Brady outlines new role in Irish set-up

SOCCER REPUBLIC OF IRELAND MANAGEMENT TEAM LIAM BRADY confirmed last night that he will be taking a role within the Irish team…

SOCCER REPUBLIC OF IRELAND MANAGEMENT TEAMLIAM BRADY confirmed last night that he will be taking a role within the Irish team's managerial set-up alongside Giovanni Trapattoni. The 52-year-old said that he had talked to his employers at Arsenal and that having received their approval all that remains is for details of his contract to be finalised with the FAI.

"It's looking very positive now," he said on RTÉ's Champions League highlights programme. "I've spoken to the board and to Arsene Wenger and they're happy for me to do it and keep my job at Arsenal.

"I've been to Austria and had a very good meeting with Mr Trapattoni. Hopefully, I'll be speaking with the FAI very soon."

It had been expected for some time that Brady's role within the set-up would be that of a European-style team manager as well as a link man between the Italians - particularly Trapattoni and his assistant Marco Tardelli - and those they will deal with most during the next couple of years.

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Asked to outline the role last night, however, Brady didn't describe it in terms of the managerial role and merely suggested that he would, along with his old friend Tardelli, be there to assist their former boss at Juventus.

"It's funny the way it's all worked out," he laughed. "But I'll be there to help him in everything that he does.

"I'll be working with him as he gets to know the players and helping him as the games come around.

"I'll be going down to Portugal with him - I'll be there for the whole trip and we (Brady and Tardelli) will be there for him to bounce ideas off. We're people he can ask questions of, we won't just be carrying the balls about at training."

Brady said that he had already outlined to Wenger the time that he would need to be away from his day-to-day work with the youths at Arsenal and that the Frenchman had been supportive, making it clear that he feels the new role will be of benefit, providing him with additional experience.

The former midfielder also said that he would be taking in games in the London area on behalf of Trapattoni and suggested that he would be keeping a particularly close eye on the younger Irish players currently at the English League Championship or other lower division sides.

Brady confirmed that the intention is to pursue any young players eligible to play for Ireland who have not made clear their international allegiances and said that approaches would be made to a number of the older players who have retired in recent times in the hope that they might reconsider.

"We'll be approaching a few of them, the likes of Andy O'Brien and Steve Finnan," he said.

Asked whether he thinks any of them will agree to make themselves available again, he said: "Hopefully they will, because we need them."

Tardelli is due to attend games involving Irish players for the first time this weekend while Trapattoni will take up his position immediately after the end of the Austria season in mid May. The Irish squad are expected to head to Portugal for a week-long training camp around May 15th and this also looks likely to be Brady's first formal involvement in the set-up.