Keane tips top League of Ireland stars to move on
Keane himself has already signed Bohemians keeper Brian Murphy on a free transfer, which will be formalised when the window opens, while he brought Colin Healy to Portman Road from Cork City in the summer.
The former Ireland skipper says there are more than a few players capable of playing in the levels immediately below the Premier League and, with a number of Irish clubs currently in crisis, anticipates seeing some of them moving to England in the new year: “I wouldn’t say I was expecting loads, but I wouldn’t be surprised.
“I know there has been a lot of talk about Gary Deegan from Bohs, who’s a good player, and we’ve obviously signed Brian Murphy, who has come into the club in the last week or two and is doing absolutely fantastic.
“It wouldn’t surprise me because there are some very good players in the League of Ireland without a shadow of a doubt and they could come here and play at Championship or League One level comfortably.”
Keane says he is concerned at the state of League of Ireland football and sees its clubs fulfilling important roles in their communities: “Cork have been struggling for years now. They’ve been in court a few times. We’ve done our bit, we bought Colin Healy, we played there in pre-season.
“I don’t want to see League of Ireland clubs struggling because they’re all good clubs. You talk about the glamour of football but you need these clubs, the local sport. They’re so important to town centres and city centres.
“You think about the £70 million (€78 million) went out to agents last year – what these clubs could do with just a small part of that.”
Earlier this week, an FAI Independent Disciplinary Committee banned Cork City owner Tom Coughlan from football activities for 12 months and fined him €5,000 for bringing the game into disrepute.
The Manchester United legend admits to knowing little of the detail of Cork City’s problems but says the situation concerns him: “I don’t like to see that, but I don’t know the ins and outs of it. I’ve only spoken to Tom Coughlan once when he asked about Billy Clarke, who was here at Ipswich when I took the job.”
Meanwhile, Keane says Colin Healy could be set for a loan move in the new year having so far failed to make an impact at Ipswich.
Hartlepool United, the club Healy almost joined from Cork in the summer before the Tractor Boys came in for him, are reportedly interested again, although Keane says no deal has yet been done: “I’ve not spoken to Colin yet, but there have been one or two phone calls regarding him.
“He played a reserve game during the week and was probably the best player on the park.
“Colin’s a good player, he came into the team when we were struggling and we’ll definitely look at that in the next few weeks.”
Ipswich and Keane travel to Scunthorpe today as they look to continue their recent resurgence.
Keane has leapt to the defence of Mick McCarthy in the wake of the widespread criticism of the former Irish boss’s decision to rest 10 of his Wolves first team for his side’s game at Old Trafford earlier this week.
McCarthy’s team subsequently fell to a 3-0 defeat and faced jeering from their own supporters, but Keane says it’s up to a manager to pick the XI which he feels is right: “That’s why you’re the manager, you’ve got to try and pick the team which will get the best results over the weeks and months of the season.
“You should try judge a manager at the end of that, not after one game. Mick will do what’s best for his club. It’s as straightforward as that.”
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