Ireland hot-seat the long-term goal for Robbie Keane

Robbie Keane insists he’s prepared to put in the hard yards to eventually become Stephen Kenny’s successor in the Ireland job.

Only last week, Ireland’s record scorer with 68 goals confirmed his playing career was over and he’s seamlessly moved into a coaching role under Mick McCarthy.

Keane was announced alongside Terry Connor as one of McCarthy’s assistants on his second stint in the post and together they’ll be in the dugout on March 23 at the 2,300-capacity Victoria Stadium for their Euro 2020 opening qualifier against the part-timers of Gibraltar.

Keane cites McCarthy as his best Ireland manager to work under during his 146 appearances and felt aggrieved that he was forced out of his original stint back in 2002.

The former striker was the one who initiated contact with his mentor in recent weeks about coming onboard in a coaching capacity but the heir apparent, Kenny, has not yet confirmed if Keane will fulfill the same role for him when he takes over in 2020.

That aside, the Dubliner is determined to occupy the ultimate hot seat in the future.

“Of course, yes,” he told Eamon Dunphy about his appetite for the top job in an interview to be broadcast tonight on eir Sport.

I’m more enthusiastic now than I was when I was when I was younger. That’s the avenue I want to go down and I’ve been doing my coaching badges. I want to do stuff and be active, being buzzy and training. I don’t want to be one of those players who becomes fat, drinks and plays golf all the time, thinking that my life is fine. I’m excited about what’s coming next and don’t have any fear.

Although he’s Ireland’s most capped player, the 38-year-old realises he’s no divine right to walk straight into a managerial post and is ready to serve his apprenticeship.

He said: “Outside of football, people think “Ah, he’ll walk into the Chelsea job tomorrow” but it doesn’t work like that. It doesn’t matter how successful someone was as a player, they still have to earn it. That’s what I did during my playing career, so I’m prepared to do it again. I did some television work with Sky Sports to keep me in the game but coaching is the route I am going for.”

His first official foray into that field will take place in the humble surrounds of the Victoria Stadium after Gibraltar convinced Uefa not to switch venue to the larger Faro arena where Keane fired in a brace just over three years ago.

It remains to be seen how the FAI distribute their official allocation of just 300 tickets for a match sure to be high in demand.

Ireland will host Georgia three days after meeting Gibraltar, meeting the minnows again in June as part of a double-header which includes the rematch against Denmark in Copenhagen.