Aiden McGeady

[Deckydee]

http://www.teamtalk.com/football/story/0,16368,2483_3113854,00.html

Going to West Ham?

[TerryPhelan]

Julien Faubert's translator seems to think so...

Are we to take from this that Trapattoni really does want out of Austria (a story which the Heddled and the Indo have both recounted in passing over the last couple of days)? Or is it merely an empty rumour constructed upon the fevered rumour-mongering going on here? Thoughts?

from http://dev.football365.co.za/news/hammers_ready_to_open_trap_door_6208144505.php

Hammers ready to open Trap door
2008-02-06 14:45:05

West Ham winger Julien Faubert claims Giovanni Trapattoni has emerged as a possible candidate to fill the club's director of football vacancy.

The French winger put the Italian coach's name firmly in the frame after being questioned on a French radio programme.
Trapattoni has also been linked with the Republic of Ireland vacancy, with Billy Davies and Terry Venables also thought to be in the running.
Trapattoni, who is 68, is currently the coach at Austrian club Red Bull Salzburg, but for a man who has been coaching teams since 1974, he may well jump at the chance to act as a director of football.
Faubert revealed a French-speaking Italian West Ham employee, who helps the midfielder with translation, told the £6million summer signing that the 68-year-old's arrival is a possibility.
Faubert said: "Trapattoni would be a huge boost for our tactics because we have gaps in that area of the game, on the defending and position aspects."
Hammers manager Alan Curbishley may not be too pleased to hear that last remark, but the possibility of bringing someone with Trapattoni's experience to the club, is not one to dismiss lightly.
The Italian is Italy's most successful club coach ever, having won seven league titles with Juventus and Internazionale, though his last Scudetto was in 1989. He was the Juventus coach in 1985 when they beat Liverpool to win the European Cup in the Heysel Stadium and in 1997 he became the first Italian coach to win a league title abroad with Bayern Munich.
In fact 'Il Trap' is one of only two managers to win the domestic league in four different countries after also guiding Benfica and Red Bull to their respective titles. However his spell in charge of the Italian national team was a disappointing one. The Azzurri bowed out of the 2002 World Cup with an extra-time defeat to South Korea in the last 16 and they failed to advance beyond the group stage at Euro 2004.
The only other man that has been linked with the job has been Dutch coach Stan Valckx, who is currently the director of football at PSV Eindhoven.

[carloz]

You cant blame him. A man of his stature shouldnt have to fight off a bloody challenge from El tel for a job with us

[forza rovers]

if the fai had any sense they shold have offered Trapattoni the job before christmas

[OwlsFan]

if the fai had any sense they shold have offered Trapattoni the job before christmas

Isn't he under contract to some non-entity of a Swiss club and perhaps they weren't aware of his interest before Christmas?

[cavan_fan]

if the fai had any sense they shold have offered Trapattoni the job before christmas

We all said, dont rush get the right man, now we're whingeing because they havent done it yet. The easy answer would have been to get Venables but they have shown they want to get the best possible. Whoever they pick will come in with a far better record than any previous Irish manager so that is something.

[NeilMcD]

Isn't he under contract to some non-entity of a Swiss club and perhaps they weren't aware of his interest before Christmas?

Eh its actually Austrian, take out a map of your Europe for **** sake, its Salzburg and they are the Austrian Champions.

[Bondvillain]

perhaps they weren't aware of his interest before Christmas?

I think many people on this board (and elsewhere) mistakenly believe that OUR interest in him is equally balanced by HIS interest in us. (or,even , that they know he is aware of where Ireland is)

Im not convinced, and I personally think he has as much chance of being the Slovenian entry in this years Eurovision as he has of being our next manager.

[macdermesser]

Eh its actually Austrian, take out a map of your Europe for **** sake, its Salzburg and they are the Austrian Champions.

Well said Neil .. and they nearly qualified for the Champions League this season .. but for a late Shaktar goal.

[as_i_say]

Agree with BV above. THink theres no chance of getting Trappetoni. Venebles is interested alright because nobody else would give him a job and apparently he wants to add another storey onto some gaff he has in the bahamas.

[Dalymountrower]

Not that this is anyway related to the delay in "recommending" a manager, but "sources" close to the accounts Dept in the FAI have revealed that the three wise men, Twodonray, have claimed 20,000 Euro each to date from the FAI for their endeavours. Let us all salute their historic sacrifice.

[eirebhoy]

Trap isn't writing off the job anyway.

“Agents have been talking to agents but as yet no-one has contacted me directly to see if I am interested. Nothing is concrete at the moment, we shall have to see what happens.”

Encouraging.

[citizenerased]

good good

[Philly]

Hopefully we haven't lost him to West Ham. That would be another disaster.

All will be revealed Sunday I suppose.

