A week of living dangerously

FAI chief executive John Delaney had earlier met with Giovanni Trapattoni yesterday before conducting this interview in his office in Abbotstown.

And it was from this same room, he said, that he’d called Trapattoni in Milan on Wednesday night to tell him that the FAI Board of Management had backed his retention as senior manager, bringing to a conclusion another tumultuous week in Irish football.

“I rang him from here, sitting here (with Peter Sherrard, the FAI’s Italian-speaking Head of Communications), went through some concerns that the board expressed and asked him would he travel and see me.

“I gave him today (Friday) or Tuesday and he wanted to come today because he’s going to the Norwich game at Carrow Road tomorrow. We had a good meeting, we met for an hour and a half, and went through all the issues that the board raised. It was professional, it was good and onwards we go.”

Delaney was also keen to say that, contrary to an impression of little or no contact between them which Trapattoni gave to journalists in Torshavn (and for which he says there was a particular context which the pair subsequently discussed in private), the chief executive has regularly been in touch with the manager in recent days, meeting him a number of times — once for an hour — in Portmarnock in the build-up to the Germany and Faroe Islands games as well as talking briefly to him after that German hammering and also round the game in the Faroes.

At my request, the interview reverted back to the events of earlier in week, beginning with the publication in a newspaper on Monday morning — the eve of the game in the Faroes where Trap and squad had landed the previous night — which, quoting a “senior FAI source” suggested that, barring a miracle scoreline in the Torshavn, the FAI were set to sack Trapattoni by the end of the week.

What follows are edited highlights — covering the main topics of conversation of the 45-minute interview which ensued.

You deny that you were the source of these stories?

“I’m not even going to get into denying it. I’m telling you that RTÉ had to issue an apology over it. You said a stormy week or something — about this week. I’ve been through these before with Mick McCarthy when I was honorary treasurer, and I’ve been through it with Steve Staunton and Brian Kerr, and the one difference here this particular week (here he cites a couple of examples) would have been certain low standards of journalism.’’

Once the story was out, allegedly citing an FAI source, it dictated the agenda and tone of the press conferences Trapattoni had to do in the Faroes. The FAI refused to comment and you refused to comment. Could you not have quelled those rumours and, by not quelling them, did you not put the manager in a very uncomfortable position?

“I’m not going to talk about one particular quote. We could cite all particular quotes that were quoted this week. The papers, ye the media, had him written off on Saturday, ye had him written off on Sunday, ye had him written off on Monday and most of the media had him written off on Tuesday. And a lot on Wednesday. The only people who were going to make a decision on his future were the FAI board. End of story. And no decision was made either side of that game. And it would have been inappropriate for any one to comment on it.’’

Were you concerned that it was an FAI source quoted?

“We didn’t see many of these source stories because we’re a board who don’t get run by the media. We make our decision whether we’re retaining the manager based on a 10-person board.’’

But would it have been a concern for you if someone in the FAI had leaked a suggestion that this could be the manager’s last game?

“I don’t believe much of what I read in the newspapers, I’ll be honest with you. I’ve read so many things about the FAI through the years so I just don’t believe a lot of what I read in the papers. What I do know is where the decision is made and it’s made in the FAI boardroom, which it was on Wedneday night.’’

Would you have been concerned enough to have an internal inquiry to see if anyone in the FAI was leaking such quotes?

“I’m not going to talk about this all day. I’ll be very clear here. We’re an association who run the picking of the manager – this board does. And we’ll leave it at this, okay: we determine who picks the manager, that’s our decision, and if we were to be run by the media about every so-called source and every so-called FAI insider, we’d be running this organisation on a daily basis through the media and by the media. And we won’t be having that, end of story.”

But you could have come out and said these stories are wrong. Instead, on the eve of a World Cup game, the manager was faced by almost an entire press conference dominated by questions about his immediate future. Could you have done anything to prevent that happening or defuse that?

“The board felt it was inappropriate to comment. And just because the media have lashed into our manager...the one thing we have in this organisation now is we’re stable, we have a strong collegiate togetherness at board level and we make the decisions in the cold light of day. The media, on Saturday, Sunday and Monday, built up this whole head of steam. The only people who were ever going to make the decision were the FAI board.”

Do you accept or regret that the manager was put in an uncomfortable position in the Faroes?

“I think the 6-1 defeat against Germany was always going to put him (in that). Ever since the Euros there have been certain aspects of the media and the public who were disappointed. And Kazakhstan added to that. Germany fuelled it. The Faroes obviously reduced it slightly, it was a decent victory. But the board in the cold light of day will make their decision. Which they did on Wednesday. I think we gave clarity very quickly to the situation once the two games were over.”

Did you canvass the views of the players while in the Faroes?

“Absolutely not.”

Did they come to you as a group or as individuals?

