SEAMUS Coleman has been tipped to be one of David Moyes’ first signings as Manchester United manager.

Moyes brought the versatile full back to Everton from League of Ireland side Sligo Rovers for just €70,000 in 2009, and he has been a revelation, playing over 100 times for the Toffees.

He has since established himself as an Ireland international and has won numerous club awards and was shortlisted for the PFA Young Player of the Season in 2011.

Moyes is a big fan of the Donegal native, and Giovanni Trapattoni believes he could take him to Old Trafford.

“He (Moyes) knows him very well, and while I think United are very strong for defenders, he may want to bring Seamus,” said Trap.

“United play 60 games in every season, they are in Champions League, League and FA Cup.

“So I think he could think ‘good, Seamus, come with us’. With so many games, he will need other options and Coleman is good option.”

Moyes gave Coleman a four-and-a-half year deal in January 2011, and recently praised the 24-year-old’s continuing development.

“His defensive work’s got much better and that’s come with regular games at right-back,” said the Blues boss. “He’s improved no end.”

Coleman was a stand out in Everton’s 2-0 victory over West Ham last week, Moyes’ last home match in charge of the Toffees, and admitted

GIOVANNI Trapattoni wants to lead Ireland to the 2016 European Championships.

The 74-year-old, who celebrated his fifth year in charge of the country earlier this month, has given the first hint that he wants to continue as Ireland boss beyond the end of his current contract, which expires at the end of the World Cup 2014 qualification campaign.

If he is granted his wish to stay, his time in with the Irish team would become the second longest managerial spell of his illustrious career, with only his two campaigns and 13 years at Juventus lasting longer.

Trap’s future depends on successfully negotiating his way to Brazil next summer, but his team are currently fourth in Group C, level on points with Sweden and Austria, and have played a game more than the Swedes who come to Dublin in September.

Germany are eight points clear at the top of the group with 16 points, meaning Ireland’s only hope of going to Brazil is to finish above Sweden and Austria and book their place through the playoffs.

But Trap insists he has the passion and the hunger to manage the country and claims he’s still the right man to lead the young squad forward, citing Alex Ferguson’s long tenure at Old Trafford as the perfect example of how consistency breeds success.

“We have the raw materials to make this squad grow even further, and I can see that,” he claimed.

“I believe that me and Marco (Tardelli) have done a good job, I wouldn’t say great, but we have made a lot of changes.

“If you look at the squad, we have brought through 15, 16 or 17 players and the results have been steady in terms of progress and results, even though we’re going through an evolution.

“If you look at Alex Ferguson, he stayed in his club many years, and he knows the situation at that club better than anyone. That’s a good job, he knows the players, the players know him and this confidence and trust is important.

“I would be grateful to continue, we have players like James McClean, Anthony Pilkington, James McCarthy, Shane Long, Sean St Ledger, Marc Wilson and Seamus Coleman, we have a good team.

“But it’s not my choice, it doesn’t depend on me.

“We have to thank the Irish people, the FAI, they gave us the opportunity. We had other opportunities, more famous, but it’s not about this.

“This is a good job, we grow the young and give them our experience.”

Alex Ferguson admitted he decided to retire when his wife’s sister passed away last year, but despite Trapattoni losing his own sister in January, he said he can’t think of any particular scenario that would cause him to walk away from management.

“I think everybody has different psychologies, mentality, character,” he said.

“I don’t know now what would make me stop. You just don’t know what will happen. The life continues. It’s the future.

“I have said it a few times already, I have 100 famous sayings at home, and one says ‘when a man has no future, he is dead’.
“There has to be a challenge ahead of you, something intense that makes you want to go again, again, again. That is the life.”

Whether the FAI see Trap as the future is another question.

There was much speculation over the Italian’s future after the 6-1 hammering to Germany at Aviva stadium last year, but the FAI eventually backed their man.