[NeilMcD]

Hopefully we haven't lost him to West Ham. That would be another disaster.

All will be revealed Sunday I suppose.

Why do you say West Ham.

[tetsujin1979]

Hopefully we haven't lost him to West Ham. That would be another disaster.

All will be revealed Sunday I suppose.
Why do you say Sunday?

[Deckydee]

Why do you say West Ham.

http://www.goal.com/en/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=576755

http://www.eatsleepsport.com/articles/689332.html

http://www.tribalfootball.com/article.php?id=77450

http://www.kumb.com/story.php?id=123053

[Deckydee]

Yes, 1 day late on this link but just found it now:

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/internationals/trapattoni-heads-irelands-wish-list-778496.html

[NeilMcD]

Looks like Faubert is the only person talking about it. I honestly had not heard that.

[tetsujin1979]

Faubert isn't supposed to be too happy at West Ham, especially with the training, - http://www.football365.com/story/0,17033,8652_3116323,00.html - maybe he's trying to influence the appointment?

[Stuttgart88]

Yes, 1 day late on this link but just found it now:

My God, Decky can type as well as post links :)

Can anyone summarise the RTE panel's view on the Gio & Liamo dream team?

[NeilMcD]

I watched it last night while drunk but they were positive about it. Saying that Trappatoni has the CV and they compared it to Venables and that brought about a good bit of laughter. Bill then asked the point, what about the fact that he is overly negative and Giles produced a cracker Well if he is negative I hate to see what he would have won if he was positive and then said if you wanna win a league you have to win matches and if you want to win matches you have to score goals, so this idea that he is overly defensive is rubbish.

Giles also did not buy into the Keegan idea that you score 3 we score 4. Giles pointed out that first thing you do is get your defence right and dont give away cheap goals and he feels that Trappatoni would do that for us. They also said that Brady would be a great appointment. Thats about as much as I remember as it was about half one at night when I watched it.

[fergalr]

The Salzberg forum take:
http://www.redbullsalzburg-board.com/rbsboard/index.php?showtopic=15277&st=60&start=60

Hopefully he'll see out his contract there (their league finishes at the end of April) and will be in place in time for the Serbia game.

[tetsujin1979]

My God, Decky can type as well as post links :)

Can anyone summarise the RTE panel's view on the Gio & Liamo dream team?

The post match discussion is online here: http://www.rte.ie/sport/2008/0206/soccer_av.html

[eekers]

First heard of this West Ham link a few weeks ago when searching for trapatoni stories in google news.

http://www.kumb.com/story.php?id=122999


Former Italian manager Giovanni Trapattoni is being linked with West Ham United's vacant Director of Football post.
The club are set to announce the new man imminently, and now the 68-year-old former Milan and Juve manager's name has been thrown into the hat.

Trapattoni has a long and illustrious career behind him and is currently in charge of Austrian outfit FC Salzburg, where he has spent the last two years.

Hammers chairman Björgólfur Guðmundsson is knwn to be a keen admirer of the Italian, who has won numerous titles as a coach since taking his first managerial role with AC Milan in 1974.

Rumours that Trapattoni is set to replace Alan Curbishley as West Ham United's manager are thought to be wide of the mark.

The Italian legend is the latest in a string of names to be linked to the new post. Previous names rumoured to be in contention for the job include Franco Baldini (now part of new England manager Fabio Capello's backroom staff) and PSV's technical director Stan Valckx.



Its hard to know what to make of it really

[eirebhoy]

2 reporters from the Star flew over to Salzburg. All they got for their troubles was a picture with Trap. No quotes at all. They just talked about how fit Trap was and how the players seemed to love his training.

[geysir]

John Johnson age 90 has just retired as one of the Trainers for the New York Giants.
He (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/02/sports/02super.html?_r=1&oref=slogin) still looks to have another year or two left in him.

[Drumcondra 69er]

2 reporters from the Star flew over to Salzburg. All they got for their troubles was a picture with Trap. No quotes at all. They just talked about how fit Trap was and how the players seemed to love his training.

Wish they'd leave him the fook alone, given how ****ed off he was about the leak last week. Gob****es writing for a sorry excuse of a paper, they probably want Hell Tell in!

[mypost]

Philip Quinn was crying yesterday in the Mail, for Venables. :rolleyes:

[OwlsFan]

Eh its actually Austrian, take out a map of your Europe for **** sake, its Salzburg and they are the Austrian Champions.

Swiss or Austrian, big deal!! The point is that he is managing a team in a second rate league and if he is Mr Wonderful, wtf is he doing there? Except perhaps that he's got one foot in the grave for **** sake.

We saw what happened with Bobby R. Give me a younger, hungry manager any day, and I don't mean Stan.

