Wilson on standby, or is he? — Trap starts to lose his cool

Giovanni Trapattoni has asked Marc Wilson to replace Kevin Foley on Ireland’s Euro 2012 standby list.

An FAI official texted the request to the Stoke player but there was no immediate reply.

“Maybe he is still in bed,” the manager quipped yesterday at midday, adding, “no problem”. Last night, when there was still no confirmation of a response from Wilson, an FAI spokesman in the Irish training camp in Montecatini said that the manager would now be waiting until after Monday’s game against Hungary in Budapest to “consider standbys” and “won’t be talking details until then.”

If the Stoke man is officially added to the standby list, it would mark quite a change in his international fortunes in the space of 12 months.

Last summer, Wilson’s unavailability for selection for the Carling Nations Cup left the manager fuming, a situation which was exacerbated in January when Trapattoni erroneously included the Stoke defender among of group of players he admonished over a disciplinary matter.

At the time, Trapattoni said he was still awaiting an apology, a demand which left Wilson baffled. However, the situation was subsequently resolved in a phone call from Trapattoni to the player.

The news that Wilson was being approached to go on standby for the Euros squad emerged yesterday in the course of a sometimes hot and heavy exchange between Trapattoni and the media after training in Montecatini. Indeed, even the Italian media present at squad training were moved to ask the manager why he’d grown so agitated with the Irish press. “It’s because they keep asking the same question,” he replied, adding in a more conciliatory tone, “but it’s alright”.

The background to the tension was the manager’s decision to drop Kevin Foley from the squad, which the player had described as an act of betrayal.

Responding to a question about that remark, Trapattoni said yesterday: “Yes, I said this morning also to the team: ‘the words are easy’. Also for you (the media), you write too easy. In Italy, we say words are (mimed blowing feather into the air). I have to pick one player or the other. That is responsibility, for the team and for the country. If there is another injury what will you say then. What words?”