Should he lead Ireland to a first World Cup since 2002, it’s likely the Italian would have a strong hand when it came to discussions over who leads the charge to the expanded 2016 Euros in France.

“I’m in no hurry, but if the FAI are happy, they know our project, what we can bring, our experience,” he added.

“My main objective is to ensure the players and the country sees the good job we’re doing, and we get the results we need.

“I’ve obtained a lot of my life, the trophies, but that’s not important now, it’s about the future.

“It’s about delivering good results – and if that happens, it (contract) will come.”

Trapattoni was this week linked with a move to Serie A side Napoli, and while he dismissed it as speculation, he later admitted he has been sounded out for many jobs.

However, he feels a strong bond with the Irish team and people, and believes the majority still want him around.

“I fly to Italy or to Ireland and we meet many Irish people, they always say ‘congratulations, good job, great job’, just normal people. It is important these are happy with our job.”

DON Revie, John Giles, Billy Bremner, Peter Lorimer.

The names roll off Brian McDermott’s tongue when he conjures up just a few of the legends he can now count as company in the history of Leeds United.

“You look back on all the great players and managers they’ve had,” he purrs, “even Jock Stein managed this team. Who was I to not come to this club…?”

But the truth is McDermott almost didn’t.

In the weeks after being sacked by Reading, the former Arsenal trainee was enjoying some free time – unemployed for the first time since he was 16.

He popped over to Dublin, watched some games, read some books and found some time to play the guitar.

Then Leeds rang.

Neil Warnock walked out the door when promotion to the Premier League became an impossible task, and left behind a club facing a battle to avoid relegation to League One.

United were looking for someone to help build a team to challenge next season – but McDermott didn’t see Revie’s club, he saw a potential CV-burner.

“Neil (Warnock) went, and I was contacted. They spoke to my representative first but I was not interested in going anywhere until the summer.

“The Leeds situation wasn’t great. I know (then caretaker boss) Neil Redfearn well, we did our UEFA licence together and I met him one day.

“He said he’d do the Sheffield Wednesday game and wouldn’t do more.

“They’d just lost to Charlton and I could sense, not a panic, but an edginess, they needed someone in before the end of the season.

“I said ‘I’m not doing it’. There were five games to go and I’d be putting my reputation on the line, I didn’t know the situation and I’d heard all sort of stories.”

Reading were joint-bottom of the Premier League when McDermott was ruthlessly sacked in March, his minor miracles the season before quickly forgotten as the club forlornly chased top flight safety.

Now, an arguably bigger club were on his trail – but Leeds were 17^th in the Championship and two relegations in one season would not enhance any manager’s reputation.

In the end, some reassuring words from Chief Executive Shaun Harvey ensured the 52-year-old went to Elland Road.

The club has been clouded in rumour and speculation since being taken over by Dubai-based GFH capital in December, and while McDermott was happy with what he heard, he insists he won’t be quiet if the boardroom don’t keep their part of the deal.

“Shaun made it clear he wanted me to come,” he explained. “I had to think long and hard, and we went out for a meal.

“I decided I’d take it if I heard the right things.

“I needed goodwill and trust from them. I’ve got that. There is stuff I need doing, and there’s no reason up to now to think that won’t be the case.

“But if that is the case, I will be very open about that. That’s very important. It’s been 10 years now trying to get back into the division they want to.

“There can’t be any moaning, no gossiping, we all have to go the same direction. The club’s anthem is Marching on Together – and that sums it up, that’s the only way the club can go forward.”

McDermott took charge of the club 32 days after he was dumped by Reading, and enjoyed the perfect start with two victories that helped secure the club’s place in the Championship.

He signed a three year deal, and denies there was any clause in his contract in the event of relegation.

“It could’ve happened – no doubt about that, that’s the risk I took,” he admitted.

“But no, I made a commitment, and people know me; if I make it, I make it. So once I did that, that was it.

“I took the contract on good will, on the fact they really wanted to me come, to be their manager.

