Trapattoni recalls Blatter’s offer to help Ireland ‘forget’ World Cup woes

Giovanni Trapattoni, who managed the Irish team on the night it was eliminated by France in a World Cup play-off in November 2009, says that he was approached afterwards by Sepp Blatter who suggested they meet to discuss some way in which Ireland's disappointment might be assuaged

“Blatter said ‘meet me, we can find together a way out, a way to forget’,” the Italian told La Stampa. “I do not know what he wanted. I just know that when he gave me his hand, I did not give mine because I do not have two faces.”

Trapattoni had previously suggested that the FAI had been also been compensated by way of a high-profile friendly game. He didn’t specify the game but the friendly against Brazil was announced within a matter of weeks of the game in Paris. The London venue was eventually confirmed on the very day that the association and Fifa signed the agreement that yielded the €5 million pay-off.

The promoters of the game were Kentaro, a company that subsequently did extensive work for Fifa. An FAI spokesman is reported in one of today’s newspapers denying that the game was set up by the game’s governing body.

Former Republic of Ireland midfielder Keith Andrews, who played in the game, says he was "disgusted" by the news that the FAI had used the manner of Ireland's World Cup elimination by France in Paris to extract a €5 million payment from Fifa.

The 34 year-old said he understood the inclination to “fight our corner” after what was widely regarded at the time to have been an injustice, but he said that he would not have taken any money as he said the decision undermined the dignity with which most Irish had ultimately accepted the defeat.

“Disbelief, I would say, and disgust, they would be two words that cropped into my head over the last few days as it was coming out,” said the Dubliner on Newstalk.

“As a country as a whole we were able to hold our heads high with great dignity; that was the one comfort we all had and now that’s been taken away from us. That’s very sad.

“If you were to ask me personally if I would take a penny, (the answer would be) absolutely not. Do I blame them trying to do something about injustice we suffered? No, but to take money off them was wrong.

"John Delaney. was he right to fight our corner after we were served such a huge injustice? Yes, there was a huge financial loss. But there was a lack of transparency. It wasn't a loan; it was hush money to get rid of John Delaney, the FAI and anyone saying anything negative about Fifa. It was hush money quite simply."