Souness backs Reid’s omission

GRAEME SOUNESS last night described out-of-favour Irish international Andy Reid as a player of a different era unsuited to Irish boss Giovanni Trapattoni.

The former Liverpool player was in Cork last night for the launch of John Coughlan’s new book about the TV series Celebrity Bainisteoir, “Kean to Succeed: A Trip into the World of GAA”, and he took the opportunity to back Trapattoni to get Ireland to the World Cup finals in South Africa in 2010.

Darron Gibson, Glenn Whelan and Keith Andrews are all ahead of Reid in the Irish midfield while the Italian also pointed out yesterday in Dublin that his “process is to grow, to improve the young, not to go back”.