FAI must handle Keane’s future with due care

AT some point very soon, FAI chiefs Gary Owens and Niall Quinn are going to sit down and have a serious think about the future role of Robbie Keane on the association’s payroll. They will have to handle the matter carefully for they are dealing with a national icon in Ireland’s most capped player, record goal-scorer and captain for 11 years. Keane isn’t someone you can tap on the shoulder and say, ‘Thanks, and good luck’, especially not when he’s contracted to work for the FAI until the summer of 2022. When former CEO John Delaney hastily negotiated a four-year deal with Keane (below) in November 2018, it appeared to have been done with a mind to Keane becoming the Irish senior manager after Mick McCarthy. Only that scheme was quickly shredded by Stephen Kenny agreeing to sign on for the Irish Under 21 job once it came with a cast-iron guarantee of the senior position. Kenny is manager-elect and will take over from McCarthy, possibly as soon as a month from now should Ireland lose the Euro play-off in Slovakia, but preferably at the end of July as that would mean Ireland have been part of the finals. Either way, the future of Keane as assistant coach to the senior team is up in the air. Is he part of Kenny’s plans? If not, do the FAI hierarchy have the right to insist that he is? And if they don’t, where does that leave Keane? So far, Kenny has kicked to touch on the subject of a Keane involvement in his backroom team. He already has Keith Andrews and Jim Crawford by his side with the U21s and they are likely to step up with him for the senior job. It remains to be seen if there is room for a fourth voice at training and in the dressing room but if Kenny wanted verification of Keane’s worth, McCarthy, and the Irish senior players, would willingly provide it. Should Kenny feel he has enough lieutenants, the FAI would have to find a new role for Keane, who has already let it be known that he would regard the U21s as a step down. Alternatively, they could cut him adrift but that would be a PR own goal, which they wish to avoid. Perhaps, as a compromise, an ambassadorial role could be found. Either way, the situation needs to be handled with care as the last thing anyone wants is for Keane to feel unwanted. He has given so much to Ireland at all levels since 1998 when he helped the U18s win the European Championships and made his senior debut. It helps that Quinn knows Keane from their time in the Irish senior squad, which included his assist for Keane’s famous last-gasp equaliser against the mighty Germans in the 2002 World Cup finals. Right now, Keane has enough to occupy him as assistant manager at Middlesbrough to leave pressing Irish matters on the back burner for a while. Since New Year’s Day when Boro won at Preston, the club have picked up four points out of 24, including recent defeats by Luton and Barnsley, two of the clubs below them. Should the Boro freefall continue at home to Leeds tonight, the pressure levels on Jonathan Woodgate and Keane would increase at The Riverside — Boro have only spent one season in the third tier of English football. Between club and country commitments, the next few weeks for Keane will certainly not lack intrigue and speculation.