Trapatoni to appear at University College Cork (UCC) this weekend:

Trap's heyday: 1983 European Cup semi-final with Michel Platini

Republic of Ireland football manager Giovani Trapatoni will appear at the UCC colours event in Cork this weekend. The Italian will participate at a Questions & Answers session at the annual Colours Lunch at De Vere Hall on Saturday.

The Colours fixture this year will be the MSL premier division tie between UCC and Blarney United at the Mardyke at 10:45a.m. on Saturday morning.

Trapatoni as the geriatric chancer he is now

While I personally think that 71 year-old Trapatoni is a geriatric chancer gratefully receiving his pension from the FAI (and Denis O'Brien), Trapatoni was certainly a great manager in the past. Il Trap has won a European Cup (1985), seven Italian league (Serie A) titles, three UEFA Cup titles as well as League titles in Germany, Portugal and Austria as a manager. He also won two Serie A and two European Cup (1963, '69) titles as a player.

Trap is helped to celebrate winning the 1993 UEFA Cup

This is a most stellar record by anyone's standard. However, Trapatoni's day has well and truly passed and football as well as sports science has long moved on from the days when Trapatoni was a top world manager (in the 1980's and early 1990's). After a lifetime spent in top-flight football though, the Milan native (who still lives permanently in Milan), will be most interesting to listen to. The Trapatoni lunch and Q & A session is scheduled for 1p.m. on campus on Saturday.