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.