“I thought ‘this is Leeds’, sometimes you have to take that opportunity.”

With only five games to go when he took charge, McDermott was in a hurry – and took charge of the team one day after meeting the players for the first time.

“I went there on the Thursday or Friday and I thought to myself, there’s not many games to go, I’m not sitting in the stands, I have to get straight into it,” he said before he took the reigns for the Sheffield Wednesday clash.

“We picked a way of playing, we were losing 1-0 at half time, but then we won the game. It was massively important.

“I was involved in lots of important games and I knew how big that was.

“We hadn’t won for a while, and then we played on the Tuesday against Burnley and played really well, and deserved to win. I knew we were safe then.”

He’s already planning for next year, with a few Irish players and some of his former Reading charges on the transfer shopping list, as well as a bit of DIY around the training ground.

McDermott’s already spent more time with the reserves and academy sides than his predecessor and admits he wants to lay some real foundations at a club that can take him – and its fans, back to the big time.

“The club have spent ten years trying to find a way out of this league, and now they’ve given me a long term deal…they want to build a club, that’s the vision,” he says.

“I’d have taken a one-year rolling contract, but this is a different way and they want us to be competitive.

“It will be different from Reading, but I’ll have no problem in terms of expectation. I like it. I’m enjoying it already.”

* * *

LEAVING Reading was a shock to McDermott, who admits he had no idea he was going to be sacked until thirty seconds before he was given the boot.

The new Leeds boss was stunned when his 13-years at the Madejski Stadium was brought to an end in a meeting that lasted just two minutes.

McDermott thought he was going to plot Manchester United’s downfall with Reading owner Anton Zingarevich two days after losing to Aston Villa last month, but instead he was given the heave-ho.

“Can anything prepare you for it? Not really,” he admits.

“It is what it is… he made a decision, I didn’t realise it was going to happen to me until 30 seconds before it happened. We spoke regularly enough, so I thought it was just about playing United or how I see things in the future.

“It was just made a couple of sentences, that was it. I was out of there in two minutes.

“It is absolutely cut throat, but I’m fine with it. It was a shock at the time. It took me a couple of days to come to terms with it – then a few days after that, it’s “I’m not going to work”… it’s very, very odd.

“It hits you for a while, but you get over that, and get on with it. It never affected my confidence at all.

“I feel I’m a better manger for what I did at Reading. I learned so much, learned about the Premier League and what’s required – I know a lot now I didn’t know six months ago.”

Zingarevich claims McDermott’s failure to spend money he gave him was part of the reason he had to let the Irishman go, something the manager dismisses.

“I tried,” he argued, “we signed four players in January and I tried to sign two more; Gylfi Sigurdsson and Tom Ince, but we couldn’t agree a deal with the clubs.

“I couldn’t spend anything because the clubs didn’t agree fees. It’s very simple, there’s no hidden agenda.

“If I go up again, I will talk to the owners and tell them they have to spend right in the summer. “Southampton spent £30m, West Ham and QPR spent a lot.

“It doesn’t guarantee success, but I always felt we had a certain model, even if we spent that much money, which wasn’t a fortune, I felt we had parachute payments, and if we dropped down we’d get back up again…that’s the kinda feeling I’d been given.”

CLERMONT Auvergne are the new Munster.

That’s according to Munster hooker Damien Varley who sees parallels between Vern Cotter’s French side and the old Munster team that would not rest until they became Champions of Europe.

The wealthy French side have shelled out millions to produce a world class squad that can battle on the home front – and on the continent.

They finally won the Top 14 in 2010 – after three final defeats on the bounce, and now their sights are set on Europe.

Munster stand in their way in next week’s semi-final, and Varley warns the current crop are not going to roll over, because they’re eager to create their own Euro legacy.

“They certainly are doing everything they can do to win this competition this year – they’re like the Munster of old,” he said.

“We were doing everything year in, year out to win this Cup and it seems like they’re doing the same.

