Keane takes first step to coaching

ROY KEANE has revealed he has taken the first tentative steps towards becoming a coach, but the 31-year-old Manchester United midfielder is keen to stress he wants to play for at least another three years.

Keane says he has spoken to Steve McClaren now Middlesbrough's manager after a spell as assistant at Old Trafford about the coaching road he needs to take.

"Being 32 in August, you start to think of these things," said Keane. "If you had asked me two years ago about management, I would have told you it wasn't even on my mind.

"Now as I have got a bit older, I have spoken to Steve McClaren and one or two other people and started to think along those lines about getting my coaching badges and being a manager some day.

"It is a road I think I would like to go down but again it is dangerous thinking too far ahead.

"Like most things in football, once you start planning things ahead they go out of the window, but being a manager does appeal to me."

Keane, who has another three years on his contract after this season, admits he is constantly looking at ways of extending his playing career: "I am doing everything to make sure I can carry on as long as I can at United. Not a day goes by when I am not looking to do something that could prolong my career. I am looking at everything, whether it is stretching, footwear, diets, weights, making sure I get enough rest.

"When you hit 30 that's when you start thinking, 'I want to hang in there, as long as I can'.

"I don't want to be hanging in there and just getting by. I want to still be at the top. That's why I am constantly looking around, like you do in life, as to what will make me better and help me."

Keane says being laid up after a hip operation earlier in the season gave him a different perspective.

"Every time you come back from a setback like that you do appreciate the game that much more," he said. "Maybe it shouldn't take a setback or an injury to make you enjoy it. Even though you do enjoy it when you are fit, maybe it is not to the extent that you realise how lucky you are, not just in football but in life too.

"When I was out injured it reminded me of how much I enjoyed the game and I couldn't wait to get back.

"Nobody wants to be injured but the benefit is when you come back you are fresh because you have been out of the team and you can learn a lot while you are out watching.

"Every game I am feeling better and stronger, but, like any footballer, there is always plenty of room for improvement. That's the way I have thought throughout my career."

Keane accepts he now plays a holding role in midfield, rather than racing box to box: "I think that is what the future will have to be for me a more withdrawn role," he said.

"It doesn't mean I can't get forward.

"Hopefully that will take nothing away from what I contribute to the team. If anything I think it will help."

After failing to win a trophy last season, United have a chance of lifting the Worthington Cup next Sunday when they face Liverpool.

Keane said: "We play football to win things. I've been like that since eight years old and at 31, if anything, the hunger is getting stronger.

"From the manager down to the players, we are determined as ever, but it is no good talking the talk, we've got to be able to walk the walk."