Trapattoni set to have say on reprieve

The FAI might have a job on their hands shifting tickets for the November 14 friendly against Greece but they should have no problem filling the room for today’s Irish squad announcement at the association’s headquarters in Abbotstown.

Barring a few brief words to a journalist at Carrow Road following Norwich’s 1-0 win against Arsenal and a handful of other lines attributed to sources allegedly close to the Italian’s camp, Giovanni Trapattoni has yet to publicly speak in any detail about the sequence of events surrounding the recent World Cup qualifiers against Germany and the Faroe Islands, a tumultuous week during which it appeared he was headed for the exit door only for a dramatic reprieve to be delivered in the form an emergency FAI board meeting.

The manager subsequently travelled to Dublin for a meeting with FAI chief executive John Delaney in the course of which a number of concerns raised at the board meeting were discussed, not least Trap’s apparent reluctance to turn up in person at games in England to assess Irish players in action for their clubs.