FAI tell Trapattoni to address concerns

SOCCER:GIOVANNI TRAPATTONI has been told by the FAI they would like him to address some of the issues most commonly raised by his critics in the wake of Tuesday's meeting of the association's board where it was decided he should continue as manager of the Republic of Ireland despite the 6-1 defeat by Germany and general dissatisfaction over his team's style of play.

FAI communications director Peter Sherrard spoke with the Italian after the meeting and conveyed the main concerns raised by board members.

These included his comparatively rare attendance at English league games and what is perceived as his lack of diplomacy when dealing publicly with players.

Within the association there does not seem to be a great deal of discontent in relation to these areas but there is, particularly when it comes to the games themselves, a concern that it provides his most vocal critics with an extremely convenient stick with which to beat him and by extension them.

The feeling appears to be that he is well enough informed to do his job effectively but that he needs to be much more conscious of appearances.

Overall there is an acceptance that Ireland’s position in the group table is a reasonable enough reflection of the team’s strength and that it is still in a position to challenge strongly for second place for a play-off spot.

There is also considerable optimism that the performances by young players used in recent games – because of the unavailability of older, more experienced squad members – have been strong enough to keep at least some of them in the side, something that would likely go down well with supporters.

Sherrard gave no indication of how Trapattoni reacted to the conversation in which he was also informed his job was safe. However, the 73-year-old is unlikely to have been in the mood for taking pointers on how to improve his performance from the representative of an organisation whose leadership had emerged from a meeting in which they had been considering whether to sack him but concluded regardless of whether they wanted to or not, they simply couldn’t afford to.

In the end, his future was indeed largely decided by financial concerns.

Acting, it seems, on the basis that a change of manager might generate a positive public reaction and so boost attendances at a stadium it is struggling to pay for, the suggestion he was about to be sacked appears to have been planted in the Irish Independent by what that paper described as a “senior FAI source” in the hope of provoking Trapattoni’s resignation or, at the very least, the sort of outburst that might have undermined his position.

Instead, the Italian sat tight and with the cost of dismissing him and the rest of his management team estimated to be in the region of €3 million when everything was taken into account, the FAI had no option but to back down.

Now, those who were more inclined to support him over the course of the last week are hoping the public reaction to Ireland’s defeat by Germany and the obvious ongoing unhappiness of some fans will prompt him to make an effort to take their concerns on board.

A spokesman for the association could not say, however, whether he would be at any Premier League games this weekend and insisted there would be no particular pressure on him to attend. Rather, it was suggested, that the aim is to see a slight shift in the way he chooses to operate over the coming months.

Reports that a specific review of his performance is planned for March, after the World Cup qualifiers against Sweden (away) and Austria (home), have been denied with officials expressing the hope that the team is, at the very least, capable of staying in contention to qualify for the World Cup until the very end of the campaign, something that would help to maintain interest in the team’s competitive home games.

It’s possible now, however, that Trapattoni might look to move on before the end of the campaign with sections of the media having the potential to grow more hostile in the wake of him having been undermined by the behaviour of his employers over the last few days.

Such a move would most likely suit both camps with the manager getting to walk away from a campaign, and wider situation, which has significant potential to turn sour and the association getting to make their change without the need to find an enormous lump sum.

Trapattoni, meanwhile, will make his next appearance back in Dublin at the start of the week after next when he is scheduled to name his squad for the friendly against Greece.

Meanwhile, in relation to its coverage of the meeting on Tuesday night, RTÉ was yesterday obliged to issue the following apology: “On our Morning Ireland sports bulletin just after 8.30 this morning, we featured a piece between Darren Frehill and our soccer correspondent Tony O’Donoghue in which we stated that it was generally believed that mixed messages had been given to the media about the future of the senior manager’s position, that the chief executive of the FAI, John Delaney, was the senior FAI source responsible for those rumours.

“RTÉ and Tony O’Donoghue would like to unreservedly apologise to the CEO John Delaney for these statements which were made on our programme which were untrue.

“We would also like to apologise for the general tone of that particular exchange.”