Lucky general gets luckier

When the FAI’s 10-man board of management gathered yesterday afternoon to weigh up the risk analysis of dispensing with international manager Giovanni Trapattoni, the rap sheet made for persuasive reading.

Excessive loyalty to the old guard at Euro 2012, a toxic style of football, a patchy attendance record at Premier League grounds, conflicts and misunderstandings with Damien Duff, Kevin Foley, James McClean, Shane Long, Darron Gibson and Stephen Kelly suggested a pattern of cock-ups from Trap and his assistant Marco Tardelli that made for an open and shut prosecution case.

Last Friday’s catastrophic 6-1 defeat at home to Germany thinned the ice beneath the Italian duo still further. A loss, a draw or even a one-goal victory in Torshavn on Tuesday night would have left him fatally wounded, insiders are convinced.

However, the 4-1 victory persuaded many Doubting Thomases in Abbotstown to hedge their bets for a while. For a while. Their view was informed by the knowledge that to buy him out of his contract would deepen the black financial hole the association finds itself in — not to mention the cost of replacing Trap with, in all likelihood, Mick McCarthy.

The former manager is the one and only viable candidate within the FAI’s reach at present.

Trap’s supporters, such as Liam Brady, have made a fair point that six points out of nine in the World Cup qualifiers and two defeats in all qualifiers since taking charge makes for impressive reading, but it’s probably the right argument at the wrong time.

The satisfaction at a job done, albeit unconvincingly, in Torshavn was also diluted by the fact that Ireland’s best three performers on the night have been largely marginalised by the Italian — Marc Wilson, Seamus Coleman and James McCarthy.

Though the manager was cock-a-hoop afterwards, there were many political watchers who felt he was too demonstrative and should have behaved more humbly, given everything that’s happened since the squad left for Hungary and Poland last June.

Even allowing for chief executive John Delaney’s distaste for sections of the print media, he would be the first to admit Trap and Tardelli has been providing too much fodder for the headline writers of late.

The fiasco over a phantom return to the fold by Damien Duff was all of Marco Tardelli’s making, and annoyed senior figures in the association who didn’t like the embarrassment it visited upon a favourite son.

Similarly annoying is Trap’s continuing — and some believe convenient — struggles with the English language, a failing again highlighted earlier this week by Shay Given.

However, the upbeat second half in Torshavn, the impressive defence mounted on RTÉ by Brady and copious expressions of support from the players seem to have turned the tide once more in favour of the Lucky General — for the time being.

One player confided yesterday that FAI chief Delaney has canvassed the opinion of some members of the squad over the last few days who left him in little doubt that the majority of the squad still believe in the Trapattoni project.

The question of his replacement may now be for another day but it will not be Marco Tardelli and it certainly won’t be Harry Redknapp or Rafa Benitez, as has been groundlessly speculated in recent days.

Both would be in Ireland for as long as it took the right Premier League offer to come their way. McCarthy was the sole alternative at this moment in time.

However, Trap’s vote of confidence is a qualified one. The FAI’s belief in their international manager was shaken well before last week’s Aviva horror show against the Germans.

Privately, chief executive Delaney told associates he felt Trapattoni was too loyal for too long to what Trapattoni felt were “Irish legends” at the European Championships — including the likes of Given — when there were more than able deputies like Keiren Westwood waiting their chance. This was particularly true of the dead rubber game against Italy. Several other mystifying decisions — the latest being his treatment of Shane Long — have irked those in power at Abbotstown.

Therefore, it is expected that Trapattoni will, at the very least, be eyeballed across a dinner table shortly and asked to explain where he’s bringing this Ireland squad and how he’s getting there.

Last night’s statement, hardly a ringing endorsement, offered a hint of what’s to come: “The board, while disappointed like everyone with the poor result and performance against Germany and understanding the frustration of some of our supporters, believes the current position in the group means that qualification for Brazil in 2014 remains a realistic and achievable prospect and reaffirmed that Giovanni Trapattoni is to remain in charge of the national team.”

The association must also be aware, though, of the danger of kicking the 73-year-old when he’s down. The sympathy has tipped public opinion back in Trap’s favour was articulated in a tweet by the legendary Paul McGrath, who declared yesterday: “I really hope that Trapattoni gets the respect he deserves no matter what the outcome. Some people are a disgrace. I think he should stay.”

The next pair of friendlies against Greece next month and Poland in February will hardly send a crazy narrative lurching in a different direction, but in the meantime, it might help Trap if he made more regular trips to the Premier League — and stopped calling his best striker idiotic.