Speaking for the first time since the Iceland native succeeded him as Ireland manager last week, Kenny also revealed that while he was in the hot seat, the FAI were in discussions with a number of Premier League sides about organising a friendly for domestic players.
A meeting with Manchester United for domestic-based players was previously lined up for Lansdowne Road, but fell through due to scheduling issues, said the St Patrick’s Athletic boss.
The comments come after Hallgrimsson floated the idea of holding international friendlies for domestic players during the League of Ireland off-season, something which Kenny said could be a positive development.
“I have never met him, but I want to wish him good luck in his role. I want to wish him well, I genuinely mean that,” said Kenny, who departed the Irish job last November before becoming St Pat’s boss last May. The FAI Cup holders travel to face Derry City in the second round this Sunday (6.0)
“I hope he gets every success. There is a really talented group of players there who are playing at a very high level, who have got an accumulation of caps under their belt and I think it is quite a strong squad now. It is a different picture and a good opportunity, a very good opportunity, for a manager to come in now.”
Following Hallgrimsson’s suggestion last week to introduce senior international friendlies for League of Ireland players, Kenny said that ex-FAI CEO Jonathan Hill was in discussions with Manchester United, among other sides, to hold games for a domestic-based selection at the Aviva Stadium, while he was national boss.
“We were at advanced talks at the time with Jonathan Hill to play English Premier League teams a couple of times in the Aviva Stadium. That was the plan,” added Kenny.
“A match against Manchester United was mentioned. That was going to happen but they couldn’t make the dates work at the time and made a commitment for the future.
“It would have been in their pre-season, and it would have been a League of Ireland selection, a national league selection, against Manchester United.
“There were discussions but these things are not always easy because of finance number one, and number two, the availability of players outside the international windows. I think overall it’s a positive idea.”
St Pat’s take on Derry City at the Brandywell this weekend with their Conference League second qualifying round first-leg to follow at home to Lichtenstein’s FC Vaduz next Thursday.