[irishfan86]

Swiss or Austrian, big deal!! The point is that he is managing a team in a second rate league and if he is Mr Wonderful, wtf is he doing there? Except perhaps that he's got one foot in the grave for **** sake.

We saw what happened with Bobby R. Give me a younger, hungry manager any day, and I don't mean Stan.

Probably there for the money, I heard he was on 4 mil a year...hard to turn down that dough.

It would be interesting to see if he'd take a pay cut to manage Ireland (in fairness less work, which at his age may suit him).

[eirebhoy]

Italy manager win success rate from Setanta.



Manager GP W D L Win%
Bearzot 88 40 26 22 45%
Vicini 54 33 14 7 61%
Sacchi 53 34 11 8 64%
Maldini 20 10 8 2 50%
Zoff 23 11 7 5 48%
Trapattoni 44 25 12 7 57%
Lippi 29 17 10 2 59%
Donadoni 16 10 3 3 63%

[NeilMcD]

Swiss or Austrian, big deal!! The point is that he is managing a team in a second rate league and if he is Mr Wonderful, wtf is he doing there? Except perhaps that he's got one foot in the grave for **** sake.

We saw what happened with Bobby R. Give me a younger, hungry manager any day, and I don't mean Stan.

Yeah cause young hungry managers always win international tournaments. Sure anyone with experience generally fails at international level. :). I hope you are not in HR in some company Owls fan.

[cavan_fan]

Swiss or Austrian, big deal!! The point is that he is managing a team in a second rate league and if he is Mr Wonderful, wtf is he doing there? Except perhaps that he's got one foot in the grave for **** sake.

We saw what happened with Bobby R. Give me a younger, hungry manager any day, and I don't mean Stan.

The clue is in the name, Red Bull Salzburg are being run as an offshoot of the Red Bull world and are attempting to buy success. A good way of doing this is buying a top manager as it is probably tough to attract players.

International managers should be old, we dont want someone who'll p*ss off to a club whenever an offer comes in.

[NeilMcD]

Lippi
Rehagal
Scolari
Lemerre
Jacquet
Vogts
Parreira
Moller Nielson
Beckanbauer
Michels


What have they all got in common, they all won major international championships and none was an up and coming hungry manager.

[NeilMcD]

From wikipedia but I cant find it anywhere on the Gazetta Dello Sport website.


Early reports from the February 8th edition of Italian football paper "Gazetta Dello Sport" indicate that Trapattoni has turned down the offer to become the Republic of Ireland manager

[paul_oshea]

so we spent two months to end up with billly davies and/or terry venables.

[macdermesser]

From wikipedia but I cant find it anywhere on the Gazetta Dello Sport website.


Early reports from the February 8th edition of Italian football paper "Gazetta Dello Sport" indicate that Trapattoni has turned down the offer to become the Republic of Ireland manager

I'd be careful about quoting from Wikipedia .. It's being used by Betfair jokers to ramp various candidates.

[NeilMcD]

I know I would have presumed that people know better than believe everything from it, I was trying to get someone to confirm the Gazetta Dello Sport bit.

From the Indo.


Ireland need a defensive guru -- not a lecture from the purists

[Billy Lord]

Philip Quinn was crying yesterday in the Mail, for Venables. :rolleyes:

Nothing new there. Delaney's media buddies have been cooking Venables curry for months. He's just what the Oirish deserve - a cockney spoofer with gangster connections.

[Billy Lord]

I know I would have presumed that people know better than believe everything from it, I was trying to get someone to confirm the Gazetta Dello Sport bit.

From the Indo.


Ireland need a defensive guru -- not a lecture from the purists
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What are these?

By Daniel McDonnell
Friday February 08 2008

'TIS a crazy world we're living in. On the week that the FAI inducted Jack Charlton into their Hall of Fame, critics of Giovanni Trapattoni warn us that the leading candidate to replace Steve Staunton is too defensive in his outlook.

Suddenly, we are football purists in this country. Never mind the fact that we haven't qualified for six out of the past seven major tournaments. Now we want someone to take us there in style. Words fail at times like this.

Being defensive is something of a taboo word when it comes to analysing coaches. It can be construed as conservatism in the negative sense, or placing a high emphasis on organisation when the glass is half full. And with Trapattoni's CV, then clearly the latter description is more fitting.

You can argue that such a figure is exactly what Ireland need at this moment in time. We have a certain amount of attacking flair in the form of Damien Duff and Aiden McGeady, plus the capable Stephen Hunt, the talented Andy Reid and a good front pair in Robbie Keane and Kevin Doyle. Then there's Steven Reid, Shane Long and, whisper it, Stephen Ireland.

In the forward departments, there are options. But look backwards and it's not so pretty. We're short on numbers and short on talent and, in those circumstances, it is arguably someone regarded for their defensive nous that we need to pull our components into a successful, well-drilled unit.

