Reid still upset by Trapattoni remark

STEVEN REID has described as “disappointing and “upsetting” the suggestion made by Giovanni Trapattoni two years ago that he might not play again in the wake of a knee injury that had sidelined him for most of the previous 12 months.

At the time Reid’s then club manager, Sam Allardyce, described the Italian’s remarks – when he was asked why Reid had been omitted from a Republic of Ireland squad when he appeared to be nearing full fitness – as “drivel” and “nonsense”.

At the time, Reid himself was rather more circumspect. But speaking on Newstalk’s Off the Ball last night he expressed disappointment that the remarks were made and that no attempt was made subsequently by the manager to sort the issue out directly. Members of Trapattoni’s management team said the comments were misunderstood.

“At the time I was trying to get fit again and ultimately to get back into the Ireland team so I didn’t want to get involved in what was said but I was very upset by it,” he said.

“It’s not what you need when you are coming towards the end of an 10- or 11-month process of getting back to full fitness.

“Obviously he has said it was a mix-up but it’s hard to simply accept throw-away lines like ‘mix-up’ when you are trying to get your career on track.

“I spoke to Liam [Brady] and Alan Kelly afterwards and they mentioned the language barrier coming into play but they were still really disappointing comments that shouldn’t have been made.”

Asked if Trapattoni made contact to discuss the matter at any time since, Reid revealed: “I don’t think I’ve spoken to him since the Montenegro game (his last game for Ireland in September 2008).”

Reid says his disappointment with the episode was compounded by the fact he felt he had finally done himself justice in the three international games he played for Trapattoni.

“I felt I had finally stamped a bit of authority on those games and I finally started to feel at home in the international set up.”

Faced with the prospect of being ignored by the manager after he returned at club level, Reid subsequently sought to put the matter to bed by retiring from international football to concentrate on fully establishing himself at club level.

He has since played more than 50 games for West Brom where he has become the first choice right back.

While he doesn’t sound like a man who expects it to happen, he strongly hinted he would return to the international set-up if called upon to do so.

“If the question was asked then it would be a hard thing to turn down, we’d have to look at it,” he said, “but the squad that qualified deserves to be the squad that goes and I wouldn’t want to just jump on board and say ‘I want to go to the Euros’.

“It’s one of those, though . . . if there were four, five or six injuries in the lead up to it and they were struggling for numbers . . .”