MARY HANNIGANgets the feeling that moving on is proving difficult for others but not Roy Keane.
ROY KEANE is looking a little exasperated. He’s just completed his press conference and a huddle with the media as part of his commitment to the Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind, who launched their Shades fundraising campaign at the Radisson St Helen’s Hotel in Dublin yesterday.
It’s his 10th year supporting the charity. And it’s 10 years since you-know-what.
“Is it a wedding anniversary, or something?! People need to move on! When I come here for the Guide Dogs I’ve got to be polite and answer questions, but people must be fed up of it – because I know I am.”
Yes, the topic of Saipan occupied some of the morning chat, Keane’s barb or two in the direction of Mick McCarthy, John Delaney, Packie Bonner and Alan Kelly suggesting he’s not entirely over it himself. But still, he says he’s at a loss to understand why, a decade on, “people are still so focused on it”.
You remind him that we’re still quite energised about, say, 1916 – so, relatively speaking, 2002 was only last week.
“Yeah, that’s true,” he laughs. “But you know, I won’t be going to bed tonight thinking about Saipan. Just like I don’t think about any of the good or bad things that happened in my career. They were just part of my journey. They’re over.”
Sadly, another journey came to an end a few weeks back with the death of Triggs, the Golden Labrador who appeared on television almost as often as the Angelus in those post-Saipan days.
Earlier at the press conference Keane revealed she’d “passed away”, age 13, after a battle with a tumour that lasted “a couple of years”.
Hard to take? “You can say that again. Unless you’ve had a dog you’d never understand. She was a great dog and went through a lot with me. You’ll have me crying in a minute, so be careful. Na, na, listen, she had a good life.”
Later, in private, he seems to find it harder to talk about Triggs than Saipan. “She was there throughout my career, the ups and downs, the good times and the bad. The beauty was that no matter what was going on she needed walking. And she’d look at me and . . . ah, that’s life, isn’t it? She was really ill the last few months. The man upstairs looked after her.”
He also believes “the man upstairs” is looking after him, not least during this spell in his life when he’s waiting for his next managerial opportunity. “I’ve always been in football, but I’m a great believer that when I’m out of it I’m meant to be out of it. If I’m meant to get back in to it in the next few months, the man upstairs will look after me. He always has. I don’t think I know what’s best for me, I think sometimes that’s taken care of, I really believe that.
“But there can be a danger when you have too much time on your hands, boredom can kick in. I’d put it along the lines of stories I read about people who were in the military – you do miss that routine, the challenge, the crack with the lads, I miss all that. But I came in (to Dublin) last night, I had the evening to myself, under no pressure from nobody, no silly phone calls, not answering to anyone.”
Earlier at the press conference, though, he admitted he is eager to get another chance.
“But look, there are a lot of really good football people who have been out of work for donkeys’ years. I have to get my head around that, it might be another two or three years.”
For now, he’s busying himself as a television pundit and newspaper columnist. He doesn’t see himself doing it in the long term, but he enjoys it, even hinting that he might yet work on the RTÉ panel, sandwiched between John Giles and Eamon Dunphy. (The mind boggles).
His work with ITV contributed to a further cooling of his relationship with Alex Ferguson, one that was already chilly enough. When Manchester United were knocked out of the Champions League Keane had a pop, saying they got what they deserved. Ferguson’s response was a touch cutting: “I don’t know why you are bringing this up from a television critic. Roy had an opportunity to prove himself as a manager and it’s a hard job.
“But I understood where he was coming from,” says Keane. “It was only natural he was going to come out and have a dig back because he’s going to defend his players. But when there were snidey comments coming I had a little dig back . . . you have to defend yourself when people are being critical of your managerial record, or whatever. Players like myself helped him get the record he’s got. People should remember that.”
Did he envisage a time he would have a good relationship again with Ferguson?
“I wouldn’t have thought so, no.”
Still, he doesn’t rule out the possibility that Ferguson might yet win the league this season. “I think everyone needs to remember what a tough game Man City have got going up to Newcastle. There’s a bit of doom and gloom around United, but if they do lose the league it won’t be down to that result – it’s the Everton game that will come back to haunt them.
“But I’d never write them off. United are still the best club, still have the best manager and the best supporters. I was pretty upset the other night when they got beaten and I don’t like feeling that way because you have to try to move on. But I still have loyalty to United, no matter what way I finished with the club, or whatever my relationship with the manager might be.”
Meanwhile, could the Republic of Ireland do a Greece? European-Championships-winning-wise, that is, not economically.
