Givens reflects on Italian job one year after landing Trap

IT’S ALMOST a year to the day since Don Givens completed his work as chairman of the three-man committee tasked by the FAI to find a new international manager.

It was a job well done, despite what had been said and written during 73 days of rampant speculation which threatened to tip the island over, a period which still rankles with Givens.

But they came up with a decent result, Giovanni Trapattoni being the sort of mythical creature with a seat at the top table of football coaches. Although the former Juventus supremo might like his midfielders industrial and his winning margins slender, Givens, Don Howe and Ray Houghton will never be faulted.