Keane: emulating Clough a dream, but not an impossible one

HAVING taken Sunderland into the Premier League and now returned to the Championship to attempt a similar feat with Ipswich Town, it might be tempting to portray Roy Keane’s managerial career as one step forward, two steps back. But the man himself leaves you in no doubt that he’s still aiming for the very top.

Chances are that, however successful he proves to be at Portman Road, the realities of the modern game will dictate that he won’t be able to emulate his old mentor Brian Clough at Nottingham Forest by taking a small-town club to the football summits of not just England, but Europe. Still Keane being Keane, he can’t help dreaming the impossible dream, even if he takes issue with the terminology.

“Impossible? I wouldn’t like to use that word,” he said yesterday. “I am a bit of a dreamer, there’s no doubt about that. I do have dreams that I can achieve things. Now, whether a club like Ipswich can go on and win the European Cup (smiles) is very, very difficult, I have to say. But I hate using that word impossible.