Bonner: Trap has earned right to choose

Former Republic of Ireland goalkeeper Packie Bonner believes current manager Giovanni Trapattoni has earned the right to make the selections he wants without constant criticism.

There have been strong calls for the Italian to include Andy Reid, James McCarthy and Seamus Coleman in the team, while sections of the media also believe Stephen Ireland should be offered a return to the international fold.

Sunderland’s James McClean is the current flavour of the month, but Bonner is of the opinion that Trapattoni should be allowed to make the calls he wants

“Any manager has the right to do it his way,” Bonner said yesterday.

“We all have opinions and that’s what the game is about, this is why it’s so popular. The only opinion that matters though is the manager and, because he has been successful, you can’t knock what he has done.”

Bonner was speaking at Tramore Athletic’s Tramore Park at the launch of SuperValu’s Trip of a Lifetime, a competition which will give one family the opportunity to travel from Paris to Poznan in a luxury camper van and attend two of Ireland’s Euro 2012 games.

His former Ireland and Celtic team-mate Tony Cascarino was also in attendance, but he believes that McClean should be included in the squad as a wildcard.

“James McClean has done amazingly well, and if he ends the season strongly I think Trap will have to take him,” Cascarino said.

“James is the kind of guy that’s so raw and naive and young, he’s been thrown in at Sunderland and that naivety has made him exceptional for them.

“He’s the sort of player you could throw in, nobody would know too much about him, he’s brave and he wants to take people on and be direct.

“For him at the moment, football’s easy because nobody has worked him out.”

Bonner also believes Ireland should not be written off ahead of playing in a group with Spain, Croatia and Italy, and thinks that the team are better than they are generally given credit for.

“They’ve proved it by qualifying,” he said.

“I don’t think many of us expected them to get to the play-offs the last time, this time they weren’t expected to qualify but they’ve achieved that and they deserve credit for it.’’

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