Giovanni Trapattoni may appear like a favourite grandfather, with his smart suits and sleek white hair, yet there lurks a steely resolve not far from the surface. Yesterday, as the bitterness of Brian Kerr, a former Ireland manager, spilled into the public domain, Trapattoni, the present manager, told his players to ignore the cheap gibes.

One of the main criticisms from Kerr, who was replaced by Steve Staunton, Trapattoni’s predecessor, in October 2005, was that some of the senior players in the Ireland squad are unimpressed by the choice of Liam Brady as Trapattoni’s assistant. As a television pundit until recently, Brady, the former Ireland captain, had been scathingly critical about many of the players who he now has to work with.

“Liam was a pundit and it is normal to be critical,” Trapattoni said. “If these are the worries we have instead of thinking about qualifying for the World Cup, we better stay at home.”

An understrength Ireland drew 1-1 in a friendly with Serbia at Croke Park on Saturday, with Andy Keogh equalising in stoppage time after Serbian Marko Pantelic’s 75th-minute strike.

Trapattoni, after his first match in charge, also had to address another Kerr claim, that a group of players had broken a curfew on their training camp in Portugal last week.

“I gave them free time,” Trapattoni said. “After ten days, they deserved some time off. You saw we were running until the last minute [against Serbia]. There is no problem.”

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