“I would pay to watch it anyway.”
Roy Keane could be the right man to replace Stephen Kenny as Ireland manager, but if it’s going to work, then certain conditions need to be in place.
With Kenny’s future in doubt a few names have been thrown around as his potential replacement, but one name that isn’t always taken as seriously as it should be, is Keane.
The former Man United captain has become a household name in the world of punditry, and as entertaining as he is to watch on Sky Sports, people tend to forget or appreciate that this man really knows his football.
On the latest episode of House of Football, former League of Ireland star Alan Cawley explained why he would back Keane as Ireland manager.
“If you throw Roy into the mix, he’s always spoke about wanting to get back into management. I don’t think he’s going to go back in at club level.
“Maybe he shied away from the club side of things because things are going so well for him on the punditry side of things right now, that he’s probably thinking that ‘maybe I don’t want to get back into that’ – you won’t know until you ask him.
“But I’m sure that if someone from the FAI called him and said: “I want to talk to you about managing the national team” – I’m sure he would entertain that conversation 100%.”
SportsJOE journalist Rob Redmond agreed that Keane has the attributes, know-how and stature for the job, but that one condition would need to be put in place for it to really work.
“He would need an assistant manager with him, a top level coach, because people criticise Keane for how he speaks on punditry, which is nonsense, the guy knows football inside out.
“He may not articulate it the way a more modern manager might, but he has an idea of play, he has a set of standards, and this stuff matters, these aren’t buzz words, but he then needs an assistant coach to put a framework around that.
“Steven Gerrard was kind of similar, when Gerrard was doing well at Rangers, and the early stages at Villa, before it fell apart, the guy Michael Beale got a lot of credit – now he’s not doing great as a manager, but that shows that it’s a different job.
“Gerrard said it would take him ten years to be as great as this guy at coaching. So if we had Keane as a figurehead, with a coach, could it work?
“Possibly, but the FAI can not rule anyone out, but I do think they need to move away from the personalty way of going ‘Aw Big Sam (Allardyce) he’s out of work, get him in,’ or ‘Chris Hughton, he’s Irish.’
“No, what attributes are your looking for? Is it press football? Is it direct football? What way do you want this team to play? What are we hoping to achieve here?
“It can’t just be ‘your man is out of work, get him in.’
“Roy has been ran down, but he did a good job at Sunderland a long time ago, with the right coach and him mellowed, who knows… I would pay to watch it anyway.”
There is no doubt that the media circus that follows Keane would turn its attention to the Ireland national team if he were to get the job, and that’s something that concerns Cawley.
“That would be my only fear if he was to get it that, like the publicity side f things, is it just because of his name and all, and I wouldn’t want that, and I don’t think he would want that.
“He would want to be told that ‘you’re the man we see fit for the job, to bring us forward’, and he would want to come in with that attitude as well.
“He’s the biggest name that we have ever had over here I think. You go back to John Giles, Liam Brady, and all of them, but for me he is the biggest and the best that we have ever had.
“So you don’t want that kind of star studded figure, that just because he’s Roy Keane, he’s managing the national team. It has to be for the right reasons on both sides.
“If he was to ever get it, I really do think that he would entertain the idea. Whether he would take it, I don’t know, but he would definitely have a conversation.”
Related links:
- Ex Ireland star says senior job could be “step down” for Lee Carsley
- Assessing the FAI’s managerial options if Stephen Kenny leaves Ireland post
- FAI reportedly line up Lee Carsley to replace Stephen Kenny as ex-Liverpool boss discussed
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