“No, I would have been aware after the Faroes that the players were very supportive towards the manager. And I would have brought that to the board’s attention. It’s a positive when you’re sitting down to evaluate but that would not have been a determining factor. There were number of issues that the board went through: one was what has this manager achieved for us to date? The answer to that was a general yes because we’ve got to a tournament and qualified for a play-off and now we’re six points out of nine. Not many teams in Europe with six points out of nine would be letting their manager go. He’s an experienced manager. He is bringing younger players through now. We can see that. Players were supportive as well towards him. And when you put all those things together it outweighs the other decision which would be to leave the manager go.’’

Is part of the continued backing for him an insistence that he goes to more games in England?

“I’m not going to go into all the matters we raised but I’ll certainly discuss that one. We were very strong on raising certain matters with him and one of those was going to cross-channel games. So he’s going to Carrow Road this weekend and I think you’ll see more of that. Why are we in this together? We want the Irish team to achieve – that’s what the FAI wants and that’s what the manager wants. How can we together make it work better, okay? And certainly the idea of him going to watch matches is a view that he has bought into. It was one of the matters I spoke to him about on Wednesday night (by phone after the meeting) and it was one of the matters we spoke about today.”

And what was his response?

“Fine, fine, I mean, fine.”

Does he recognise then that it was a problem? “Well, he’ll always make the point, which he has, that he sees DVDs and that Marco (Tardelli) does a lot of that work. But the point is for the younger players coming through, to see them and build a relationship with them. He was very loyal to his older players because they achieved for him. Now, it’s a changing team, I think we all accept that. It’s just a conversation. Ultimately two people sit down to see what’s the best for Irish football. And it’s worked out in a room. It’s not like a trade-off. It’s a discussion. We had an hour and a half of that today with Peter there. Not a problem.”

In the Faroes, Trapattoni said he was “in the dark” about his immediate future. We journalists told him that the FAI press office were not prepared to comment and that neither were you. And he said: ‘Maybe he thinks I will go. But I will not go’.

“I never heard that he said that.”

Is there a sense in which you have been trying to provoke him into resigning?

“Absolutely not. That charge put by anybody is so outrageous. Absolutely outrageous. That’s where I think you guys, certain aspects of the media, get it so wrong it’s unbelievable.”

Do you personally want him to stay?

“Yes, oh yes. I’m part of the board that reappointed him. Absolutely. The consensus was that we wanted him to stay and I was one of the ten people who wanted him to stay.”

Could you have afforded to terminate his contract if that had been the decision?

“Had we taken that decision there would have been a financial consequence but you would have had to deal with that.”

Would the backing of Denis O’Brien have been key to your ability to do that?

“Denis has always been supportive in anything we’ve done since the appointment of Trapattoni – on many things. But Denis would be clear and I would be clear on this: whatever decision we would make, Denis would support. He has been there to help and assist us but he is not involved in the decision-making process. There’s loads of comments made about this. He and I have a very good relationship, we speak quite a lot but all the time it’s caveated by him saying to me – and me saying fine – this is ye’re decision.”

Did you speak to him post-Germany and before the board meeting?

“Denis would have been in contact with me in the same manner that he would be on a regular basis over that period. Denis would be very clear: this is the FAI’s decision and whatever decision you make, I will support you. That’s the way he would be . But he would not be involved in any decision in this matter.”

Has he indicated to you that, if there was a change in manager, he would continue to part-fund the new management team’s salary?

“I’ve never discussed it. It’s actually a private arrangement that we have together. It’s a gentleman’s agreement between the pair of us. And I’ll tell you what, if he stops tomorrow morning it’s been a huge contribution to the association in allowing us to employ someone of the stature of Trapattoni.”

But, if he did stop, then you wouldn’t be able to employ someone of that stature?

“He’ll certainly see the term of this contract out, that’s the agreement we have. And if we appoint a new manager – whenever that would be – that would be a private discussion between Denis O’ Brien and I. And if he were to say no at that stage, I would say ‘fair play and what you’ve done for us has been spectacular’.’’

What was Trapattoni’s’s reaction to the outcome of Wednesday’s board meeting? Was he relieved? Surprised?

“Anyone whose position is questioned in that way I would presume would be relieved. The relationship is good and today’s meeting was workmanlike, professional, good-humoured at times through the hour and a half and we went through all the matters. He knows that we’re in this for the same purpose — to get the Irish team forward. He believes that he can get us to Brazil. Is he happy to b e still managing the Irish team? There’s no doubt about that. What his own personal view was – was it relief or did he think he was going to be left go – I think that’s for ye guys to ask him at the next press conference.”

Have you any concern that he will walk away? “Oh God no, I don’t think so. No, no. He’s an experienced manager and he said to me in the Faroes — before the game — ‘We have the habit of this, John, and we’re used to it’. He’s used to pressure. He’ll tell you: it’s not the first time he came under pressure and it probably won’t be the last.’’

And are we going to be back here again if the results go wrong in March?

“I don’t do ifs. Let’s just say, it’s another chapter closed on another week in Irish football. But if we have all our complement of players fit, we’ll give Sweden and Austria a game any time.”