IAN HARTE hopes to finalise a one-year extension to his contract with newly-promoted Reading after initial talks with manager Brian McDermott went well last week but the 34-year-old has bemoaned Trapattoni’s failure to recall him to the international squad while taking a swipe at the Italian’s use of British-born players in the team.
“I spoke to the gaffer last week and he wants me to stay, which I’m delighted about,” the veteran defender told local newspaper, the Reading Post.
“Hopefully it will be resolved in the next few days, there shouldn’t be any issues.”
The deal would mean a return to the English top flight for the first time since 2007/08 season when he played eight times for Sunderland over the course of the campaign.
Harte said that helping the club to the Championship title was the highlight of his career; better, he said, than representing the Republic of Ireland at the World Cup in 2002.
He added that his inclusion in the PFA’s Championship team of the year again was a particular honour. But he lamented the fact that none of this seemed to have caught the eye of the Republic’s manager Trapattoni.
“I played pretty well last year as well,” said Harte, whose last game for Ireland was the 2-1 win in San Marino under Steve Staunton just over five years ago.
“The manager, Giovanni Trapattoni, did not come and get me then. It would be nice for a shout (now) but I don’t think it will happen .
“I was speaking to a few of the players and they said he did not realise I was Irish even though I have played 67 times (officially, the FAI puts the figure at 64), scored 11 goals and am the second leading scorer in the squad. ‘I didn’t realise he was Irish?’ You have just got laugh about it.
“I know what I bring to the team,” he continued.
“People have said for the last 10 years that I might have lost my pace, but I have never had the pace. It is not as if I had the pace and I lost it. It is all about being clever and getting the better of your opponent.
“I am Irish as well and there are a lot of players in the Irish squad that are not even Irish,” added the former Leeds United star, who regularly lined out with the likes of English-born players Kevin Kilbane, Gary Breen and Jason McAteer during his time on the international scene.
“I have played 67 times and I love pulling on the green shirt.”
