Here's a good way for a manager to generate public interest in a humdrum international friendly: make an incendiary decision, one that hints at spite and hypocrisy and will almost definitely impact on the team's long-term welfare.
Giovanni Trapattoni's omission of Andy Reid from the Republic of Ireland squad for tomorrow's joust with Poland has triggered an explosion of controversy in Ireland, where it has been labelled variously as "scandalous", "stupid" and "provocative". Quite possibly this is the loudest din ever created by the non-international call-up of a Sunderland reserve.
Not that Trapattoni's listening. Even after a slew of withdrawals through injury, the Italian has continued to ignore Reid, thereby fuelling rumours that one of the country's most inventive players is being punished for getting uppity after being denied even a minute's action in any of Il Trap's six matches in charge.
After insisting that his refusal to use Reid has been purely tactical, Trapattoni yesterday appeared to confess there was a personal factor too, suggesting that the unhappy player was becoming a noxious influence. "Andy is a player who values himself a lot and when he doesn't play he gets sad," claimed the Italian. "In this situation, we need enthusiasm around the place." Then Trap's assistant came out and insisted Trap was not criticising "the boy's" attitude, which, according to Brady, has always been tip-top.
Whatever. All we can say for sure is that, unfortunately, this hoohaa matters. Quite simply, making an outcast of Reid deprives the country of a precious option.
Jack Charlton famously dispensed with gifted players - David O'Leary was exiled for three years after declining a late invitation to a friendly in Iceland, and Brady's own vaunted international career was unceremoniously ended when Charlton hauled him off just 35 minutes into a friendly against West Germany - but Charlton had alternatives such as Ronnie Whelan, Paul McGrath, Kevin Moran and Andy Townsend. Their greater dynamism more than made up for any marginal loss of finesse and results vindicated the manager.
Trapattoni has nowhere near the resources that Charlton enjoyed, which is why alienating Reid would be reckless. His relative lack of mobility and the inconsistency he has shown during the 27 caps he won before the Italian's arrival make it easy to see why Reid does not fit into Trapattoni's Plan A. The problem is that, as Cyprus demonstrated in Dublin last month and Serbia and Colombia did in previous friendlies, that plan is precarious, particularly since the loss through injury of the excellent Steven Reid. Refusing to cater for a Plan B is pigheaded conservatism to the point of being paradoxically cavalier.
Andy Reid can be effective on either wing, making him a decent alternative should Damien Duff or Aiden McGeady (or Stephen Hunt) be unavailable, but it is in the middle that his contribution could be most valuable. It was disingenuous not to introduce Reid as the Cypriots overran Darron Gibson and Glen Whelan, the water-carriers who predictably began to fade because they've played far less first-team football than Reid. The Sunderland man is no box-to-box marauder but nor is he as inert as mockers claim and, most importantly, his ability to retain possession would have been welcome against Cyprus, as would his capacity to quickly release the forwards rather than merely roll the ball sideways. By spurning that option as Cyprus ran amok, Trap effectively boiled his strategy down to relying on Richard Dunne to make a series of improbable last-gap tackles and Shay Given to pull off his usual batch of world-class saves. It worked, but not in a way that looked sustainable. Against Italy and Bulgaria it would be nice to at least have an alternative.
Gibson and Whelan will doubtless continue to develop, as may Liam Miller even if he's even farther behind Reid in the Sunderland pecking order, and Keith Andrews will probably get the opportunity against Poland to confirm the positive impressions he's made since joining Blackburn, where he has so far looked like a classic Trapattoni midfielder. Which is good, obviously. But these are all similar sorts of players. It's surprising that Brady, of all people, has apparently been unable to convince the manager of the merit of introducing a little more guile, even if only from the bench. It's enough to make you wonder whether Stephen Ireland would be selected if he ever decided to end his strange self-imposed exile.
