Trapattoni confident of new contract

Giovanni Trapattoni is confident that contract negotiations with the FAI will see him rewarded with a new deal in the coming weeks.


The 72-year old completed his second qualifying campaign last night by helping Ireland confirm their place at Euro 2012 – two years after heartbreakingly missing out on a spot at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.


Trapattoni is now optimistic that he and Marco Tardelli will begin talks with FAI chiefs shortly and, even though the duo are set for  big drop in their salaries, they are almost certain to lead Ireland into the finals.


“We think we deserve to continue,” Trapattoni said this afternoon at a press conference at Dublin Airport.


“We always said that we didn't want to put pressure on the FAI until qualification was sorted out and more than likely, in the very near future, we will discuss the details.


“What we wanted to know was if there was willingness to continue or not. We are sure of this now. It was important for us to have clarity, but there is no timeframe. We were aware, had we failed with qualification, that things could have gone differently.


“I think we can get a good result in the Championships. We believe because we have met France, Italy, Croatia, Russia and while we haven't met Germany, Spain, we have played some top teams.


“Marco reminded me that in four years, we lost only two qualifying games – one against Russia and the play-off against France.”


Indeed, Ireland are unbeaten in 12 competitive away games under the stewardship of the Italian, who has said that he is happy with how the team has developed since his appointment in February 2008.


He said: “We are happy about our team. We have trust and we are confident also that we have a good team.


“We believe in this team and also for the future we have good second options and in every game we discover others. It is not always a beautiful game, but in a moment the team shows us character, mentality, attitude.”

Despite being set to land a new contract from the FAI shortly, Trap insists that he won't break from his habit of only watching his players in games from the comfort of his Milan home. Assistant Tardelli is based in London and attends games in person, but Trapattoni won't be budged.


He said: “Marco goes every Saturday and Sunday. At home in Italy, Sky TV shows me three, four, five games every week and Marco sees the players in England. Now, we know our players and we know our squad.


“We check only for only one, two or three new players to make the squad stronger.”


Ireland will again go daft next June for what will be only the fifth major tournaments the national team has been involved in – and Trapattoni is looking forward to the experience savoured by only two previous Irish managers, Jack Charlton and Mick McCarthy.


He said: “I become emotional because I know and I feel the experiences of the Irish. I know what it's like to make sacrifices to do something like this. The FAI has come to get us because they believed we could get Ireland to achieve these results.”


While players and fans celebrated into the small hours, the veteran manager revealed that he had a much more muted night in Dublin.

Having been asked if he had celebrated over a glass of wine, he said: “I was very, very happy, but I usually contain my anger and also I contain my joy. We achieve what the people want and what the players want. It is your party.


“I am happy with the job we have done and that is enough for me.” He turns 73 on St Patrick's Day, but Trapattoni has no intentions of walking away from the game he loves.


He said: “You stay young if you keep searching and you continue to change yourself.”