Keane sending out right signal by staying put

He hasn’t gone away, you know.

But nor, one suspects, has any number of stories which will link Roy Keane with any number of clubs between now and when he does finally and definitively cut his Irish ties.

Hopefully, that will be later rather than sooner — and, ideally, not before he has sat in the dug-out alongside Martin O’Neill and watched Ireland perform with distinction in the green fields of France two summers from now.

Meanwhile, O’Neill is just going to have to get used to the fact that his number two will remain number one in the obsessions of innumerable people inside and outside the game.

After all, we’re not talking Jack Charlton and Maurice Setters here.

At times last week, there were hints of exasperation in O’Neill’s comments as, in a busy period when the focus should have been on the international friendlies that were coming thick and fast, one press briefing after another was hijacked by the only game in town. But even as O’Neill readily accepted that the Celtic job was one of those that doesn’t come around too often, he repeatedly stressed the hope that Keane might opt not to jump.

Well, he would say that, wouldn’t he, was the consensus view, but that the notion was based on more than mere wishful thinking was never more evident than after the terrific draw with Italy in Craven Cottage on Saturday night when, with a few of us corralling the manager in a tight corner beside the stand, I asked if he thought it would be a real wrench for Keane to say his goodbyes.

“Oh, I have no doubt about that, I have absolutely no doubt,” O’Neill said with real feeling. “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.”

Somehow, the detail of that panegyric made it feel much more than a routine ‘kind words and best wishes’ farewell speech. And furthermore, even though O’Neill always fully accepted the decision was entirely Roy Keane’s — as if it could ever be any other way — the Derry man followed up those remarks with a striking qualification which, without too much decoding, suggested he was aware his assistant might yet be open to persuasion.

“It’s in Roy’s hands and what will be will be,” said O’Neill, “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.”

Certainly, the word from inside the Irish camp was that, over the past 48 hours, Keane was increasingly torn about the choice he was being asked to make.

The lure of Celtic might have been strong but, as it turns out, the lure of Ireland has proved stronger. And that attraction could only have intensified in the couple of days since the final whistle on Saturday night, when the Cork man left the field to a warm ovation from the Irish supporters in Craven Cottage, exchanging smiles and handshakes and backslaps with players and staff and throwing a wave to the crowd, as he made his way across the pitch to the dressing room. Here was a wanted man, alright, but wanted at home as much as abroad.

Ireland’s performance couldn’t have but warmed his cockles too. It is always a risk to read too much into friendlies, for good or ill, but here was one of those uplifting nights when there were so many positives to take from a vibrant display and a memorable occasion, that it would be hard for anyone involved, to paraphrase Van The Man, not to think of how great it would be if it could be like this all the time.

A storied club like Celtic would have provided highs too, of course, but as mentioned in these pages at the weekend, I was far from convinced that it was the right move, right now, for Keane. Short of some Champions League heroics — and, of course, the team would have to pass their preliminaries first — it was hard to see how Keane would significantly burnish his CV with a spell in a league where Celtic’s dominance for the immediate future seems a virtual fait accompli.

By contrast, as O’Neill himself has noted, merely being involved with Ireland before a ball has even been kicked in anger appears to have intensified the demand for Keane within the game, something which a successful qualification campaign for Euro 2016 would do nothing to diminish.

Keane’s decision to stay makes this a good day for Irish football — for the supporters, for the FAI and, most importantly, for the players and for O’Neill.

There has been no exaggeration in the upbeat reports of Keane’s positive influence behind the scenes on the individual and the collective.

And, hey, Roy staying in the hood is good news for us in the dreaded meeja too, of course, though I’m not sure our concerns would have figured too highly in his final deliberations.

Moral of the story? Once again, everyone has been taught a lesson in the perils of second-guessing Roy Keane, a man to whom the rules of conventional wisdom do not apply.

Not that it will stop us trying, of course.

So let’s do it all again soon, eh?

Same Roy-time, same Roy-channel.