Roy Keane: My dream managerial job would be the Republic of Ireland

In the latest episode of Stick to Football, Keane confirms that he did speak to the FAI earlier this year, but insisted nothing should be read into that.

Mon, 24 Jun, 2024 - 14:10

Andrew Horgan

Roy Keane says his dream managerial job would be to take charge of the Republic of Ireland - but he fears he may have missed the boat at this stage.

In the latest episode of Stick to Football, Keane confirms that he did speak to the FAI earlier this year, but insisted nothing should be read into that.

“I spoke to loads of teams. You can speak to anyone, but it doesn’t mean that anything is going to happen because the deal needs to be done and that takes a while to be finalised.

"If you’re going to sit down with someone in a room, the clubs need to be serious in their approach, but a lot of the time, they aren’t and are just timewasters, just looking for headlines in the press.”

Keane told fellow guests on the show: “If I could manage any team in the world, it would be going back to the Republic of Ireland job. I enjoyed the international setup when I was working with Martin O’Neill. I liked the dynamics and the flow of international football, and it wasn’t 24 hours a day, but I was still working at a high level.

"The dream job would be working for the national team, but I think that ship has sailed.

He added: “I’m not sure if I will manage again. I was doing a few coaching courses before I left Celtic and then managing at Sunderland all happened accidentally, but I loved my time there.

"However, what I enjoy now is that I have great freedom in my life, and I answer to nobody. I’ve got my deals with a few TV companies, but if any of them called me up tomorrow to cancel my deal, then I wouldn’t be bothered as I’m comfortable.

“With Sunderland, I fell into it accidentally and I wasn’t sure, but I’d only return to management if the offer was good, and I don’t think that’s going to happen.

“The only thing that would get me back into management is that I believe that I would do a good job, wherever I went. Maybe that’s my ego, but also if I didn’t get back into management, then I’d be fine with that.”

Not that he didn’t make mistakes that he could learn from: “I’m quite an impatient person in general, but I was impatient as a manager which backfired for me.

"I remember going up to Sunderland and they offered me a five-year deal and I only wanted a three-year deal, then I went to Ipswich, and they offered me three years, but I only wanted a two-year deal – I always had the ambition of getting the job done quickly.

“We talk about it on commentary about how managers need more time, and I should have given myself that when I was managing, so as much as I am impatient with other people, I’m more impatient with myself. I should have been easier on myself, particularly at Sunderland.

"We talk about managing up, the club was going through an ownership change, I had one more year of my contract, we were in the Premier League and doing okay, but at the time I remember thinking that we needed to be doing better.

“When I reflect on that time, I was 35 years old and managing in the Premier League as my first managerial role, I was inexperienced so I should have given myself more time. I did the same at Ipswich where I couldn’t get anything going or any momentum.”