NOT KEANE ON ANYONE
But Tractor Roy should be looking up to Mick McCarthy
IT'S not surprising Roy Keane doesn't like anyone that much. Deep down he doesn't really seem to like himself.
Keane is the type of man who will look you in the eye, swear he has no regrets and promise he doesn't look back.
Yet he appears haunted by rejection, unfulfilled ambition and insecurity.
Keane, back in football as manager of Ipswich, is constantly beating himself up.
You might think that strange, given most pundits and professionals drool when they tell you how great a player he was.
Not so strange when you hear Keane himself decries that notion and even claims to have under-achieved in his playing career.
"I wasn't a great player," he snapped at his introductory Press conference. "And I should have won more at Forest and United and done more with Celtic."
Those closest to him will tell you Keane is still haunted by the fact he was overlooked as a youngster by so many English clubs before Brian Clough gave him a lifeline at Nottingham Forest.
Understandably, he remains on a defiant mission. "There is always a point to prove," as he admitted on Thursday.
And despite all the bluster and the damning indictment of former United team-mates, an insecurity lingers that actually he might not be up to the task of being a good, let alone great, football manager.
Like many physically tough men, there is a fragile streak that runs strong through Keane's psyche. He's football's Tony Soprano.
I saw that vividly the night Manchester United beat Bayern Munich in Barcelona to win the European Cup 10 years ago.
Keane was suspended for that final. He waited until everyone had gone before he left the dressing room to walk, alone, through the bowels of the Nou Camp towards the team bus. No doubt he assumed all the cameras and hacks had left but way past midnight a few of us were still hanging around.
You might expect Keane to have barked "Up yer b******s" when asked if he could do a quick interview.
Charm
Instead, with great charm and dignity, he stood there in club blazer and talked engagingly, shunning any reflected glory having rejected a winner's medal.
His pride would not allow him to admit he was hurt at having missed out on such a great night nor talk in terms of making up for it the next season. But behind that glaring stare one could sense his pain.
And I think what angered him most about some United players after that season was that, in Keane's view, they lacked the yearning hunger and edge to go all the way in Europe again.
He never got another proper shot at that redemption and it is probably why things went so sour before he quit Old Trafford.
Such exacting standards of ambition and desire were at the root of his fall-out with Mick McCarthy prior to the 2002 World Cup finals.
But there was a lot more to it than that. Partly because of McCarthy's Yorkshire roots and partly because of Keane's scornful view that McCarthy was both a 'c**p player' and 'c**p manager' not fit to tell a proud Cork boy how to go about things at his last World Cup.
Given Keane has as many mood swings as the Montreux Jazz Festival, perhaps he will now look at McCarthy in a different light, swallow his pride and accept he can learn a lot from Big Mick. He ought to.
At the very least, he might understand a manager has to think of everybody, not just himself, as Keane so selfishly did in Saipan.
It was, of course, ironic Keane took over from McCarthy at Sunderland. Denied funds to build on promotion, McCarthy got the bullet when the club went straight back down. Newly-promoted Wolves have profited from McCarthy's thrifty acumen.
Success in management is relative and what McCarthy has done on the budget he has been given puts him among the best pound-for-pound bosses in the country.
In contrast, Keane spent more than £80million at Sunderland. That sort of money should get a team pushing for the Champions League.
Relegation
Keane cites one of the main reasons he left Sunderland as boardroom interference.
But what did he expect when, after all the big spending, the club were hurtling towards relegation?
Rich as Ipswich owner Marcus Evans is, I don't think Keane can expect that level of interference at Portman Road. Asked of his long-term ambitions, Keane said: "Do I think I could manage a top team like Man United, Liverpool or Arsenal? You bet your life I think I can.
"But maybe not just yet. Like everyone else, I'm also learning my trade."
From where Keane sits at the moment he would be wise to look up to McCarthy every bit as much as Alex Ferguson or Clough.
If not, then in a couple of years you can just see Keane staring into the mirror with De Niro-like menace and shouting: "Hey, c**p manager . . . you looking at me?"
Now get the News of World print edition for more from Rob Shepherd
This article has 1 comment
McCarthy is a crap manager in Premier League and international terms. He might be the best lower league manager but to then be put in charge of a national team was poor decision making. The quality of football in PL and INT is far beyond his understanding. He is one of those managers who will be cursed with the success ha has cos every time he gets promoted he will then be relegated. He'd do well to resign from every team when they are promoted and start again somewhere else. I and Keane would probably respect him then.
By devilinhell. Posted April 26 2009 at 2:34 PM.