Keane edges ever closer to Celtic role
However, there is still the possibility of a dramatic late twist in the saga, through the intervention of a big Premier League club who are interested in offering Keane an assistant management role which would allow him to continue to work as Martin O’Neill’s second in command with the international team.
Celtic remain favourites to land the Corkman, however, and barring any last-minute hitches in the negotiations, the appointment could be ratified by tomorrow, leaving O’Neill and the Ireland squad to put the matter firmly behind them before they fly out to the United States on Wednesday.
There have been unconfirmed reports that a jobshare idea has been floated in the discussions between Keane and Celtic but it’s hard to see how that would work in practical terms, given the all-consuming nature of a full-time club manager’s job.
Already, it is expected that Keane will have to withdraw from his ITV commitments for the upcoming World Cup since Celtic will be back in pre-season training midway through the tournament in Brazil.
Meanwhile, O’Neill has reiterated his sadness at the prospect of losing his assistant manager.
“It will be disappointing if he left because the impact he’s made here, in a short period of time, is probably exactly what I thought he would do,” he said. “I’d be disappointed from a selfish viewpoint but overall I think we all would be. We would dearly love him to stay.”
O’Neill is sure that feeling is reciprocal, insisting a parting of the ways would be a real wrench for Keane too.
“Oh, I have no doubt about that, I have absolutely no doubt,” he said. “I am not an apologist for him here but I have no doubt about it as he has thoroughly enjoyed it here, I think. He’s been excellent about the place and shown great enthusiasm and is willing, having been a manager, to sit back and take this role.
“But that doesn’t prevent him having a say on the training ground, in the dressing room or whatever he wants, even in a private discussion one on one with players. He has been great.”
The former Celtic manager said he’d had no inkling that Neil Lennon was about to step down at Parkhead and, in the immediate aftermath of his departure, no warning either that Keane could be his successor.
“Oh, I wouldn’t have known that (a vacancy was arising) because Neil Lennon was in the job as far as I was concerned and Neil was doing terrifically well. “I didn’t know what was in Neil’s mind and he’s gone and made that decision. But did I immediately think that Roy would be next one when Neil left? No, I didn’t think that and partly because you (the press) were telling me that they had stopped taking bets on Henrilk Larsson and I thought, ‘yeah, that was a pretty good fit, Henrik’. I don’t know if Henrik was asked, I have no idea. When I got the phone call from Dermot (Desmond) is when I obviously started to consider it.”
Describing himself as “an eternal optimist” and therefore still holding out some hope of a late, late twist in the saga in Ireland’s favour, O’Neill concluded: “It’s in Roy’s hands and what will be will be but, of course, what you can do is emphasise the fact that we all want him to stay — and sometimes that is pretty important to a person. But we will see.”
Meanwhile, O’Neill’s spirits were lifted by his side’s fine showing against Italy on Saturday night, with a sparkling display in a rare outing for Anthony Pilkington one of the individual highlights.
“I thought he did well,” said O’Neill. “He’s prepared to run and is encouraged to take players on and try and go past them and, yeah, that was encouraging. I thought he had an excellent hour for us and I thought considering his fitness — or lack of it as it may be because he’s not played for a certain amount of time — he worked hard to get back.”
But the Norwich man wasn’t the only player who won the manager’s approval on an encouraging night for Ireland, even if they were facing an Italian side shorn of some star names.
“McGeady’s got feet like you wouldn’t believe, he’s fantastic,” O’Neill enthused. “Wee Wes (Hoolahan) was causing problems (before) he got tired. He’s played the two games now. And I have to say that (James) McClean coming on, he was very strong. But, overall, I was pleased with just about everyone. Jeff Hendrick did well too and, from a nervous start, I thought we improved as a side. (David) Forde made two great saves to keep us in it early on and from then on we were great.”
Yet, for all the positives, the final scoreline underscores the unsettling truth that Ireland, well, underscore.
“Awww, chances, chances,” lamented O’Neill.
“How often am I going to keep saying this? I have to say this — you’ve heard the phrase — but at least we’re creating some and, hopefully, you never know, by September we might actually have learned to put it in the net. We might not.”
From an Italian point of view, of course, there was only one story on the night and it was a terrible one – the broken leg suffered by Riccardo Montolivo after a tackle by Alex Pearce which means the AC Milan man will miss the World Cup in Brazil.
O’Neill told an Italian journalist after the game that there’d be no pre-match agreement with Cesare Prandelli to tone down the physicality of the contest, before offering his commiserations to Montolivo.
“He’s a fine player and, missing out on a World Cup, I’m genuinely disappointed (for him),” he said. “That’s a man looking forward to a World Cup and now he’s missing out. I’m genuinely disappointed and sorry.”
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