Ireland ‘50-50’ to return

“50-50” is how Giovanni Trapattoni now rates the prospect of Stephen Ireland returning to the Irish fold.

After naming yet another squad which does not feature the Manchester City player, Trapattoni updated yesterday’s press conference in Limerick on the latest state of play involving the game’s most famous absentee footballer, confirming that there has been no further developments in the saga over the close season.

“I spoke to him before the game in Bulgaria and congratulated him on the season he had,” said the Italian. “I asked him ‘what do you think about the future?’ and he said ‘Yes, maybe’. We said we would speak again. I also said to him that, in the future, I would see him play for Manchester City and would look to see if he would come back or not. He said, ‘okay, okay’.