Put simply, if we lose Richard Dunne to injury at any point, then we are in deep, deep trouble. The Irish back four on Wednesday night was built around Dunne with John O'Shea as his partner and Stephen Kelly and Kevin Kilbane as the full-backs.

As it stands, that's probably our best selection with the retirements of Steve Finnan and Andy O'Brien. Paul McShane was left out due to his recent deterioration in form and the jury is out on the Wicklow native right now.

Elsewhere in the squad, back-up came in the form of Kevin Foley who is a tidy player that can provide opposition for Kelly and Alex Bruce who is nothing more than a Championship standard centre-half. Again, it is hardly inspiring. Unfortunately, viewing the U-21 game against England on Tuesday did not provide much hope for the future in that departure. Darren O'Dea is highly regarded but lacks match sharpness and should probably look for time away from Celtic, while Joe O'Cearuill has a long way to go too. Full-backs Eddie Nolan and Stephen O'Halloran suffered against admittedly strong opposition for that level.

Meanwhile, the other options available to the next manager are honest but limited; options such as Alan Bennett, Paddy McCarthy, the enigmatic Sean St Ledger and even Drogheda duo Graham Gartland and Jason Gavin. No doubt the quintet all come under the classification of capable performers but, unfortunately, they fall short of the standard required.

When the new manager takes over, a priority will have to be speaking again with O'Brien and Finnan because they are desperately needed. Then, he will need to find the right role for the talented Joey O'Brien who deputised at centre-half against Germany but can be effective at right back and -- when he gets older -- in the holding midfield role, despite his turbulent experience against Cyprus.

Overall, though, the options are far from plentiful which makes a compelling case for plumping for the manager capable of turning what is there into a well-structured unit. It's an argument which points clearly to Trapattoni. After all, there's nothing more enjoyable than winning.

Ireland's Defenders

The League Table

1 Richard Dunne

2 John O'Shea

3 Joey O'Brien

4 Stephen Kelly

5 Kevin Kilbane

6 Paul McShane

7 Kevin Foley

8 Darren O'Dea

9 Stephen O'Halloran

10 Sean St Ledger

- Daniel McDonnell


I wouldn't call anti-Trap folk 'purists'. 'Thick gob****es' would be closer to the mark.

[OwlsFan]

The clue is in the name, Red Bull Salzburg are being run as an offshoot of the Red Bull world and are attempting to buy success. A good way of doing this is buying a top manager as it is probably tough to attract players.

International managers should be old, we dont want someone who'll p*ss off to a club whenever an offer comes in.

Perhaps the "old thing" isn't a bad omen. Otto Rehhagel won the Euro 2004 with Greece at the age of 66.

[NeilMcD]

Perhaps the "old thing" isn't a bad omen. Otto Rehhagel won the Euro 2004 with Greece at the age of 66.

eh you will find that was the point of my previous post with the list of all the winners who none were young up and coming managers.

[Morbo]

From wikipedia but I cant find it anywhere on the Gazetta Dello Sport website.


Early reports from the February 8th edition of Italian football paper "Gazetta Dello Sport" indicate that Trapattoni has turned down the offer to become the Republic of Ireland manager

Bugger it if true, can't understand why so many want venables to get it, Trap is better than him in virtually every department, some might argue that a lot of Traps success came before 1990 but his recent record is still a lot better than venables so whatever way you look at it its a no-brainer

[jmurphyc]

Well Trapattoni is still winning trophies and Venables' last trophy (there were two) was in 1991.

[Block G Raptor]

Neil McD your not supposed to quote whole articles, id post a link before a mod sees it

BillyLord see above, you're not supposed to quote posts which quote whole articles

[Sonic]

If I was venables Id have told the Fai to flip off at this stage. He has been the favorite right from the start and they never made him an offer and suddenly out of nowhere Trapattoni comes out of the woodwork!! I hope Trap gets it by the way but Venables must be saying to himself are these lads takin the mick he was up for the job the time kerr and stan got the job and again they look like they may shun him.

[Stuttgart88]

Maybe the Davies leaks are to prevent Venables saying "ok, so Trapattoni has declined, there's nobody else left, now I want 2 million a year".

[elroy]

At this stage, i hope Trappatoni gets it. The whole process will then have been worthwhile. He may be pushing on but he has the credentials that any one of us would have snapped at, at the start of this saga. Alongside Liam Brady, it would be ideal.

And on top of that, im keen for a manager with a different thinking to come in, as opposed to the english/irish manager style of play. Things can never be as bad as they were under stan anyway.......surely not.

[NeilMcD]

Neil McD your not supposed to quote whole articles, id post a link before a mod sees it

BillyLord see above, you're not supposed to quote posts which quote whole articles

Its the Irish Times and the only way you can read it is if you are subscribed so a link is pointless.