"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."
Words from the Ireland manager, Heimir Hallgrimsson, as he looked to put the controversy around his Shamrock Rovers comments to bed and place full focus on the upcoming double header against Bulgaria.
The Ireland manager was in Dublin to announce his squad for the Nations League play-off, which takes place next week in Plovdiv on Thursday before the second leg in Dublin on Sunday evening.
While he addressed the issue on the Late Late Show on Friday night, Hallgrimsson was further quizzed on his comments which were interpreted as encouraging Shamrock Rovers players to leave the League of Ireland to gain international recognition.
Not the case, was the resounding response from Hallgrimsson who emphasised his previous penchant for including home-based players in both Iceland and Jamaica during his spells as national team manager in order to "shake the boat".
"For players to leave the League of Ireland to get into the national team, the intention was not…if I said it in a way that players need to leave to get into the national team, it was absolutely not the meaning.
"My English is not perfect, but if I said it in a wrong way, I apologise for that.
"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 Jamaica league, I regularly take players from the domestic league, just to shake the boat a little bit and show respect to the leagues.
"And 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."
Hallgrimsson went on to add that he was actually trying to pay a compliment on how Shamrock Rovers’ success would shine a positive light on the players, coaches and the club and would encourage others to emulate their actions.
"When you do good in these European competitions, you will always draw attention to you and the coach and the club, so what I was saying was complimenting," he said.
"What is probably going to happen is that there will be attention, big attention on the players, big attention on the coach and big attention on the club. And for the League of Ireland it is a positive spiral."
As for the squad announcement, Hallgrimsson admitted that captain Seamus Coleman was none too thrilled with being excluded from the upcoming games.
While the Everton stalwart is back to full fitness and present in the Everton matchday squad, the manager has opted to select Matt Doherty and Toffees clubmate Jake O’Brien for the right back position.
"Even Seamus is back to fitness, was in the [Everton] squad against Wolves, but hasn't played for a long time," said Hallgrimsson.
"I spoke to him yesterday and he was obviously not thrilled with not being in the squad. He wants always to be in the squad like everybody should, but understood it that we would select Matt and Jake."
Evan Ferguson is another who is lacking match minutes, however, the on loan West Ham striker still made the cut for the March window, and for the manager, it appears to be a case of wait and see as to whether he will be selected to start or not.
"You can hardly see in the minutes he is getting if he is ready," said Hallgrimsson. "We just sit down and talk and see him on the sessions we have leading up to the games, but obviously we would prefer for him to play more than he is doing and we all like to see him play."
Shamrock Rovers’ Josh Honohan was tipped for inclusion but failed to make the final cut for the upcoming games, but the manager had positive words of encouragement for the ever-improving versatile defender.
"From what I have seen he has progressed this year a lot from the first game I was watching until the Conference League games," said Hallgrimsson.
"I think he is on a good trajectory in his career so just continue to do what he is doing, that is the key."
Which brought the conversation right back to the League of Ireland and its often frosty relationship with the FAI, and the manager did say that he felt there was a disconnect between the two organisations.
"It certainly feels that way, for me," said Hallgrimsson when asked if he felt there was a disconnect. "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.
"Whatever the issue is, the past or whatever, we just need to solve that and work together towards the future. That’s my take on it, maybe it is naive."
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