circumstances. Days later, he signed a two-year deal with Tranmere Rovers, hoping to play out his career with his hometown club. He trained as a coach ready to embark on a career in that department after his retirement. He was made club captain by manager Brian Little, skippering the side to the League One play-off semi-finals, where they eventually lost on penalties to Hartlepool United. He was released by Tranmere Rovers in May 2007 and announced his retirement shortly afterwards. On 15 June 2009, he was appointed assistant manager to former Liverpool teammate John Barnes at Tranmere. On 9 October, the pair were sacked after a run of just two league wins from 11 games. International career McAteer qualified to play for Republic of Ireland through his grandfather who was born in County Down. He was capped 52 times between 1994 and 2004 making his debut on 23 March 1994 in a 0-0 draw against Russia in a friendly match at Lansdowne Road and was selected by manager Jack Charlton for the Republic's 1994 World Cup squad. McAteer came on as a substitute in Ireland's 1–0 group stage victory over Italy on 18 June. McAteer played in his second World Cup in 2002. He scored the decisive goal for the Irish in a 1–0 World Cup qualifying win against the Netherlands on 1 September 2001, which helped Ireland stay on course for their place in the 2002 World Cup. Mcateer was critical of Roy Keane after the Saipan Incident at the 2002 World Cup, saying "Everything is black or white with Roy, there is no such colour as grey. I do not always understand his rage." McAteer said that when they clashed during Sunderland's match against Manchester United in August 2002, he had said to Keane: "Put it all in your next book". Keane responded by elbowing McAteer on the side of the head. Personal life McAteer was nicknamed "Trigger", after an Only Fools and Horses character of low intelligence. He said in 2005 that he cultivated this image in order to play more matches, as managers would be comfortable putting him in different positions. Anecdotes spread about McAteer's purported low intelligence, including that he had asked for a pizza to be cut into four pieces and not eight because he was not hungry; he confirmed in 2005 that this story is true. McAteer released an autobiography, Blood, Sweat &