Keane says next season may be his swansong at United

FORMER Ireland captain Roy Keane has admitted that he may be about to embark on his final season for Manchester United.

Although he feels refreshed and fit after a summer break, he believes that a career that has been blighted by knee and hip injuries may be near its end.

"Over the next year or two, well this season anyway, I can do a job for Manchester United," he told reporters. "I know I have a couple of years left on my contract, but what do contracts mean? I hope to carry on. I will see how this season goes. But the next two or three years ... I am not so sure."

Keane is adamant he will not stick around unless he is performing.

"There's no way I want to go down the road of a sympathy vote, the loyalty stuff. You can't go on and play on memories, you have to be clever. I'll have to speak to the manager because I don't want to play for the memories, unless I am having an influence."

Keane was unhappy with his influence during United's unsuccessful Champions League campaign last season, when they were beaten by Real Madrid in the quarter-finals.

"In the two games against Real I played poorly. The Zidanes of the world are my benchmark and I know I came up short," Keane told The Sunday Times. "People suggested I was finished. I even asked the question of myself. I don't lose sleep over other people's criticism but I'm my own biggest critic and I know I didn't perform. I'm in the game to win trophies, and the Champions League is the ultimate and, because of suspension for the 1999 final, I do not feel I have won that," he said. "If I didn't win the Champions League at United it would cast a shadow over my career and everything I have achieved. I would always regret not winning it."

Keane added: "The spirit at United is as good as I've ever known it. I questioned that attitude the year before when we won nothing. I felt we slackened off, only maybe 1% to 2%, but that is the difference between winning and losing championships. I said that I felt some people were more interested in things away from football, that they had taken their eye off the ball, but that focus is back now."

He also admitted he is relishing the prospect of becoming a manager, his appetite sharpened by the FA coaching course he attended at the start of the summer. "It was amazing," he said. "I really enjoyed seeing the other side of things. I want to have something in place so if I do finish in the next year I'd be ready to go into management if I want to go down that road."