Managing his country could be just the job for Keane as he hits 50
THE bould Roy Keane was 50 yesterday. Yikes. It seems like only the other day, I reported on him coming of age for the Republic of Ireland against Spain in Seville in a World Cup qualifier.
Yet, it’s almost 30 years ago, ouch. Tempus fugit and all that. Then again, I’m not far off 60 and memories of Saturdays as an overlapping left-back in junior footie are increasingly distant.
That sultry night in Andalusia, where Ireland were robbed of a legitimate John Aldridge goal, was arguably the high-water mark of the Jack Charlton years.
By the 1994 World Cup finals, the team was starting to slide, although capable of giving any heavyweight a bloody nose when the mood took them, as Italy found out in the Giants Stadium.
A year later, not even Keano could plug the gaps, although he became the fulcrum of the Mick McCarthy team of 1996-2002, which peaked with the 1-0 World Cup win over the Dutch 20 years ago.
Keane has been an integral part of Irish football, of world football, for more than 30 years, as player, manager and pundit.
He distinguished himself at all three, although not for as long as he’d like as a ‘gaffer’, which ended badly at both Sunderland and Ipswich.
After spending a decade away from being a No.1, his chances of landing a decent club job have receded like my hairline.
The TV gigs with ITV and Sky Sports suit Keane’s personality, and his lifestyle.
He’s on call most weekends but the part-time work allows time for family and walks with the dogs.
As a pundit, Keane is up there with the very best, not afraid to call out anyone because he’s been there, and grafted harder than most to make it too. He wasn’t a natural like Pele, Cruyff, Maradona or Messi.
But he won’t be remembered for his pithy one-liners, his withering putdowns, or his buddybuddy old pals act with Micah Richards, which I find a little hard to warm to. Laurel and Hardy, it ain’t. If
Keane is serious about leaving a legacy in football separate to his 15 glorious years as a player, he really needs to consider a return to the rat race of management. He’s not going to be offered a job in one of Europe’s top leagues on a plate either. He will have to earn it. And if that means applying for a vacancy, such as that at MK Dons in League One, then why not? Keane was always scornful of letting any club know he was interested in becoming their manager. It was almost as if it was below him to make the first approach.
With his stellar status in the game, he felt the offer should be made to him, not by him.
However, those days are gone and if he really cares about getting on the treadmill again, he’s got to get off his backside, start working the phone and brush up his CV. It’s what out-ofwork managers do.
At 50, Keane has half a dozen years on McCarthy (62), and is still young enough to be the son of Neil Warnock (72) – both managers are going strong in the
Championship at Cardiff and Middlesbrough, respectively.
Only, I’m not so sure Keane is all that pushed any more about the Saturday-Tuesday grind which McCarthy, Warnock and Co get such a kick from.
Perhaps the thought of busting his ass off for nine months of the year when he could earn as much, if not more, for part-time work on the TV holds limited appeal.
If holding down a club job is not his cup of Barry’s, the only avenue back to football’s frontline for Keane is through the international door.
I’ve long held the theory that Keane’s temperament is better suited to eight to 10 games a year, rather than 50 or more. Getting up for games for 10-day spells in March, June, September, October and November would allow Keane to chill in between.
Keane enjoyed his five years with the Republic of Ireland as Martin O’Neill’s No.2, even if he fell out with one or two players towards the end, which was perhaps inevitable. Keane was loyal to O’Neill just as O’Neill was loyal to him and didn’t agitate to stay at the helm when O’Neill’s time was up in November 2018.
Might his name resurface again before too long? Possibly. Stephen Kenny, about to turn 50 himself in October, has embarked on a summer PR blitz to remind the FAI of the long-term benefits of his plan for the Republic of Ireland as manager. He predicts his youngsters will peak in 2024, when the next Euro finals come around and he may well be right.
Only Kenny’s contract doesn’t run until 2024 – it’s up next summer, and what happens in the autumn international windows will decide whether Kenny gets a new deal.
At the start of the World Cup campaign, I felt if it came down to Ireland having to beat Portugal and Luxembourg in their final group games to reach the playoffs, Kenny would have earned another crack at the job.
But if the team falls short of that target, which appears likely, the FAI chiefs may start looking around for a new manager and Keane, for sure, would come into the reckoning. Managerial life for the Cork firebrand might yet begin again at 50.
“Roy enjoyed his five years with O’Neill”