Delaney: Trap a king if we win next two

FAI chief executive John Delaney has refused to be drawn on Giovanni Trapattoni’s future as Republic of Ireland manager beyond the next two World Cup qualifiers but wants the team to be in a competitive position in Group C after tomorrow’s trip to Sweden and Tuesday’s home clash with Austria.

Trapattoni narrowly kept his job after the 6-1 home defeat in Germany in October and has since come under fire after a series of spats, with Stephen Kelly and Kevin Doyle the most recent examples.

Delaney reckons Trapattoni will be a “king in this country” if he navigates a route to Rio next year but has refused to back the Italian in the event of results going wrong.