Duff backs Keane to return to fold
The Blackburn player, in Dublin yesterday to promote a safe driving initiative, believes Keane's return will only bolster Irish chances of qualifying for Euro 2004
"The team will only benefit from Roy coming back into the team," he said. "He is the best player I have ever played with and one of the best in the world. And there is no doubt any return by Roy will boost our chances of recovering from our bad start."
Although Duff conceded there may be some lingering bad blood from last summer, he feels the team would welcome him back. "After what happened last year, I can see why people might think there might be difficulties with Roy's return, but I don't see why there should be. We saw how important he is for the team during the last qualifying campaign, not just against the stronger sides like Portugal and Holland, but against smaller teams, he would always pop up with an important goal when the team was struggling a little bit."
Duff hasn't discussed the matter with Keane, whom he has met in the past couple of weeks in competitive action Even without Keane, the winger believes Ireland have the quality to recover from their poor group position.
"We would all like to see Roy back, but even if he doesn't come back, we still have the players available to get ourselves out of this position. It doesn't matter who becomes manager, it is up to the players to respond to the situation. We have to take some responsibility for what happened.
"We took a lot of stick after the Russia and Switzerland games, but there is a good squad of players there for whoever takes over and we can take six points from the next two games.
"I think we need to take six points, after letting ourselves down in the first two games. There are going to be difficult games, but I don't know if four points from those two games is going to be enough."
As the FAI have attempted to cloak the managerial process in privacy, Duff remains as much in the dark as the rest of the team as to who the new manager is going to be.
"I have just talked to the lads whenever we have played against each other and they seem to know as much as me, which is nothing. While the FAI has brought Bryan Hamilton in on an advisory role, Duff doesn't believe the players should have been consulted at some stage in the process.
"I don't think that would have made much difference. I have played under seven different managers at Blackburn and the players were never consulted before any appointment." After an injury-plagued season, Duff is gradually inching his way back to full fitness. "I feel fully fit now, but every time I say that, I get injured again.
"It has been a bad year for me with injuries, people are saying it is to do with coming back from the World Cup and playing too much football he said.
Of course, where he will be at the end of January is a matter of constant conjecture. If not Liverpool, it must be Manchester United. If not there, it must be Inter Milan. Duff has learned to accept all the speculation with a shrug "I knew this would all come up again when the transfer window opened, but I am happy at Blackburn and I have just signed a new contract, so I am not going anywhere. My aim is to help get Blackburn into Europe next year."
They are In the driving seat against Manchester United in the Worthington Cup semi-final and with a relatively easy draw against Sunderland in the next round of the Cup, Blackburn's prospects of another year in Europe next year look very bright indeed.
With or without Damien Duff.
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