Pro-Keane postcards flood FAI

THEY’RE the fans who refuse to give up hope that Roy Keane will return to the national team.

When Keane showed no sign of playing for his country again, a group of passionate supporters got together in Dublin to lobby the FAI to bring their hero back.

They believed that if the football association got thousands of postcards from Keane’s fans, then they might just create the circumstances in which he could return to the fold.

Three workers at Micromedia, a Dublin company that distributes posters, printed 40,000 cards and already some 25,000 have been unleashed on the public.

Geoff Fitzpatrick, Elbon Hillard and Dave Smith designed and printed the cards that pay homage to Keane’s greatness.

The cards are being posted to the FAI headquarters each day; and it’s estimated the busy men at Merrion Square have received 2,000 cards in the last four weeks.

“We’ve placed them all over the place and a few of us post about 10 cards each morning. At the start we weren’t sure if Roy would come back but it’s looking much better now,” Mr Smith said.

There are still 15,000 cards to be distributed and the trio hope to give these to fellow Keane fans nationwide.

“We want to get people from all parts of the country to start posting the FAI. Already we have people from as far away as Holland posting them,” Mr Smith said.

Quotes from Keane and his ghost writer Eamon Dunphy are printed on the back of the cards and pictures of the great one adorn the front.

Dunphy’s quote reads: “He stands more magnificent than ever before. He belongs with the greatest in world sport.”

The Irish Football Supporters Association last night called on FAI to apologise to Roy Keane. Their demand came following the publication of the damning Genesis report into its handling of Ireland’s World Cup trip.

“He was right in everything he said. The first thing they should do is put pen to paper and apologise to this man who is the greatest footballer of his generation. Then we might get him back playing,” spokesperson Alan Hunter said.

He said fans are disillusioned with the FAI’s poor administration standards. “The entire thing is just like musical chairs and they never seem to change for the better. All the supporters wish they would,” he said.