hallgrimsson says he was not prepared for the size of the job that has come his way.

Much of the talk around his tenure has been about the magnitude of the on-field challenge in turning around the sinking ship that is the Republic of Ireland senior men's team which, in the space of four years, has slid from 34th in the world rankings to 62nd, and the prospect of a further fall should the team lose in the next two Nations League games.

Hallgrimsson would have had a background sketch of the task facing him, but was not prepared for how big the job is. "I probably wasn't ready or aware of how big it was, how much media there is, how much attention it is, I am not used to it," he says.

​"I haven't been in this environment where there's so much attention. That probably was the thing that, not shocked me, but surprised me. I have been in Jamaica for two years, before that with Iceland, it was always the same 10-15 journalists, now we have all the media. It started with England as well which was really big. That surprised me the most."

Given his insistence on living in Ireland, despite that housing shortage, it means that popping to the shop for milk and a loaf or bread, or a tank of diesel, can lead to a chat from a highly-opinionated Ireland fan who wants the Ireland manager to listen. "It's started more and more, but that's something I have been used to from the small, Iceland and even Jamaica, they are more opinionated, I am not unused to that, it doesn't bother me at all," he says.

Residing in Dublin attracts scrutiny. He could live in London and no-one would know him but he's adamant that the Ireland manager should live in Ireland — it's the right thing to do.

"You could avoid attention if you were somewhere else, probably, but it's my decision to be here as much as I can. Obviously it's tricky when most of the players play in England, for example. It's probably better if you want to avoid the attention to be somewhere that you cannot be found," he says.

"It's good to be in the country, learning the culture, meeting the people, talking football. I think as well we're going to watch more of the Irish league when the season starts next season.

"I think it's an important thing of being a national team coach, to be seen. But now it's about work, it's not to be seen and learning other things. The same things: I need to prioritise my time."

Whatever about Donal, the Everton fan working behind the counter at Spar, giving his views on Jake O'Brien when all Hallgrimsson wants is a tub of Dairygold, the manager was the subject of intense debate — and the target of criticism from people like predecessor Brian Kerr — for his hands-off policy of being a so-called laptop manager, watching games online instead of in-person.

"I like to work smart. It's not about being seen going to matches, it's about how you spend your time and what is the most value of your time. And, for me, I thought there was more value for me at this stage to see more players than fewer. And then once I have the total knowledge — if it is between 'him' and 'him' — I will go see them both," he says.

"Having also these good coaches with me, they could do that part for me as well. I don't read social media or a lot of media also, what other people say, I'm not that bothered, I'm focused around my time and what should be done."

To back that up, he's been on the road. "Let's take last week. I started flying down to Plymouth and watched Plymouth play Luton. After the game I met Michael Obafemi and I met Mark McGuinness," he says.

"Then I flew up to Newcastle, or went to Newcastle, and then drove down to Middlesbrough and watched Middlesbrough play Stoke, teams that have some Irish players, and then I went from Middlesbrough down to Ipswich to watch Ipswich play Aston Villa.

"And then the next day I went to Charlton to meet the players there so it's kind of up and down the country. It just reinforced that I did the right thing, initially, to watch players, more players on the app, seeing maybe three, four, or five games a day, than going to see one game a day.

"And the good thing is that we have John [O'Shea] doing many matches, almost one match per day. He's going to see one player or two players playing and then Paddy [McCarthy] of course is in the Premiership so he is seeing and analysing these players. I think we have a good working method of trying to cover as much as we can."

His first camp, two home defeats with no goals scored and few chances created, was bruising but away defeats over the next week will inflict more pain and, potentially, a move closer to the Republic's all-time low status in the FIFA world rankings (the team are currently 62nd, but 70th is our record low). Yet he says he's prepared.

"I don't sense from others that it's a crisis. When we were talking to the federation [FAI], I put forward a plan, maybe close to what I did at Iceland and similar to what I did at Jamaica, what is the priority when you want to get results for a team that is an underdog team, on paper at least," he says.

"That is the plan I'm sticking to no matter what other people say, or criticism I have. When you are in this situation, you cannot jump from right to left just because you have some opinions from someone else. You need to stick to what you think is right and continue on working on that."