Trap: You want art? Look at a Picasso

THE only time Giovanni Trapattoni ever mentions politics in public, it’s always in the context of football and invariably in the dismissive tone of a veteran who has reluctantly had to come to terms with a modern game besieged by spoofers, spinners, money-men and purveyors of industrial quantities of red tape.

But if we were to fantasise about where the Italian might find a party political spiritual home in the auld sod, there are grounds for casting him as a Soldier of Destiny, from the ‘una duce, una voce’ style of management to the manifesto which sums up where, two years into the job, he feels his Irish project is at: a lot done, more to do.

Following a winning end to Ireland’s international season of so much regret, and the emergence of Derby’s Paul Green and Manchester City’s Greg Cunningham as new cover for his core personnel, Trapattoni yesterday added what he described as a third-party approach from Celtic to the already lengthy list of suitors he says have tried to pry him from the hands of the FAI.

“I had two or three teams ask me in Italy and I had an English team ask me as well and I told them all the same answer – that I am with Ireland and I am happy to be with Ireland. So, Celtic, I say no, I am with Ireland.”

And Trapattoni has no plans to go anywhere else for the simple reason that he feels his work here is not done.

“Furthermore, he is convinced there is better to come from a slowly evolving Irish side.

“In the past, when I changed jobs it was because I felt that what I could give the team was finished,” he said, before leaving Dublin for his home in Milan. “And I thought it was better to go elsewhere and so I did – to Benfica or Austria or Germany. Yes, I have had other options this year but I like this Irish team, it is a good team, with good mentality and good professionalism. And I think we can still discover the complete squad.

“Without arrogance, and with a little more luck and experience in qualification, we could now be in South Africa . And there is still room for improvement. So to the other offers, I say, thank you but at this moment I am happy with my job Me and Marco (Tardelli), we arehappy about what we can achieve.”

The manager explained that’s what especially fulfilling for him is when his players are willing to take on board “the 20% of Trapattoni” which he feels he can bring to the side.

“That’s what gratifying, giving something to the team, when they listen to you and follow you,” he said. “You understand immediately if they come with you or not. And you know the job is not finished. I stayed for 10 years at Juventus and five at Inter because that was our mentality. When the team follow you, you have this sensation, this feeling that you immediately recognise. I have that with Ireland.

“Because if I hadn’t, two or three months ago, I could have chosen another way.”

But if Trap is with Ireland, it’s hardly the case that all Ireland is with Trap. Despite the undoubted progress under his reign, the charge remains that he is ultra-conservative as a coach, that he doesn’t trust his players as much as they trust him and that he only lets them off the leash in extreme situations – as in Paris, when they simply had to win and hence had no alternative but to take the game to the opposition from first whistle to last. But it might be wise not to read too much into the fact that last Friday’s 3-0 victory against Algeria was the first time Ireland had won by more than a single goal in the Italian’s two years in charge.

Best not to anticipate a rash of goal-fests – for Trapattoni, it sounds like his brand of pragmatism still rules.

“Every coach produces the best fabric he can,” he said.

“If I have silk, I make a beautiful tie, with cotton a nice shirt. It’s important to do what it is possible to do. We have no Messi. But we do have a good team who play good football and we have got players like Robbie Keane, Damien Duff and Robbie Keane who are capable of creating things.

“But the way we play is very intensive. In modern football, teams are very well organised and defend in numbers. It is not like when I played when there was loads of space on the pitch. If you want art, look at a Picasso. It is not possible to always have art on the pitch.”

So, for Trapattoni, the watchwords remain concentration, application, determination and organisation. Or as a former Ireland manager might have put it: not pretty but effective. “I like Ireland,” Trapattoni smiled. “But Ireland is not just a pretty word. I like what it stands for. And I think our opponents are starting to think the same way about us.”

Finally, and inevitably, the manager was asked how he thinks Ireland might have fared had they, and not France, been getting ready to line-out in 10 days’ time in World Cup Group A with South Africa, Mexico and Uruguay. “Mexico is a little bit clever, they play football. But (looking at) the others, I think we could have come out of the pool.”