Dark Matters: A Deep Dive Into Debuts Under Giovanni Trapattoni

On Episode 2187 of the Second Captains podcast, released on Monday, 15th November, while reviewing the 3-0 win against Luxembourg, Ken Early claimed that Giovanni Trapattoni never played anyone under the age of 27.

When Trapattoni was the manager, he barely used a guy under the age of 27, he barely brought in a new player in the entire five years that he was there. Who did he actually introduce to the team? James McCarthy, eventually, after he was begged for two or three years, please play this guy. Seamus Coleman eventually became established in the team in 2013, the year that he turned 25, right, after he was left out of the Euros the previous season because he was only 24, maybe 23, I'm not sure what point his birthday is in the year, Seamus Coleman, but he was an established Premier League fullback, and still didn't go to the Euros because Trap was like "well, is he experienced enough?". That's the attitude that we were dealing with. That's the era when a lot of the damage was done.

Before those claims are examined, one minor point. Seamus Coleman was born on Tuesday, 11th October 1988, making him 23 years old when Euro 2012 kicked off, and turned 24 the following October.

Giovanni Trapattoni barely used a guy under the age of 27

In the 64 games he was in charge of, from Thursday, 1st May 2008 until Wednesday, 11th September 2013, Trappatoni awarded caps to 61 players. Of these, 42 played at least once for him before their 27th birthday, whereas 31 players were capped after turning 27. Breaking it down even further, the manager awarded 929 caps in total, 431(46.4%) of these were earned by players under the age of 27, with the remaining 498(53.6%) earned by players after their 27th birthday.

Rating: False - almost half of the caps awarded by the manager were to players under 27

He (Giovanni Trapattoni) barely brought in a new player in the entire five years that he was there

During the Italian's time in charge, 37 players made their international debut , including current squad members James McClean, Jeff Hendrick, and national team captain Seamus Coleman, as well as Robbie Brady and James McCarthy. From the list of former full time managers of the national side, only Mick McCarthy, who managed 16 more games than Trapattoni, awarded more new caps to Irish players. Eight of those 37 players(21.86%) have gone on to earn 50, or more, caps for their country, a higher percentage than all previous managers, except Jack Charlton(9/34 - 26.47%).

Rating: False - Trapattoni debuted more players than all but one previous manager, and of those a higher percentage have earned 50, or more, caps for the Republic of Ireland than all but one previous manager

Seamus Coleman should have been included in the Euro 2012 squad

"Seamus Coleman should have gone to the Euros" is an opinion that has come up from time to time, usually in negative pieces about Trapattoni's time in charge. As Early says, Coleman was an established Premier League full back at the time. and actually reached 50 appearances in the competiton during the 2011/12 season. However, the landmark was reached in less than half of the 114 games Everton played in the previous three seasons. The defender played 24 games that season, but only completed 90 minutes in six of the 17 games where he was named in the Toffee's starting XI that season, the last of which came against Arsenal on Saturday, 11th December 2011. From New Year's Day in 2012 until the end of the season in May 2012, Coleman only started four games (two in the PL, two in the FA Cup), and failed to complete 90 minutes in all four. At the time of the squad announcement in early May 2012, he had four international caps, the last of which had come eleven months earlier, against Italy in June 2011.
Compare that with the recognised full backs in the squad - John O'Shea, Stephen Kelly, Paul McShane (who Trapattoni claimed was included because he could cover both centre half and full back positions), and Kevin Foley, who was controversially removed from the squad on the eve of the tournament
75-times capped John O'Shea had played 34 times that season for Sunderland, after transferring from Manchester United, starting all and completing 90 minutes in all but four games.
Stephen Kelly had also played 34 games in 2011/12 for Fulham, including seven games in their Europa League campaign, and strangely completed 90 minutes in each of the 30 games he started
Finding his chances of getting first team football at Hull City restricted, only playing twice in the first half of the season, Paul McShane moved to Crystal Palace on loan in January 2012 and went on to make 12 apperances for the Eagles, completing 90 minutes in seven of these. When Trapattoni announced the squad, McShane had played 26 times for his country, and would go on to play in a friendly against Bosnia-Herzegovinia before Euro 2012 started.
Kevin Foley's appearances in the first half of the 2011/12 season were restricted by an ankle problem that ruled him out from September 2011 until the following December, and after recovering went on to make 18 appearances for Wolves, completing seven of those - all of which came between January and May 2012. At the time, he had made eight appearances for his country, but would not add to this total before retiring in 2018.
Should Coleman have been included in the squad? It's an interesting question, and there's no simple answer. He had not been a regular in the Everton team that season, and had not played for his country in eleven months at the time of the squad announcement, so even if he had gone, he almost certainly would not have started. Arguably, he would have been third choice right full behind O'Shea and Kelly.

