Boss forgives tweet excess

Having apologised to the manager and his team-mates for the wildly ill-advised and inflammatory tweet he posted just after Friday’s game in Astana, James McClean was intent on letting only his feet do the talking yesterday, working up a red face of a different kind as the sun beat down on an Irish training session at the home of AFC Wimbledon in London.

Giovanni Trapattoni confirmed that “the Twitter matter is closed, no problem” but, in response to further questioning, gave an insight into how uncomfortable McClean felt when he realised the consequences of his extraordinary rush of blood to the head.

“He was mortified,” said the manager. “If he could have, he would have eaten his words. I spoke with him in front of the other players. He was very apologetic but I said to them all that we have to have a lot of patience with the young. Every young person is sometimes very impulsive. They say now what sometimes tomorrow they regret.