‘Perfect’ Brady ponders role with Ireland

LIAM BRADY will decide over the next week whether or not it will be feasible for him to combine his job as Arsenal’s head of youth development with a role in the new Irish management set-up under Giovanni Trapattoni.

FAI chief executive John Delaney, who was with Brady in Salzburg on Wednesday for discussions with Trapattoni, described the meeting as a productive one and reiterated that both the FAI and the new manager are keen to have Brady on board.

“The FAI and Giovanni would love him to come,” said Delaney, “but Liam has got to look at whether he can do both roles. Liam is a professional and wants to be sure that if he does take it on that he would be able to continue with his job with Arsenal. So he’s going to think about that for a little while, talk to Arsenal about it and see if he can accommodate both roles. I don’t want to talk publicly about what his role (with Ireland) would be but certainly it was clarified over the day or two we were out there. I think he’s the perfect fit for the role we spoke about. He also has a very good relationship on a personal basis with (Marco) Tardelli. They’re very good friends. And of course he played under Giovanni, who rang Liam when he first got the approach — so I think there’s a lot there that would work very well. So I’m hopeful but it is Liam’s decision to make.”