Keane needs to get himself out of O’Neill’s shadow if he wants to shine as a coach
BEHIND the smiles, Roy Keane must really be wondering what he has to do to get his hands on a top level
job in football. Is this as good as it’s ever likely to get for a once great leader of men, as a player with Manchester United and Ireland?
Is he to be forever hitched to Martin O’Neill’s chariot, grateful for whatever bit of work might fall his way? To stand in the shadows?
Increasingly, and with the Cork man set to link up again with O’Neill at Nottingham Forest, it would appear so. At 47, Keane was last in sole charge at a club in 2011 before he got the heaveho at Ipswich Town.
Eight years. That’s a long time for any manager to not be working as a top tier coach. Out of sight, out of mind.
And yet it seems that no club — at least none of a status that would interest him — has made a serious bid for his services in all that time. With every passing year, the prospects of one doing so regresses.
There was talk of the national job in Iceland in September 2011 and another a year later with Kasimpasa, a little-known Turkish club, but that was it.
As for obvious Premier League interest? Zilch. It’s been the same with the Bundesliga, La Liga, Serie A and Ligue 1. Europe has not sought out Keane as a potential manager since his time at Portman Road, that’s if it ever considered him at all.
For that, he only has himself to blame. He may even suspect that to be the case but will probably never admit it.
When he started out in management at Sunderland, he did an awful lot of things very well. He brought order, resilience and passion to a dressing room that needed a firm hand.
He won the Championship in his first season and, when he kept the club in the Premier League the following season, he appeared to have the makings of a seriously fine manager.
There were even mutterings of succeeding Alex Ferguson at Manchester United when the time came. Then his dark side surfaced. There were confrontations, controversies and some questionable management calls.
He fell out with Sunderland owner Ellis Short, then lost his way at Ipswich after initial success. Rather than accept his own failings, though, he blamed others. Now, it seems that all he wants to do is follow O’Neill from job to job. Keane has never bent the knee for anyone but how appreciative he must be of O’Neill for keeping him in the game. For five years with Ireland, spanning 55 games, O’Neill acted as his advocate and PR handler. He never wavered, not even when details of the rows with Harry Arter and Jon Walters became public.
And now, two months after a stunning fall from grace with the Republic of Ireland which led to their departure, O’Neill stands by his man once again. Just as Keane stands by him. If the former Ireland captain was really serious about management, he could have aimed lower, and got stuck in again as a boss. Since he left Ireland two months ago, 16 managers have lost jobs in England, nine of them in the lower two divisions, at such places as Oldham, Carlisle and Bristol Rovers.
Keane, though, apparently didn’t have a cut at any of them. Sol Campbell is mucking out the stables at Macclesfield Town in League Two. It may be small fry but at least he’s the boss, who prepares and picks the team.
Keane appears to think he’s above all that, content to ride shotgun for O’Neill, pocket a hefty wage and carry none of the responsibility.
And that is slightly depressing. Keane was born to lead, not to follow. He has become a follower.
Just like Sol Campbell did with Macclesfield, Keane could have aimed lower, and got stuck in again as a boss