Rating: Neither true nor false - Coleman had not done enough in the 2011/12 season to justify a starting position in the national side ahead of the established players, but with more appearances under Trapattoni in the previous two years could have been a squad player

Player	Caps Under 27y	Caps Over 27y
Shay Given	0	39
Kevin Kilbane	0	23
Damien Duff	0	33
Robbie Keane	0	50
Dean Kiely	0	3
Steven Finnan	0	3
Richard Dunne	0	39
John O'Shea	0	48
Steven Reid	0	3
Joe Murphy	0	1
Liam Miller	0	5
Martin Rowlands	0	2
Aiden McGeady	40	3
Kevin Doyle	21	16
Joey O'Brien	2	0
Stephen Kelly	8	17
Liam Lawrence	0	15
Kevin Foley	8	0
Daryl Murphy	3	0
Paul McShane	19	3
Shane Long	33	0
Darron Gibson	17	0
Stephen Hunt	1	28
Anthony Stokes	1	0
Andy Keogh	22	3
Alex Bruce	1	0
Darren O'Dea	20	0
Glenn Whelan	25	26
Damien Delaney	2	5
Keiren Westwood	8	8
Wes Hoolahan	1	6
Leon Best	7	0
Caleb Folan	7	0
Keith Andrews	0	35
Noel Hunt	3	0
Eddie Nolan	3	0
David Forde	0	12
Ciaran Clark	8	0
Marc Wilson	10	0
Seamus Coleman	17	0
James McCarthy	18	0
James McClean	16	0
Conor Sammon	9	0
Jonathan Walters	0	22
Darren Randolph	2	0
Paul Green	0	18
Sean St Ledger	24	12
Jeff Hendrick	4	0
Robbie Brady	6	0
Simon Cox	27	0
Greg Cunningham	4	0
Keith Fahey	0	15
Cillian Sheridan	3	0
Keith Treacy	6	0
Stephen Ward	15	3
David Meyler	4	0
Alex Pearce	1	0
Richard Keogh	2	0
Stephen Quinn	0	2
Paddy Madden	1	0
Anthony Pilkington	2	0
Total	431	498
Count	42	31

Player	Caps
Glenn Whelan	91
James McClean	88
Jeff Hendrick	68
Seamus Coleman	63
Robbie Brady	57
Jonathan Walters	54
Darren Randolph	50
Stephen Ward	50
Wes Hoolahan	43
James McCarthy	43
Sean St Ledger	37
Ciaran Clark	36
Keith Andrews	35
Simon Cox	30
David Meyler	26
Richard Keogh	26
Marc Wilson	25
David Forde	24
Paul Green	22
Keiren Westwood	21
Darren O'Dea	20
Stephen Quinn	18
Liam Lawrence	15
Keith Fahey	15
Damien Delaney	9
Conor Sammon	9
Alex Pearce	9
Anthony Pilkington	9
Kevin Foley	8
Leon Best	7
Caleb Folan	7
Keith Treacy	6
Greg Cunningham	4
Noel Hunt	3
Eddie Nolan	3
Cillian Sheridan	3
Paddy Madden	1

Manager	Debuts	Ave. Age(y d)	>50 Caps(%)
Mick McCarthy	50	22y 197d	10(20.00%)
Giovanni Trapattoni	37	24y 138d	8(21.62%)
Jack Charlton	34	23y 263d	9(26.47%)
Johnny Giles	33	22y 224d	4(12.12%)
Martin O'Neill	28	24y 321d	1(3.57%)
Eoin Hand	24	23y 351d	5(20.83%)
Steve Staunton	23	21y 315d	2(8.70%)
Brian Kerr	15	23y 129d	1(6.67%)
Stephen Kenny	12	22y 43d	0(0.00%)
Mick Meagan	10	22y 87d	0(0.00%)
Liam Tuohy	9	23y 142d	1(11.11%)
Alan Kelly Snr	2	21y 28d	1(50.00%)
Don Givens	1	24y 336d	0(0.00%)
Sean Thomas	1	22y 320d	0(0.00%)