Trap still called crazy

This was a time when even the most garlanded coach in the history of the Italian game had no protection from the critics. They were merciless. He was suddenly supposed to be past his sell-by.

"If they want to sack me, they should do it but please stop brutalising me. I'm just Giovanni, not Giovanni d'Arco (Joan of Arc)," he noted famously at the time.

Now, though, after 20 months of rebuilding confidence, blooding newcomers and revamping tactics to the point where his enviably strong squad look eminently capable of winning Italy's first European Championship for 38 years, he simply said: "I could have walked away but I didn't. Why? Because I love this job too much. It's the best job in the world, isn't it? What other profession is just a game?"

Anyway, he added, he'd always lived by a favourite slogan "Non mollare mai" - never give up. His good nature must have helped too. Italians find it hard not to be won over by Trap's little flights of eccentricity, from his spraying around of holy water on the sidelines to his comic one-liners, and to his occasional wonderful explosions of emotion.

Perhaps they still see him as one of them, except he was the ordinary bloke who managed to graduate from a world of assembling laundry irons and print type.

He never has fitted the overseas' perception of being a cold Italian catenaccio merchant. "A defensive coach?" he smiled. "It's one of those urban myths. Hold on, when I was at Juve, we had five attackers sometimes. Even with this side, we play three - Vieri, Del Piero and Totti. My Italy has scored more goals than the Italy under any other manager."

What about his retreat into caution during the infamous South Korea game? "Six times, we had just the keeper to beat and six times we missed," he shrugged, without recourse to a mention of his favourite Ecuadorian ref, Byron Moreno. It may have been his winning ways with people as much as his new, more attacking tactical blueprint which prompted the dramatic transformation after the Wales defeat.

While outsiders turned on him, his players swore by him. Twice, during our interview, his players rang to talk to him. Some of them have noted it's like a family with Trap as father figure.

If there's been a complaint about Sven-Goran Eriksson's man management, it is that he is not open enough with players on a private basis. With Trapattoni, it's very different. "I want to talk to my players on a daily basis, maybe twice a day, so things don't fester if there's a problem," he said. "They know where they stand with me. I sometimes let my temper get the better of me but I'm quite an open guy." It is all part of making the national team set-up feel like Club Italia.

A 4-0 thumping of Tunisia in their last warm-up game suggested the club are thriving and Francesco Totti, Trapattoni's fantasista, is purring.

It is clear he wouldn't swop the Roma playmaker for anyone else in the tournament, not even Steven Gerrard, the England youngster he so admires.

"England doesn't have a Totti - Scholes is the most like him," he said.

"But it's not necessary for them to have a fantasy player when they've got technique, balance and strength and play at such pace.

"England has to be one of the favourites but I think this is going to be a harder competition to win than the World Cup itself."

Yet somehow, in Italy, there's a feeling that it is the destiny of their living legend, who won everything as a club manager, to crown his career by triumphing with the national team.

For Trap, the future may be uncertain - "If they (the Italian FA) want to give me a contract, that's fine. If they don't, that's fine too. I'm getting offers all the time," - but the present is just dandy.

"You know, it's simple. The tifosi won't accept anything but victory from me," he said.

The accompanying smile told you he wouldn't want it any other way.