“I’d be surprised,” he said, but he’s convinced they can go through to the next round. “The first game is vital. You have to have something on the board going in to the second.
“Lose your first and it’s an uphill battle. I think Croatia are a very, very good team – but you can’t build them up to be monsters.
“And never underestimate yourself – if Ireland do that, they’ll have a chance. Can they get out of the group? Of course they can.”
And then he doffs his cap to the manager, with a hint of a grin – lest we forget. “Trapattoni will be well organised. I don’t think there’ll be any problem with the facilities.”
Ten years on, you’d hope not.
KEANE SPEAK:
Roy on . . . . . Fergie, Ipswich, Gary Neville, Scholes, Gibson, McCarthy, McClean, Ireland's Euro 2012 ambitions and . . . . . . Saipan
Leaving his fate in other hands
“I’ve always been in football but I’m a great believer that when I’m out of it I’m meant to be out of it. If I’m meant to get back in to it in the next few months, the man upstairs will look after me, He always has. I don’t think I know what’s best for me, I think sometimes that’s taken care of, I really believe that.”
His run-in with Alex Ferguson earlier this season (when the manager hit back at Keane after he criticised United’s young players)
“When there were snidey comments coming I had a little dig back . . . you have to defend yourself when people are being critical of your managerial record, or whatever . . . Players like myself and other ex-players helped him get the record he’s got. People should remember that.”
The possibility of having a good relationship with Alex Ferguson again
“I wouldn’t have thought so, no. He’s a busy man. I’m fairly busy.”
His Ipswich experience
“I just didn’t do a very good job down there. I can be self-critical. I still think I can be a good manager but I didn’t manage well at my time at Ipswich . . . (but) I took the Ipswich job before I met the chief executive. I know that was a mistake.”
Gary Neville’s role with Sky Sports
“I don’t really listen to Gary. No, no, no – I mean that in a nice way. I played with Gary 11, 12 years, I listened to him enough then.”
Paul Scholes coming out of retirement
“I was surprised at the time, yeah. One of the reasons he retired . . . he wasn’t necessarily selected for a lot of the big games. That’s how I’d judge a top player . . . Whether he came back to play against the Fulhams, the Sunderlands, and that, I don’t know. You’d have to ask him.”
Darron Gibson
“I think he’s done well at Everton, but he’s got a lot to learn Darron, hasn’t he?”
James McCarthy
“I’ve not analysed him, I’m not even sure if he played in the one or two (Wigan) games I’ve been at.”
Whether James McClean should be in the Euro 2012 squad
“If it was my call, yeah, you’d have to (pick him). I know he’s young, but sometimes it doesn’t matter. He affects the game. He scores goals, he gets assists, he’s got a good attitude . . . personally I’d throw him in there, but there are two sides to every argument. Football’s all about opinions, that’s why we fall out with people.”
Ireland’s Euro 2012 ambitions
“There’ve been good noises coming out of camp, like from John O’Shea, ‘we want to make an impact, we want to do well’ – that’s great, instead of ‘let’s go over there and enjoy ourselves’.”
Saipan revisited
Mick did send you home?
“Mick sent me nowhere. I told him where to go.”
That’s what he said at his press conference.
“That’s not true. Was this the press conference that was done within half an hour of the private meeting with, what’s his name, the lad who organised the media? Piss-up in brewery springs to mind, but there you go.
“I had a disagreement, if you remember, with one or two of the goalkeepers because they didn’t want to train.
“Y’know, if you don’t want to train a couple of weeks before the World Cup . . . it doesn’t surprise me why these players didn’t win too much in their careers. And that’s not being disrespectful, that’s a fact.
“Even when I came back with Ireland, I passed (John) Delaney in a few hotels in Paris and he wouldn’t even say hello. Listen, obviously it takes two to tango, I know that.
“Considering the question marks over me with Ireland, I played 60-odd times and when you look back on my injuries, I still think that wasn’t a bad return. And the most important thing for me is that when I did play I always felt I did okay.
“I don’t just look back on my time with Ireland and feel disappointed because of what happened in Saipan. I go back to under-15, under-16. I was with the Irish Under-17s in Malta, I wasn’t involved, I was actually told to get the balls behind the goals by one or two of the staff. Trust me, lads, there’s another book here somewhere.”
This year's Shades campaign runs from May 7th to 13th and aims to raise funds for the provision of services for people living with sight loss or autism. See guidedogs.iefor more details.
