Trap denies stroke reports

GIOVANNI TRAPATTONI has denied media reports in Italy he has suffered a stroke. The denial has been backed by the FAI and the Irish team doctor, Alan Byrne.

The 71-year-old Ireland manager did confirm he had undergone what was described as “a scheduled operation” in his native Milan just after Christmas but dismissed a newspaper story saying he had suffered partial paralysis on his right side after suffering a stroke during the surgery.

In a statement released by the FAI, Trapattoni was quoted as saying: “I had a scheduled operation to clean the carotid artery on December 28 in Milan. I am recovering well and expect to return to work in the coming weeks. “Contrary to speculation, I can confirm that I have not suffered a stroke. I will be in Ireland on January 24 to announce my squad for the Carling Nations Cup match against Wales on February 8.”

Surgery on the carotid artery is a procedure designed to remove a blockage in or reverse narrowing of the artery which carries blood to the brain, a condition which if left untreated can lead to a stroke or an embolism. The surgery itself is not without risk of causing serious complications but all going well it is regarded as a common procedure with patients expected to be able to resume their normal activities within a period of three weeks.

According to the FAI, Trapattoni’s surgery “went well” and they say the veteran manager is “recovering in a stable condition at home”.

Ireland’s team doctor, Alan Byrne, also insisted Trapattoni had not suffered a stroke, telling listeners to RTE radio: “I can assure you, the boss is fit and well.”

Dr Byrne, who has been in touch with Trapattoni’s doctors in Milan, said the surgery had been planned after a routine check-up had revealed the artery had “narrowed a bit more than in previous years.”

And he stated: “I can absolutely confirm, 100%, that he did not have a stroke.”

Dr Byrne added that, on being discharged, Trapattoni was able to walk from the hospital and, while his recovery is due to be reviewed tomorrow and again next week, the team doctor said that the manager fully intended to be in Dublin at the end of the month to name his squad.

Sources close to Trapattoni in his native Milan also dismissed the reports he’d suffered a stroke as “complete nonsense”, adding that he was taking phone calls at home and already looking forward to a return to work with the Irish squad.

This is the second health scare Trapattoni has experienced since becoming Ireland manager – and also the second time that the nature of his illness has sparked confusion as well as concern.

In August last year, he was hospitalised after falling ill at the Irish team hotel in Portmarnock, with food poisoning — believed to be caused by shellfish he’d eaten before leaving Italy — initially cited as the problem.

However, subsequent investigations in the Mater Hospital showed the abdominal problems he was experiencing were related to scar tissue in his stomach from a previous operation.

Meanwhile, the Irish Sports Council and the FAI jointly announced that the Irish Sport Anti-Doping Disciplinary Panel, determined Christopher Kenny, who plays for Wexford Youths, committed an anti-doping rule violation, with cannabis found in a sample of the player’s urine collected during in-competition testing at a match at Turner’s Cross between Wexford Youths and Cork City Foras on the 6th August 2010.

Kenny was not provisionally suspended prior to the hearing of the Panel and, at the hearing, the Panel reprimanded the player and sanctioned him, subject to his right to appeal within 14 days, by the imposition upon him of a period of ineligibility of six months, with effect from 1st March 2011.