Trap Discusses Reid Fury

Giovanni Trapattoni has bizarrely claimed that he wanted to kick World Cup exile Andy Reid up the rear in a German hotel last September. The Irish boss made the startling admission to Star Sunday as his rift with the Sunderland midfielder deepens. Trapattoni's bizarre confession came as he explained how the pair clashed in a Wiesbaden hotel bar late on the night of Ireland's World Cup win over Georgia. Trap has claimed that the guitar playing Reid tested his patience when he was the "last player to go to bed" after the game in which the schemer did not feature. "If he was my son I would have kicked him up the arse, but he is not my son," said Trapattoni as he re-enacted the events at a Dublin Airport press conference. However there was an olive branch for the 26-year-old when Trapattoni added, "If I was certain that Andy Reid can come in and change the team for the better, then he would play tomorrow. "It is not personal, I do not do revenge. I do not give a s*** who the player is, I do not allow my ego to come between me and a player." Trapattoni explained the events on that night in Germany. He said, "I let them drink beer. They had a free night. I said, 'Okay, 1 o'clock we go to bed. It comes to 1:30 and I say 'Boys, bed.' "They said okay, but they were again at the bar. Not just Andy Reid, there were 10 players. I said, 'Okay, go, give the guitar up. You must go in bed. It is finished, it is 2 o'clock.' "We had a game in three days' time. The table was like a pub with all the beer on it. "If he was my son, I would go boom, kick him up the backside, but he is not my son. Do you understand? This is the first time I have clarified the situation. The 10 players can say it is true or not true." The Reid camp have disputed Trapattoni's version of events, and sources close to the player were adamant last night that he will not quit international football. "Andy cares too much about his country to walk away but he is not happy," one Dublin-based source said. The Trapattoni-Reid dispute became a story again in the wake of Ireland's 3-2 defeat at home to Poland in last week's Croke Park friendly. Reid couldn't even make the squad as Trapattoni persisted with Premier League reserves Glenn Whelan and Darron Gibson at the center of his midfield. His stubbornness over Reid and his refusal to recall Lee Carsley to the international fold has led to an avalanche of criticism for Trapattoni, with Eamonn Dunphy even claiming that the tactics for the Poland defeat were worse than anything seen in the Steve Staunton era. The Irish boss defended his selection however and added, "I read in the newspapers about the mistake in selection for the Poland game. But I said I would look for new players. That is my aim. "It's not my intention to bring Carsley or Reid back because on Wednesday the players in those positions played very well for me. Andrews and Gibson played well against two or three stronger opponents, Whelan too. "Do you want me to go back to the old team? Until now in the qualifiers we have played well and there is balance in the team. We have good quality. I believe in this team and I believe in these players." Ireland staged a late but unsuccessful comeback against the Poles when a Stephen Hunt penalty and a superb strike from Keith Andrews put some comfort on the scoreboard. But goalkeeper and captain on the night Shay Given was left to rue sloppy goals conceded at the start of either half. Given said, "It was a hectic finale to the game. We gave away disappointing goals, they got lucky breaks I think, for the second goal and maybe even the third. "We're disappointed to lose, because after they got the first goal very early in the game, I felt we were the better side in the first half. "But they're a very good team. Poland have some very good players and they took their goals very well, but we're disappointed obviously that we lost." McGeady Attacked Celtic and Ireland winger Aiden McGeady has been involved in another late night incident in Glasgow, and manager Gordon Strachan may now impose a nightclub ban on his players. McGeady sported a cut on his nose in the build-up to Tuesday night's Champions League game in Denmark after he was reportedly attacked last week. It's the second incident this season alone involving the Irish international, and came on the same day that newspapers published photos of Artur Boruc drinking and smoking cigars on a trip home to his native Poland. Strachan admitted, "The McGeady incident is more worrying. We have to look at the guidelines for that to protect the players. I'll review them." The Boruc affair didn't concern Strachan as much and he said, "It was his weekend off. He can do what he wants. "Do you spend time with your girlfriend? Do you go