Trap hits out at Kelly’s ‘play me or I go home’ ultimatum

An angry Giovanni Trapattoni has, for the first time, given credence to the story Stephen Kelly was at loggerheads with the Irish management before the team flew out of Dublin to play the Faroe Islands last October.

It was widely reported that, in the pressure cooker atmosphere following the 6-1 humbling by Germany, there had been a training ground flare-up between the defender and the Ireland management, with the player subsequently having to be persuaded to board the flight to Torshavn with the rest of the squad.

Trapattoni sought to pour cold water on the media reports at the time and, more recently, when asked why he was leaving Kelly out of his squad for Wednesday’s friendly against Poland, explained that the full-back was being “rested”.

However, when asked again yesterday about Kelly at his post-Poland press conference, an increasingly animated Trapattoni replied: “You know what happened in the situation with Kelly? ‘I play or I go home’. Go home! Paul Green was called up at the last moment (for the Poland friendly) because of injury — and he came immediately, with enthusiasm. That is the Irish players. They must be happy to come for their country, for their shirt. In their club if they didn’t play, they would not say ‘I no play, I go home’. They wouldn’t do that in their club. Only here.

“The winner man (says), ‘If you need me, I am ready’. In my life I have been very lucky. I have very many players with this attitude and character. ‘I am ready to come in and play’. That is the winning man.”

If all that suggests Kelly is in line for an indefinite international “rest”, Trapattoni seems to be taking a contrastingly more pragmatic approach to dealing with Darron Gibson who, having initially withdrawn himself from Irish duty in response to being overlooked at the Euros, most recently turned down a call-up for the friendly against Poland on the grounds he had only just returned from injury at Everton and was also committed to staying with his club at for a training camp in Malaga.

Although he didn’t apparently discuss the player’s long-term intentions at the time, Trapattoni is again expected to put the ball in the Derry man’s court by calling him up for the World Cup qualifiers in March.