Giovanni Trapattoni is number 5 in 90min's Top 50 Great Managers of All Time series. Follow the rest of the series over the course of the next week.
"Five aggravating years."
That's how the final years of Giovanni Trappatoni's managerial career are remembered.
Five years of a self-defeating style of football that slowly, but surely, turned a large group of supporters away from their national team.
Crowds dissipated. Hope dissipated. A nation's love of a sport dissipated.
So much so, that when the FAI released the statement:
"The Football Association of Ireland, Giovanni Trapattoni and Marco Tardelli today (September 11) announced that following an amicable meeting this morning, they have parted company by mutual consent.