to the cinema with her? Would you like her to kiss you now and then? That's what Artur has done. "I still go to the cinema with my wife. I still kiss her. She doesn't like it, but there you go. It's only human nature. He never broke any rules and never broke any guidelines. He's back training so I don't have a problem with it." McGeady was due to return to action in Denmark after three weeks out with injury and he admitted, "It's frustrating because I feel as though my season has hardly started. I've not really had a run of games. "I wanted to capitalize on last season and take myself to the next level, but it has been a bit stop-start. I think you can get an operation to combat knee tendonitis but I would not want to resort to that because it's a big part of the season for us. I will try and get through it with rest." Second-half goals from Georgios Samaras, Shunsuke Nakamura and substitute Cillian Sheridan helped Celtic to a comfortable 3-1win over St. Mirren at Love Street on Saturday as the Bhoys extended their winning run in the league to 11 games. Strachan said afterwards, "We played better than we did last week against Hamilton and we had to. "I'm not surprised at how well St. Mirren played because they played well in the second half against Rangers last week and we don't expect teams to lie down against us. "We were fortunate we had players who can do magical things." Bohs Champs Bohemians lifted the FAI Cup in a dramatic penalty shoot-out win over Derry on Sunday to complete domestic football's double, with manager Pat Fenlon launching a broadside at Giovanni Trapattoni afterwards. Fenlon was incensed that Trap and his management team of Marco Tardelli and Liam Brady were all missing for the blue riband day of Irish soccer. Fenlon told the Evening Herald, "It's scandalous, there's no point in saying anything else. This is the Cup final, the showcase for our season and people can't bother their backsides turning up. It's very disappointing. "I have given people in the FAI credit for the work they are doing, but surely someone from the national team can come to a game and at least see if someone like our goalkeeper Brian Murphy is suitable." Bohs 'keeper Murphy was the man of the match, with Fenlon adamant afterwards that he should be Shay Given's understudy in the Irish senior squad - if any of the coaching staff bothered to watch him. Fenlon added, "Brian was different class against Derry but he's been that way all season. There's no doubt in my mind that he should be in the senior squad. "Shay Given is top quality but I think Brian is better than what's been in the squad for the past year or two." Lithuanian international Mindaugas Kalonas won the Cup for Bohs with the crucial kick in the penalty shoot-out but Sunday's final was probably his last game for the club with West Brom poised to sign the out of contract midfielder. Keane Criticizes Sunderland manager Roy Keane has criticized the attitude of Irish and Scottish players to their fitness levels. Asked about player attitudes Keane said, "The English lads don't seem to be too bad. The French and Spanish are good. But the players with the biggest problem in terms of changing their mentality are certainly the Irish and the Scottish players. "They have got to go back to their clubs and do extra work because they are not fit enough. I was brought up eating rubbish, drinking rubbish, so it is trying to change that mentality. "You have to try to remind the players and provide these dieticians and speak to the players and eventually, you hope the penny will drop. You hope because sometimes it doesn't. "I will go back to the game a few weeks ago, the United and Arsenal game. You have got to be able to sprint to people, you have got to play for 90 minutes. You can't be tiring after 45, 50 minutes, not in the Premier League. You can't do it." Kildare Shock Galway side Mervue United shocked Kildare County 3-0 in Newbridge last Friday night to book their place in the eircom League First Division but they may not up the position. Mervue club chairman George Guest told the Irish Independent, "There'll be a little bit of soul-searching done. It has to be right. "We'll have to plan it, look at it, sit down with our people and the FAI and work out how we go about it. We won't rush it. We'll sit down and talk about it sensibly." Kinnear Angry Newcastle manager Joe Kinnear has lashed out at claims by Ireland boss Giovanni Trapattoni that Shay Given is good enough to play for the top clubs in Serie A and should do so. Kinnear said, "It is disrespectful to the club. Shay has got two-and-a-half years left here, a long contract and he is very happy here. "He is a big voice in the dressing room and a top-class goalkeeper. He's the last person we'd want to lose."