The negotiator: Emmet Malonehears Don Givens outline events behind recent negotiations

The Ireland captain Robbie Keane reacted positively to the news on Tuesday that Giovanni Trapattoni was about to be appointed Republic of Ireland manager, according to Don Givens, who spoke to the Tottenham striker as soon as he was sure the deal was about to be wrapped up in Milan.

"Robbie was very enthusiastic, I have to say," said Givens. "I think Robbie, as somebody who has travelled and played in Italy, will see the advantage that we can learn from a man like that.

"Here is a man who not only works tremendously well in Italy but has gone and done it in Germany, in Portugal and Austria, and you think, God almighty, he must be able to bring us something. And I think Robbie is open to that. And of course he is familiar with Trapattoni. But, I mean, if any of them are interested in football and they don't know the name Trapattoni, then we've got a problem," he said with a laugh.

Givens believes the 68-year-old Italian "ticks all of the boxes", something he didn't believe the man they would end up recommending would possess when they embarked on the recruitment process in mid-December. "We wanted a certain amount of boxes to be ticked but at the start I didn't expect them all to be," he said.

Givens had established contact with the Italian with the help of the president of his former club Neuchatel Xamax.

"We were interviewing people who had been declaring an interest in the job while also trying to come up with the names of people who would be credible candidates for this job," said Givens. "When Mr Trapattoni's name came up among us (toward the end of the three-and-a-half-month search) I took it upon myself to phone Gilbert Facchinetti, who I knew had had some dealings with Mr Trapattoni in the past.

"Through those contacts I then got a number for somebody very close to Mr Trapattoni and eventually spoke with Mr Trapattoni myself. His interest in the job was immediately very positive. He said he would ring me back in a few days, which he did. I subsequently found out in those few days he rang Liam Brady to ask his advice. Liam obviously painted a positive picture of the association, the squad and the Irish people and then it moved forward.

"I subsequently spoke to Mr Trapattoni three or four times on the phone and it got more positive each time. We had a difficulty because of his situation in Austria with the selection panel going to meet him. That was the reason why, when I came back to Citywest 10 days ago hoping to announce it, I asked the board for 10 more days in order to conclude this deal with Mr Trapattoni.

"We went to Salzburg on Sunday, Ray (Houghton), Don (Howe) and myself. We were picked up from the hotel where we were staying by Mr Trapattoni, who took us to his home, where we had a two-hour meeting with him . . . it was a very enjoyable meeting for us; to be talking football with that man was exceptional for us. After that we came back to the hotel. We had a half-an-hour-long meeting amongst ourselves and at that time we knew that was our man."

Givens and the FAI chief executive, John Delaney, confirmed the involvement of the agent Jerome Anderson, Delaney saying the Englishman had helped to get the contract completed but declined to reveal what commissions were paid to secure the Italian's signature.

"The initial contact was direct," said Givens, "having to deal with agents is simply the reality of the way things work in football these days."