IRELAND manager Martin O’Neill has had discussions with Aston Villa boss Paul Lambert about the possibility of Roy Keane joining the midlands club as assistant manager.
“I’ve spoken to Paul Lambert. Paul has spoken to Roy about it, the possibility. I think at this minute, Roy and I wanted to get this trip [Ireland’s US tour] out of the way. I spoke to him the other day and I think his mind is still the same. One thing I wanted to establish is what sort of in-depth conversations have gone on but I don’t think that’s really been the case.”
O’Neill also said that he didn’t believe Keane could have performed the Celtic and Ireland assistant jobs.
“I was asked that there about the Celtic thing and really, genuinely, I was never sure that Roy would take it, even inwardly although I was never sure, because he had enjoyed the summer [games].
“ … I don’t think there was a possibility of combining any roles there. I think that [Celtic] is a full time commitment. I don’t know how far that developed . . . it certainly never came back to me. But I couldn’t have seen that: you are a full-time manager, you are going into a job and you might get an international break but you are totally focused on the club.
“I would know that having been a club manager myself. Never having been as assistant, I don’t know what that would entail. So there is no point in me guessing something. If I thought there was a possibility of combining roles – whether Roy decides to go back and do TV work or anything, then I would have conversations with him and John Delaney. ”
“And you know what, and I say this for what it’s worth, if the Celtic thing had become such a lure that you couldn’t turn it down – and you would all have different views on it, whether you’d do it or not, I’d have to say deep down if he was a full-time member . . . listen, he treats his job in a full-time manner, that’s Roy.
“He goes to a lot of functions for the FAI, does a lot of those things and some of those there he might not be able to make if that’s the case. But he has treated a part-time job in a full-time manner and I have not and don’t feel let down by him.
“You made the point that what would the Irish nation make of it, that’s entirely their prerogative to feel whatever they do. Roy has always polarised opinions so that’s not a problem. These things are . . . I can’t look into the future, I don’t know what sort of things are going to crop up. But if you have a chance of being a manager and then an assistant manager, I’m never sure what’s next, maybe a piano player in a pub or something . . . I don’t know myself.”
