When he was Ireland manager, Mick McCarthy regularly found himself in the uncomfortable position of facing a room of sombre journalists who, despite his protests, would never sing the particular tune he desired. When the pressure was at its fiercest, Mick would force a laconic grin and survey the motley faces in front of him. "You lot," he would boom, shaking his head. "I can't believe the negativity I'm hearing in here."

McCarthy had a particular idea as to how things should be. When he looked out over a crowded media room he expected not just to be greeted by laptops or Dictaphones, but by pom-poms and smiling, cheery faces too. The more he railed against the perceived negativity, the greater the tension grew. As he famously said, you were either inside the tent pissing out or outside it pissing in.

Last week there was such a clamour to get inside the tent that it would have constituted a fire hazard. The crowning of Giovanni Trapattoni provoked such an outpouring of national joy that, save cloud-surfing into Dublin carrying a large staff in his hand, the venerable Italian will hardly be able to make a suitably grand entrance. Canonisation was instant and without preconditions. Even Jack Charlton had to work for his sainthood.

In the end everybody knew that nothing mattered apart from the bottom line. Not the grubbiness of a process that had dragged for three interminably long months; not the dubious act of getting into bed with a businessman who -- down the line -- may wish to conduct deals with the Association; not the fact that when it was done they didn't even bother to get their stories straight. The FAI had nailed their man and, essentially, they were deemed beyond reproach.

The old joke about the hardened cynic in the press box who, seeing his team winning with a swagger, turns to his colleague and mutters "How do we knock this?" sprang to mind. Not only was it impossible or even desirable to knock the appointment of Trapattoni or the strange arrangement that facilitated it, it was apparently out of bounds to even question it. To do so, it was pointed out, was nothing but an exercise in carping and that old staple of our national diet -- begrudgery.

Of course there's nothing essentially odd or Irish about this. It is dictated by human nature. Were there protests at Chelsea when the club was taken over by a controversial billionaire Russian oligarch? Do Manchester City supporters care that their club has fallen into the hands of a man who is wanted in his homeland to stand trial for suspected crimes against his own people? The uncomfortable truth is that in sport money and success buy acquiescence.

Without question Trapattoni's appointment is a fascinating departure for Irish football, but it doesn't come without its risks. Although we cannot be certain what it is about the job that convinced the 68-year-old to sign, Trapattoni's revelation that it would enable him to spend more time with his family offered a significant clue. It suggests that managing Ireland is the final winding-down act of a long and storied career.

And that assuredly is not a bad thing. International management is, in some respects, a part-time job that involves intense bouts of pressure followed by weeks or months of keeping one eye on players and the other on your golf handicap or whatever else constitutes relaxation. As Ireland manager it always seemed to us that Brian Kerr was too fussy and unable or unwilling to delegate, thus making a relatively uncomplicated job seem much more intricate and difficult than it might have been. The wily and experienced Trapattoni is unlikely to commit a similar error.

It is as well to remember, though, that Trapattoni won't be the first Ireland manager to be festooned with garlands upon his arrival. When Kerr succeeded McCarthy back in 2003 there was much the same euphoric outpouring and much the same disdain for the posing of awkward questions. Given that he had secured his appointment with the help of a sustained media campaign it wasn't all that surprising.

Shortly after Kerr's appointment, Tony Cascarino suggested that the Irish players, mindful of the manager's lack of senior experience, would be suspicious and unresponsive in the dressing room. Cascarino was castigated for his view but it wasn't meant to be a slight on Kerr, merely an honest and authoritative appraisal of how the mind of the modern footballer works. Time proved Cascarino right. Kerr brought good ideas but never earned sufficient respect from his players in order to fully implement them.

And now we wonder how much the same squad will respond to the respected but ageing Italian. It would be a surprise if there wasn't an instant dividend, in much the same way that Mick O'Dwyer's mere presence instills confidence and belief everywhere he has gone in his post-Kerry career. For a team that has been down on its luck for the majority of the last 14 years that much alone could be worth the €2m price tag.

To fully justify it, however, will require at least a second place in what is a challenging World Cup qualifying group. For many, Trapattoni's achievements are unimpeachable but you could argue that the truly great ones are now at least two decades old and his four years in charge of Italy, the period that bears most relevance to his new post, were years of underachievement and crushing disappointment.

If a few scandalous refereeing decisions in Korea were sufficient to mask Italy's awfulness at the 2002 World Cup, there was no hiding place in Portugal two years later. The interesting thing about Euro 2004 is that Italy entered the tournament with the image of a team that was going to cut loose and swagger its way to the title. This naturally went against Trapattoni's long-earned reputation as a staunchly conservative coach.

Their second game against Sweden revealed the truth, as pressure situations invariably do. Ahead by a goal, Trapattoni made the critical decision to withdraw two strikers in favour of two defensive midfielders and paid the price. Sweden scored a late equaliser and Italy, effectively, were out of the tournament. Trapattoni indeed may cure this Irish side of its chronic inefficiency in defending leads, but the case for it isn't as watertight as we'd like to imagine.

Still there's enough there to look hopefully ahead. It was interesting to see that among the minority expressing doubts about the appointment were Trapattoni's predecessor, Steve Staunton, and former Spice Boy Jason McAteer. Ireland, Staunton said, were "different", seemingly suggesting that the vastly experienced Trapattoni would simply be unable to understand the nuances of the squad or what it is that makes them tick.

We should pray heartily that he doesn't, nor cares to try. As Ireland manager Staunton's thinking seemed little more scientific than bringing back old stalwarts Mick Byrne and Tony Hickey to the fold and dropping references about "passion" every chance he got. The less Trapattoni understands about these kind of differences the better.

From what we know we imagine Trapattoni will have a deep disdain for what is said or written about him and from his famous outburst while coach at Bayern Munich and his handling of Roberto Baggio while national coach, almost a mirror of Fabio Capello's dealings with David Beckham, we can say he is no respecter of reputations. There are enough massaged egos in this Ireland camp for that to be indisputably a good thing.