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Marco Tardelli and Giovanni Trapattoni this week. INPHO/Donall Farmer
FAI

John Delaney backs Trap again and insists he wasn't FAI newspaper source

The Italian will be in East Anglia today to run the rule over the Irish in action for Norwich against Arsenal.

JOHN DELANEY HAS strongly denied that he was the FAI source who indicated, to one national newspaper, that Giovanni Trapattoni’s days as Ireland manager were over.

The story emerged last week in the wake of the humbling 6-1 defeat to Germany.

The Irish Independent, quoting an Abbotstown insider, suggested that the Italian would leave his position after the subsequent trip to the Faroe Islands.

But after the Boys in Green took three points in Torshavn with a 4-1 victory, the FAI board of management reaffirmed their faith in the Italian.

And Delaney now insists that he was not the source of any briefing against Trap.

“I’m not even going to get into denying it,” he told Liam Mackey in a wide-ranging Irish Examiner interview this morning.

“I’m telling you that RTÉ had to issue an apology over it. You said a stormy week or something — about this week. I’ve been through these before with Mick McCarthy when I was honorary treasurer, and I’ve been through it with Steve Staunton and Brian Kerr, and the one difference here this particular week (here he cites a couple of examples) would have been certain low standards of journalism.’’

Today Giovanni Trapattoni will take a seat at Carrow Road as Wes Hoolahan and Anthony Pilkington’s Norwich take on Arsenal. The Italian’s presence at Premier League grounds will be a more regular sight now, the Association suggest.

Trap met his ‘president’ — as he calls Delaney — in Dublin yesterday for what was described as ”workmanlike and professional” talks.

“John and I met today to clarify the thoughts of the board and these were agreed and confirmed by me,” Trapattoni said in a statement yesterday evening.

“It was a useful and professional conversation and I thank him for this. During the meeting, we discussed a number of points that were raised by the board to help us continue to improve our work for the association.”

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