GIOVANNI Trapattoni will know for sure that football is a fickle business after years at the top of his chosen game, his chosen profession. You don't get to manage at the highest level in Italy -- and you don't get to manage the Italian national team -- without knowing that the only certainty in football is the sack.

Kevin Keegan may have discovered as much on Tuesday afternoon when he allegedly left his job as Newcastle United boss after just eight months of his second coming as Tyneside gaffer - only for the club to later deny the story.

The language surrounding his "alleged" dismissal was interesting. One renowned website said Keegan and club owner Mike Ashley, pictured downing a pint of lager in one at the Emirates on Saturday, had agreed to end their relationship by mutual consent.

Another tried and trusted English media organization merely stated that Keegan had been sacked by his beer-bellied employer as the perennial underachievers successfully lurch towards another crisis.

By Tuesday night, however, nobody seemed certain if the Newcastle manager was still the Newcastle manager.

Whatever the truth and whatever the methods, Keegan could well be just another unemployed football manager as you read this, as Trapattoni prepares for his first competitive game in charge of Ireland.

That fixture was supposed to be a daunting trip to Georgia in time for an evening kick-off in the hell hole that is Tbilisi - and I speak from experience - this Saturday night.

Instead, the fact that Russian tanks are still only miles from Tbilisi means the game will now take place in the Germany city of Mainz, not far from the biggest American forces base in Europe where presumably they too have a few tanks on standby in Wiesbaden.

That town will play host to the Irish media for four days from Thursday, and doubtless some FAI types will be quite happy if the guns are trained on the media - wishful thinking on many of their parts, but unlikely.

To be fair to Trapattoni, he has never offered any suggestion that he would like the tanks to turn on the media, Irish or otherwise.

A professional man, he knows we have a job to do and he knows our job is, in the main, dependent on how he does his job.

That's the challenge that awaits Trap when Georgia await in the rather unusual surroundings of Mainz on Saturday evening.

Like so many before him, he is now playing with our national emotion. He is now gambling with the Irish psyche and the national treasure that is our football team.

We have been spoilt by said football team in the past. Jack Charlton and Mick McCarthy both got us to World Cup finals with the help of Paul McGrath and Roy Keane, to name just two of the players no longer available to the green shirt.

To be a success as Irish manager Trap - who the FAI admitted last weekend has yet to see an Irish player in a competitive game, but that's for another day - must emulate the World Cup success of Jack and Mick.

He must get us to South Africa in less than two years time. Anything else will be a failure for the most expensive manager in Irish football history.

Anything else and we will start to ask why he can't be bothered scouting the players who will play for him in Mainz this weekend.

Trap is about to discover the reality of life as Irish football team manager. He is no longer just playing with our team in meaningless friendlies -- he is now playing with our very lives, with our very passion for the beautiful game and those who play it in our name.

Succeed and we will love him forever. Fail and we will haunt him all the way back to Milan.

Welcome to the real world Trap. The honeymoon is over. Let's see what you're really made of.

HERO OF THE WEEK

ST. Patrick's Athletic will meet Hertha Berlin in the first round proper of the UEFA Cup after a late, late show secured their passage against the Swedish side Elfsborg last Thursday night. At a time when the domestic game is being bashed from pillar to post, the Saints achievement was truly welcome and almost remarkable. Well done to all concerned.

IDIOT OF THE WEEK

DON'T hold me to this, but I lost a lot of interest in the forthcoming Ryder Cup when England's Nick Faldo announced on Sunday that England's Paul Casey and Ian Poulter are his wild card picks for the European team to play the U.S. at Valhalla. Faldo's decision to overlook Darren Clarke stinks of English nepotism at its worst. Never liked him in the first place, and now I know why.

Sideline Views

SOCCER: The great young Brazilian footballer Robinho must have been really excited when he was told by his agent that there was a British transfer record on the table on deadline day last Monday. Unfortunately the Real Madrid striker soon discovered that the bid was from Manchester City, not Manchester United. He signed anyway, but maybe something was lost in translation! United fans won't care -- they got Dimitar Berbatov. And Chelsea, who were supposed to sign Robinho, were left with no big name arrival on deadline day.

GAA: There's a big debate running on one of those silly Internet message boards about Paul Galvin and the Kerry team for the All-Ireland final right. Essentially they want readers to vote on whether or not Galvin should start against Tyrone in just over a fortnight. Of course he shouldn't -- let the players who got Kerry to the final start the match. Galvin will be lucky to get a place on the bench after his immoral contribution this season.

SOCCER: Stephen Ireland is now bald. The player whose hair -- or the lack of it -- apparently prompted some rib tickling in the Irish dressingroom which he couldn't handle has now shaved off every blade of hair on his head. The look suits him, but we still don't know how his new image will look in an Ireland shirt. More is the pity considering what a good player he is.

SOCCER: Chant of the week from the Shamrock Rovers fans as their side hammered cashless Cork City at Tolka Park last Friday night when Joseph Ndo (pronounced En Dough) was one of the starts of the show. "We've got Ndo, you've got no dough." Cruel.