Axe falls fast on ‘emotional and traumatic day’

In contrast to his swish unveiling at a packed RDS five years ago, Giovanni Trapattoni discovered his fate in a subdued airport lounge yesterday morning.

FAI chief executive John Delaney — flanked by president Paddy McCaul and honorary secretary Michael Cody — spelt out to the Ireland boss and his assistant Marco Tardelli that the game was up after a defeat to Austria less than 12 hours earlier culled the World Cup odyssey with two qualifiers left.

The Italian, so adamant in Vienna he wouldn’t quit, cut a compromise to accept half of the combined €900,000 salary remaining on his and Tardelli’s contract before catching a flight to Amsterdam and home to Milan.