Former Republic of Ireland manager Giovanni Trapattoni has said that FIFA president Sepp Blatter offered to help him find "a way to forget" Thierry Henry’s handball after the controversial World Cup play-off defeat to France in 2009.

Trapattoni was in charge of Ireland at the time and has been quoted in La Stampa as claiming Blatter made efforts to appease him in the wake of the incident.

"Blatter said 'meet me, we can find together a way out, a way to forget',” Trapattoni told La Stampa.

"I do not know what he wanted. I just know that when he gave me his hand, I did not give mine because I do not have two faces."

Trapattoni’s comments come in the wake of the FAI releasing a statement in which it attempted to give more details of payments it received from FIFA following the handball incident.

On Friday, responding to calls for further details from a host of people, including Taoiseach Enda Kenny, the FAI posted a comprehensive blow-by-blow account on its website.

FAI chief executive John Delaney brought the issue to public attention when he said his organisation received funds and the fall-out spilled over into a high-level summit of Ireland's cross-border peace-building North South Ministerial Council in Dublin, where leaders called on the Irish football executive to shed light on the transaction.

Kenny described the payment as "quite extraordinary" and called on Delaney to answer questions about the circumstances surrounding it.

"When he gave me his hand, I did not give mine because I do not have two faces" - Giovanni Trapattoni on Sepp Blatter

He said: "This is quite extraordinary. But I would say that any questions that need to be answered here in the interests of transparency and accountability... John Delaney should answer and will answer all of those questions, I'm quite sure."

Meanwhile, former Ireland midfielder Keith Andrews, who featured in the 2009 match against France, says it was wrong of the FAI to accept the cash.

"Disbelief and disgust, they would be two words that popped into my head the last few days as it was coming out," he told Newstalk.

"As a country as a whole, we were able to hold our heads high with great dignity - that was the one comfort we all had and now that's been taken away from us. That's very sad.

"If you were to ask me personally if I would take a penny? Absolutely not. Do I blame them for trying to do something about the injustice we suffered? No, but to take money off them was wrong.

"It doesn't sit well. Even if we had known about the whole affair, it wouldn't have sat well. There was a huge financial loss [for the FAI], but there was a lack of transparency.

"It wasn't a loan - it was hush money to get rid of John Delaney, the FAI and anyone saying anything negative about FIFA."

Interview with John Delaney, FAI



