If Keane is clever, he’ll have players running through brick walls for him
With Martin having managed Celtic and a number of other big clubs with great success and Keane unquestionably being one of the most famous Irish sportsmen of all time, it really doesn’t get any bigger than these two. Certainly from a commercial perspective, the FAI must be rubbing their hands in glee, with the friendly against Latvia on Friday likely to be a sell-out as we enter a new era in our footballing history.
Still, I have to be honest and say that when I first heard that this was looking like it would be the new management team, I thought it was a very bizarre development, to say the least. Both men may have been on most people’s short list as a potential manager but I doubt anybody thought they would end up working side by side. But as the days have passed and the reality of the situation has sunk in a little bit, I have tried to look beyond the obvious doubts that many people are having. And, on reflection, what I see is the potential for something very exciting indeed.
Clearly, this is a bold and brave decision by O’Neill, but one, I feel, could also turn out to be a very shrewd one, even allowing for the fact that being such a fiercely driven and opinionated man has probably cost Keane at times.
A key to his character, I suspect, is that the era in which Keane came into football was full of players and managers with old-school values. I tasted a little bit of that during my apprenticeship with Wolves, with players like Keith Curle, Steve Bull and Steve Sedgeley. Footballers at that time were absolutely ruthless with each other, and in-house confrontation was a lot more common than in the game today. I think these values were also ingrained in Keane under the management of first Brian Clough and then Alex Ferguson, as well as the influence of the countless hardened senior pros in the dressing room. And it was possibly something he couldn’t easily let go of when it came to his latter few years as a player and, certainly, in the opening phase of his career in management.
And I can understand his frustration too. A lot of players in this era are mollycoddled, so much so that, frankly, I’ve wanted to smack a few down through the years. But you just have to learn to deal with it in a different way.
In football, the role of a number two is usually to be the link between the manager and players. The best assistant managers I have had in my career have always had the ability to make you feel comfortable confiding in them things that you probably wouldn’t say directly to the manager, although the word probably filters back to him anyway.
Keane has a huge advantage over most going into this role in that the vast majority of players in the current Ireland squad will have grown up watching him play for Manchester United and Ireland, and probably idolised him. It’s so important that he utilises this to get the respect of the players and thus get the best out of them. I experienced a similar situation at MK Dons when Paul Ince became our manager.
When he walked into the dressing room for the first time you could literally see the excitement and admiration in the players’ eyes. And Paul was clever in the way he used the undoubted respect he had from his squad. Personally, I loved working under him because of who he was, what he had done in the game and, most importantly, because he believed in me. If Keane is clever, he could get the Irish players running through brick walls for him.
As for the main man, the appointment of O’Neill ticks a lot of boxes for me. He has vast experience at the highest level and is known for getting the best out of players, which is clearly going to be an important factor as we look to punch above our weight. We all know that international management is vastly different to club management, but he’s a smart man and there’s no reason to think he won’t adapt to it very well.
Having spoken to players who have worked under him, the picture I’ve formed is of a very popular character who seems to have a knack of getting his players and teams to over-achieve. It will be interesting to see the style of play he employs and the system he chooses, as these were two aspects of the Irish management approach that came in for considerable criticism under the previous regime. More often than not with his club teams O’Neill has preferred a traditional 4-4-2 formation — just as Giovanni Trapattoni did — but whether that can still have any relevance in this day and age, especially against the top nations, remains to be seen.
In any event, I suspect he is fully aware of what gets us success, not least the importance of team spirit and that vibrant sense of togetherness which has invariably been a feature of the most successful Irish sides. Encouragingly, it is also something which has stood out for me in the various club sides O’ Neill has managed. I know for a fact the players are excited by the appointment and will be giving him absolutely everything they have to try and qualify for the European Championships in 2016.
With 10 months or so still to go until our next competitive fixture, it gives him plenty of time to cast an eye over the pool of players available to him and ensure we are well prepared to achieve the goal of qualification.
