John Fallon: Roy Keane not out of management game yet

At 50, Keane is still happy in his own skin, knowing what to say and when to say it, albeit he feels that approach has cost him a route back into the managerial career he desires

Roy Keane. Photo by Dave Thompson/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)

Perched on a high stool at the Ballygarry Hotel in Tralee last Friday, Roy Keane had 400 patrons, some more famous than others, entranced by his presence and portfolio of tales.

Keano delivered on what the attendees paid good money towards a worthy charity for — 90 minutes of golden nuggets on the past, present, and future.

Legends from the Kingdom such Mick Galwey, Séamus Moynihan, Marc Ó Sé, and Éamonn Fitzmaurice were among the crowd, the latter rising to his feet from his table to deliver a glowing tribute to the special guest on stage.

For entertainment value, Keane has few peers. An ability to silence a room growing increasingly lairy as the night wore on is in itself an artform.

Host Matt Cooper was sometimes left hanging; Keane’s eyes narrowed while pausing to allow the tension build before a killer one-line retort was executed.

At 50, he is still happy in his own skin, knowing what to say and when to say it, albeit he feels that approach has cost him a route back into the managerial career he desires.

Two and a half years have elapsed since he left Nottingham Forest. That assistant role to Martin O’Neill was his last involvement in a coaching stint that stretches back to 2006 when he ventured straight into the hotseat at Sunderland.

“I’d like to get back in but I don’t think it’s going to happen,” said the Corkman, who went to manage Ipswich Town after getting Sunderland promoted to the Premier League and keeping them there.

“It’s my gut feeling. People have a perception of me; they look back at my playing career thinking I fell out with everybody.

“I’ve had management opportunities but not the ones I want. I want to have a bit of freedom, not answering to nobody.

“I’m not going to give that up for a job in League One or Championship. Not unless I think I have a bit of a chance.

“You need that bit of luck too. Sunderland was a good fit for me because Niall Quinn had gone with the Irish consortium.

“But, from day one at Ipswich Town, it didn’t feel right. We had too many draws in a season, a record for the club.

“It’s not a sob story because I’m a member of the League Managers Association in England and there’s better managers than me out of work. They’ve got better CVs so can’t say I deserve a chance more than anybody else.”

Had he accepted, Keane would have been managing against his own country in the recent World Cup campaign.

“Yeah, we had a chat,” he admitted about an offer to take over Azerbaijan.

“I’d talk to anybody that asks because it would be rude or arrogant not to. I enjoyed the flow of international football with Ireland but I would have had to live over there (Azerbaijan) for a certain amount of the year for tax reasons.”

Keane was also linked earlier this year with a return to Celtic, where he’d finished his playing career, but the remnants from his previous snub of the vacancy in 2014 scuppered that prospect.

He was eager to kill the myth that working with inferior quality is beyond his patience threshold, instead broadening his frustrations to core aspects.

“I never had an issue with players who weren’t as good as my teammates,” he insisted.

“I’m not one for criticising people making mistakes. I made plenty of them myself and they’re part of the game.

“However, I guarantee that if a player isn’t concentrating, tracking back, or disrespects my staff, we’re going to fall out.

“I’ve taken results seriously since I started playing at eight years of age. I only played to win and, again, I might fall out with people who don’t have that will to win.”

It was a point picked up on by Fitzmaurice when he took hold of the microphone.

“Roy has had a huge influence on a generation of people playing sports,” said the former Kerry player and manager.

“In our own group, a load of us looked up to you. Speaking to soccer, rugby, GAA and hurling players, we looked up to that winning mentality.”

In total, Keane’s attendance helped generate €75,000 for the Kerry hospice, a facility that relies solely on private donations.

Billy Dennehy crossed the famous divide at Sunderland for being recruited by Mick McCarthy but released by Keane.

Now coaching Kerry’s underage national league squads, he turned up to praise his former manager’s contribution, speaking from personal experience the lengths such fundraising goes to sustain the palliative care unit.

Given his popularity, the famous visitor was safer on stage than at his seat; patience wearing thin as a stream of autograph and selfie hunters swarmed around his table.

Once the formalities were completed, including the auctioning of his final Manchester United jersey for €12,000, he made a deserved swift departure through the fire exit into the sanctuary of his car driven via the ferry from Holyhead.

That’s the gig with Keane — time and energy is provided on his own terms.

For better or worse, those will be rules of engagement should a chairperson decide another crack in the dugout is warranted.

Decision looms on Wexford’s cup gaffe

The fallout from Wexford Youths fielding an unlisted substitute in the Women’s FAI Cup final last Sunday week lingers.

Although Shelbourne were commended for publicly refusing to lodge a protest after losing 3-1, the victors are still subject to FAI disciplinary procedures.

The case surrounds Wexford introducing Teegan Lynch with 18 minutes remaining despite her not being named among the eight substitutes on the teamsheet.

FAI rules are no different to other leagues insofar as failure to properly complete a matchcard constitutes an offence, subject to sanction. While Shels chairman Andrew Doyle said they accepted defeat, one wonders what his predecessor, the late Ollie Byrne, would have thought about the inaction.

The FAI are unlikely to throw the book at Wexford for their infraction, certainly not take the Cup away from them, but for the integrity of the competition structure they have to act.

Not simply a case of justice served but justice seen to be served as both a deterrent and precedent to avoid in future cases. The game was evenly poised at 2-1 when Lynch entered the fray at Tallaght.

The question of precedence is paramount. It didn’t take long for ex-Shelbourne U19 manager Martin Murray to react to his former club’s noble stance on social media, highlighting they had been denied a place in the 2014 Enda McGuill final for fielding an ineligible player in the semis.

FAI Cup final needs to be made an unmissable occasion

Bohemians’ hearts were broken in Sunday’s FAI Cup final but should it be so celebrated that the attendance record for a Lansdowne decider also was?

The national final at the national stadium is the crowning glory of the domestic calendar, a crescendo to the season in the most comfortable surrounds for fans across the country.

Even for an all-Dublin affair, in a city populated by one million people, where 40,000 players of all ages, surely it’s not too much to expect close to sellout? Add in the football fan across the country who religiously attends the annual finale and it should be an occasion where tickets are scarce rather than plentiful, just like the All-Ireland finals.

There has a gradual uptick in turnouts since a pitifully low figure of 16,117 for the 2012 event to Sunday’s high of 37,126 and the task for all concerned now is to finish the job by ensuring a full house for 2022.

Attractive pricing points of €10 per adult ticket and €5 for a child, along with club packages, are the way to go but the nationwide promotion needs to be stronger. The venue and its environs have the hospitality potential to make it an early Christmas day out for punters and, Covid-permitting, that’s just one new stream capable of being tapped into.

Email: [e-mail]