Green’s joy at ‘massive surprise’

The sweat was still dripping off Paul Green long after Irish training finished beneath the Tuscan sun yesterday but rarely can a man have seemed so happy about working hard in the summertime when he thought the living would be easy.

A late, late addition to the Irish squad on the very eve of departure for Italy and onwards to the Euros, Green was kicking back with a barbecue at his parents’ house in Pontefract on Sunday when the call came through from Mary O’Brien of the FAI’s International Department.

“It was a massive surprise for me and my family,” said Green yesterday. “I recognised the number and just said to myself ‘what’s this all about’? And then she said Trapattoni wants you. I couldn’t believe it. I got off the phone and told my family who were screaming. I had to go straight back to Derby where I live and got in about midnight to get my stuff ready. Then I was up at 4am and on the plane at 6am before meeting up with the players in Dublin. I’ve had loads of texts from family and friends. It’s been a bit surreal but I’m just delighted to be here.”

However, Green is acutely aware that it was Keith Fahey’s difficulty which proved his opportunity. “Gutted” at having originally only made Trapattoni’s standby list, now it was Green’s turn to feel the same for the Dubliner who missed the plane with a groin strain. “I texted him to say I’m gutted for you as he has been in every squad,” Green said, “it’s very unlucky.”

Green knows all about the debilitating effects of injury, having himself missed much of the season before last as well as three-quarters of Ireland’s qualifying campaign through a bad knee ligament injury which sidelined him for all of seven months. “It was horrible,” he said, “the toughest time of my career.”

And he admitted that he also feared the knock-on effect of his long absence would almost certainly rule him out of contention for the Euros.

“I thought my chance had gone but then I got the late call-up against the Czech Republic with James McClean,” he said. “I got half an hour there and I thought there might be just a little slight hope. But then when the squad of 23 was announced it was a bit gutting again.”

He might have been a stand-by man but it’s actually no huge surprise that Giovanni Trapattoni is, once again, standing by his man. But if the manager is a confirmed fan of the former Derby County midfielder, the same cannot be said of many fans and pundits — a point not lost on the player himself.

“Everyone has their opinion but I think I can cope at this level,” he said. “I would not be out here and I don’t think the manager would have me here if he did not think that.”

Having turned down the offer of a new contract with Derby, the 29-year-old confirmed he is definitely moving on at club level for next season, some reports say to Leeds United.

“I’m just in limbo really,” he said yesterday. “I have to find a new club and I am leaving it up to my agent as I just want to concentrate on my football out here. I think he is speaking to Leeds — who are a massive club — and a few others, but there is nothing concrete yet.”

Meanwhile, he has more pressing concerns in Montecatini, and Green intends to make the most of the unexpected opportunity to help Ireland prepare for the Euros. “I have a job to do out here and that’s what I am concentrating on,” he said. “I don’t really want to think about what’s happening back at home. I just want to do a good job for Ireland.”