International News:If last Wednesday finally saw white smoke billowing from Abbotstown, with confirmation that Giovanni Trapattoni was to be the new Republic of Ireland manager, eyes are now fixed on the skyline over Sunderland to see if any steam rises from the manager's office following John Delaney's riposte to Roy Keane and his recent criticism of the Football Association of Ireland.

A week ago Keane, when asked for his views on the FAI's search for a manager at his weekly Sunderland press conference, attacked the association, saying "they do everything backwards . . . They will always try to cut corners and do it on the cheap. And they will never change, not in our lifetime, unless they get new people in to run it."

He also suggested that the delay in choosing a manager was down to the FAI's desire to "save a few bob".

Chief executive Delaney, echoing Eamon Dunphy's recent attack on Keane, in which he said he has "just become rent-a-quote", suggested the Cork man was attempting to "deflect" from Sunderland's struggles in the Premier League this season by commenting on several unrelated issues.

"My only criticism of Sunderland would be with their manager and his weekly reports, about Irish football and Cork hurling and all that he does," he said. "I don't comment on the players that he's bought or where they are in terms of their league position. So I think he should get on with managing Sunderland and stop commenting on a regular basis about the FAI as a form of deflection, in my opinion, from issues that he has.

"The inaccuracies that he comes out with bother me at times. He said last week that we cut corners. He should remember Liam Miller got injured against Brazil and there are only two or three countries who insure their players. We are one of them. So we do our business properly in this regard. It is this constant looking to the past and not understanding what we are about today - that is just one simple example of how he gets it wrong."

Delaney, meanwhile, was in Milan over the weekend with FAI president David Blood and honorary secretary Michael Cody to meet Trapattoni and Marco Tardelli. Tardelli, chosen by the new Irish manager as his assistant, will begin his role on March 1st by "scouting" Irish players, and will be based in Dublin for April, during which time he will "work on his English".

The pair will also take the squad to the Algarve for a training camp ahead of the friendly in Dublin against Serbia on May 24th, and will attempt to arrange another international, probably for the following week.

That game, though, will have to be played away from home because Croke Park will be unavailable.

Also confirmed yesterday was the inclusion in Trapattoni's backroom team of his long-time fitness coach Fausto Rossi, but whether Liam Brady, head of youth development at Arsenal, will be available to work with his former Juventus manager depends on the outcome of his meeting later this week with Arsene Wenger.

"When he (Trapattoni) asked me if I would be part of his staff I told him I would love to," said Brady in his Sunday Tribune column. "It is up to me to talk to Wenger and the board at Arsenal and see if they will allow me take this part-time role . . . Obviously I am hoping he will give me the green light."

Brady insisted his part in Trapattoni taking the Irish job had been "overstated in some sections of the media", admitted he had spoken to the Italian in advance of his appointment and reassured him he "could do a very good job here". Brady said he envisaged one of the roles he would play for Trapattoni would be that of "talking to players who have left to see if I can get them back in the squad".

The task of encouraging Manchester City midfielder Stephen Ireland to return to the squad might, though, prove an effortless one following his comments at the weekend. "I'm available for selection, very much available. We need someone like Trapattoni hopefully to bring it out of us and get us playing", he said.

The FAI, meanwhile, played down a report in a Sunday newspaper that Fifa were investigating the "deal" with Denis O'Brien, who is part funding Trapattoni's appointment. A Fifa spokesman was quoted as saying "there appears to be no regulation to prevent the deal, but certainly we will be seeking further official details from the national organisation and we are investigating the matter".

An FAI spokesman, however, insisted that because O'Brien's "contribution" was "unconditional, with no strings attached", it was within Fifa regulations.