Trapattoni meets Delaney for 'constructive' meeting

The Football Association of Ireland (FAI) chief executive John Delaney has held a "constructive" meeting with Republic of Ireland manager Giovanni Trapattoni today.

The FAI board of management met on Wednesday and decided to reaffirm the Italian's position as manager.

"The meeting recognised that the Association and Giovanni have always enjoyed a solid relationship," said the FAI statement.

"It also dealt with some issues that needed to be addressed following Wednesday’s meeting of the FAI Board of Management and this was done in a workmanlike and professional manner."

Commenting after the meeting, Giovanni Trapattoni said: "John and I met today to clarify the thoughts of the Board and these were agreed and confirmed by me.

"It was a useful and professional conversation and I thank him for this. During the meeting we discussed a number points that were raised by the Board to help us continue to improve our work for the Association."

The 73-year-old headed for the Faroe Islands at the weekend with his job in severe jeopardy after Friday night’s 6-1 World Cup qualifying defeat by Germany at the Aviva Stadium.

Despite one source suggesting that he would be out of work by the end of the week whatever happened in Torshavn, he returned with a 4-1 victory and, hours after he touched down in Dublin, to a public expression of the FA board’s continued support.

However, the issues which provided the fuel for his critics as the pressure mounted – his conservative approach, his tactical inflexibility an his communication with players, to name but three – remain to be addressed.

Whether or not they were on the agenda as he met Delaney will remain private, but his employers will be looking for evidence of improvement when Ireland return to competitive action against Sweden and Austria in March next year, two games which could have a major say in their hopes of making it to Brazil in 2014, and Trapattoni’s long-term future.