Summary
They refer to it now as The Lost Decade, which seems to capture the deadening frustration that Republic of Ireland's supporters endured since the team last qualified for a major tournament. They were marginalised, confined to indifference, and it took a 72-year- old Italian with a shaky grasp of the language and some old- fashioned convictions to restore pride.
Giovanni Trapattoni is undermined by his longevity. He is the only manager to have won all of UEFA's club competitions, and one of only two - with Ernst Happel - to have won league titles in four countries. He was once the doyen of Italian coaches, having won all the major honours with Juventus, then Serie A with Inter Milan, but that was in the 1980s and he is more commonly remembered for a forlorn spell in charge of the Azzurri at the 2002 World Cup. His feats seem like relics now and it has become routine to dismiss him as eccentric. The depiction is flawed, since The Maestro's entire career has been an expression of his faith in conventional ideas.See the full content of this document
Extract
Maestro Still Making Music
His work with Ireland should act as a reminder that he is one of the game's most successful managers, but also as a measure of the circumstances that tie him and team together. ...
See the full content of this document
Sponsored links
