Simmons has been around and he's had plenty of experience of the ups and downs in competitive sport but the resignation of two of his three selectors, three heavy defeats and the unavailability of his best players was certainly the worst possible start he could have expected. Almost inevitably the question marks have surfaced about his ability to do the job and to add insult to injury, the recruitment of overseas professionals Hayward and Ryder has hardly helped his cause to date as the burden of expectation is high and it's immediate. Big Phil has every reason to feel he's been thrown to the wolves and in the tough world of professional cricket he faces an uphill battle with his talented but jaded and depleted World Cup wonders to halt the slide. There are no easy matches for Ireland at this level and victories will be shocks rather than anticipated.
Those in the know in Irish cricket will understand the challenges better than most, but in the fickle world of competitive sport, those that crave success have little patience for non delivery. Simmons faces an almost impossible task to emulate the Caribbean heroics of several months ago, and it was always going to be a tough act to follow in Adi Birrell's footsteps. The big man needs time to evaluate but there's hardly been a minute to take stock, and of course, there's no shortage of advice from all and sundry on who should be in the team and who should not. Simmons will eventually have to marshal his own lieutenants in the field and the positive side of Johnston and Dwyer's departure is that he has two vacancies to fill with his own men.
That in itself takes time to get right so let's give the National Coach a fair run and don't expect miracles in the short term. Indeed don't expect them in the medium term either as the annual drain of the best players to the county scene makes his job virtually impossible.
That's the realism of being in a position where perception and reality are miles apart.