“When you’re trying year in, year out and not getting success, from a professional point of view, it drives you on and the squad drives standards higher and higher.

“As a squad you gel more, in a united desire to win.

“I think they have that – but equally we have that.

“The majority of the current team don’t have a Heineken Cup winners medal, they probably haven’t experienced a semi-final, never mind a win.

“The desire among us is equally big – a drive to be be part of that Munster legacy and part of history in winning a third title.”

To do so, they must overcome perhaps the most intimidating opposition left in the tournament.

Clermont have won all seven games this season, including home and away victories over defending champs Leinster and boast an average of 36 points per game.

Munster, on the other hand, scraped through their Pool on matchday six, and have lost Rabo Pro 12 clashes either side of their hugely impressive quarter-final victory over Harlequins.

It’s been a topsy-turvy season, but Varley insists they’d never lost confidence.

“It’s Cup rugby now and every team is beatable,” he argued. “We’ll analyse the how Clermont progress to get their points and nullify those areas, we know they play a very fast and expansive game, and they have a huge scrum – so we’ll look to target those areas and at the same time play the best we can to expose them.

“Our confidence in ourselves has always been there even if we were under a lot of scrutiny and criticism.

“It was an embarrassing final result in Glasgow but we always believed in ourselves, believed in what we’re doing and knew at some stage the work we were doing would pay off.

“The great result in Quins probably had people outside begin to believe in us again.

“That does boost confidence and increases the support we’re getting. We always have amazing support and we know they’ll find tickets next week somehow, and we’re confident we can get the job done.”

ANTHONY Pilkington has admitted that he enlisted for Trap’s Army after seeing Roy Hodgson snub Norwich team mate Grant Holt.

The Canaries winger is proud to represent the country where ‘half of the family’ comes from, but he has revealed that watching striker Holt and Southampton hitman Ricky Lambert’s efforts go unrewarded helped convince him to pull on the green shirt for good.

The 24-year-old made one appearance for the Ireland u-21 side in a friendly victory over Lithuania in 2008, but was still free to declare for England if the opportunity arose.

The call never came, and he got his hands on an Irish passport earlier this year, although injury has so far stopped him from making his senior debut.

“I’m not getting any younger,” Pilkington said, “even though I am 24, you see players come into the England squad and they are getting younger and younger.

“So it is always difficult (to get a call up), especially for players at a club like Norwich.

“I know John (Ruddy) is in the squad but you see players like Holty last season never got a chance when he was doing well, and this season with Ricky Lambert who has been scoring goals.

“Even one of my old team-mates Adam le Fondre, who has scored a lot of goals this season, has not been getting a chance when there were not really any forwards in and around the squad.

“But like I say, I am really honoured that I can go and play for Ireland, and try to hopefully get us through to a World Cup at the end of next season.”

Norwich boss Chris Hughton helped Pilkington when it came to making the call.

“Obviously he (Hughton) was in the same position as I was and he said if you do choose to play for Ireland you will love it,” Pilkington said.

“I’d spoken to my family and friends about the decision, the people who have come to watch me, the management and the lads here at Norwich as well,” he added.

“You speak to everyone and everyone was asking me what was I going to do – and now I’ve got a chance to play international football with a country that half of my family was brought up in.

“I’ve got a lot of family who come from there, so it’s part of the bloodline.

“I have got the chance to play in a World Cup at the end of next season, so hopefully I get the chance to do that.”

He’d like to do so alongside his clubmate Wes Hoolahan, who has finally made the breakthrough at international level after proving his ability in the Premier League.

“We all know here what Wes is capable of and I think he showed the country against Poland (in February) why everyone has been campaigning for him to get his chance,” he said.

“He showed the country what he can do and hopefully he showed the manager too.

“I was surprised he wasn’t starting the game to be fair, but he came on for his little half-hour cameo and I think he changed Ireland’s game.”