What’s eating Liam Brady?

ACCORDING to researchers who obviously have nothing better to be doing, Monday was, officially, the most depressing day of the year.

The third Monday in January,according to the boffins, is when the black dog barks loudest, as people wrestle with gloomy weather, mounting bills and dwindling accounts, all combining to ensure that the post-holiday blues are at their most acute. So maybe that explains why Liam Brady was in such tetchy form out in Abbotstown as he joined Giovanni Trapattoni at the top table for the unveiling of the manager’s latest World Cup squad.

Although not entirely, since we all know that Ireland’s assistant manager does have a bit of form in this regard: think of his petulant outburst on RTÉ when the production team dared poke a bit of fun at Arsene Wenger or his rising to the bait during the Euro Championship when the Dunph provoked him by repeatedly dismissing the German team which reached the final as “useless”.