Keane would be box office gold for RTE, says Dunphy

EAMON DUNPHY believes Roy Keane would be box office gold as a pundit for RTÉ.

But the controversial RTÉ analyst hasn’t been impressed with Keane’s early toe in the TV waters.

He said: “It is not my call, it would be someone else’s call. I wouldn’t walk at all. We had Graham Souness for a few years and had a bit of fun with him. You work with whoever RTÉ wants you to work with. I’ve never walked away from a row in my life. I think he wouldn’t mind doing it because he has his family here and I wouldn’t doubt his patriotism.

“I would be well up for it. It would be rock and roll. I’m in constant training for trouble.”

He suggested that panelist Liam Brady would have a more fiery relationship with the former Manchester United star.

“It would be more mouth-watering if Liam and him go at it.”

But Dunphy added: “I watched Keane on ITV doing the United-City match. It was pretty average. He didn’t look as if he wanted to be there and he brought no insight into it.

“When I was working on the book with him, the one thing he said to me was he would rather go to the dentist without an anaesthetic than be a pundit on television but his managerial career hasn’t worked out, so he might see the virtue now in punditry. For ITV he is box office.

“It’s not quite as easy as it looks. If you look at John Giles and Liam Brady, they were great players like Keane but they have great football intelligence, great ability to assess the game and analyse it and inform you.”