Roy Keane - new assistant manager (CONFIRMED)

[Dave]

Some earlier poster mentioned that his contacts might help us in the transfer market. 

For the love of McGrath, I hope he would have absolutely no input into that side of things at all. 

He spunked a phenomenal amount of money at Slumberland on some absolute tat. 

I expect that we'll have Carlos Edwards, Daryl Murphy and Grant Leadbitter in the squad by the end of the summer.

They basically seem to go where he goes.

[pauliewalnuts]

On the bright side, maybe if his role is entirely in coaching, he'll be prevented from influencing the repeat of some of the major, major transfer bollocks he dropped at Sunderland.

In fact, maybe he's going to be told "make our midfield good, and stay away from everything else".

[brian green]

I hope you are right Paulie. There is a lifetime of coaching work in KEA alone before he even starts on Sylla (if he is there to work on) then stiffening up Westwood game. Perhaps by chance something has been done to address our age old glaring midfield inadequacies. I don't think it is planned, nothing we do is planned but some good may come of it if Keane accepts that he must coach not browbeat the downtrodden players he inherits to work with.

[Monty]

Some top notch backtracking there by monty,

I wondered how he was going to come back from that one

Monty is a high quality poster, I'm surprised he's let that one out. Schoolboy error that.

He is and he's allowed a slip every so often. We all have weak moments. God knows I've had plenty.

I still think he's overrated. There, I said it. People act like he was the second coming as a player, whereas he was a fantastic captain in a driving-on sense, a pretty good player and a disciplinary liability in what was a much weaker league than we have now. Like Cantona - he was a god up at United but nobody in Europe could really give a shit.

Anyway, more seriously, I still want to know why, with Culverhouse and Karsa and now Keane, Lambert is so intent on having assistants known for what might kindly be called no-nonsense (really, why are his only friends thugs and bullies?).

[Phil from the upper holte]

From the Irish Examiner: Martin O'Neill has expressed his delight at Roy Keane's decision to stay on with Ireland and, rather than surrender to another round of speculation, is determined to leave the subject of a possible role for his assistant at Aston Villa "on the back burner" until the completion of the team's short American tour.

[RussellC]

On the bright side, maybe if his role is entirely in coaching, he'll be prevented from influencing the repeat of some of the major, major transfer bollocks he dropped at Sunderland.

In fact, maybe he's going to be told "make our midfield good, and stay away from everything else".

When you look at a player like Westwood, he has all of the physical attributes that Keane did as a footballer, just not perhaps the tenacity, drive, confidence or nastiness. If Keane could instill these into him, there's still time and scope for a top footballer to be developed.

I'm clutching at straws now, aren't I?

[brontebilly]

Some top notch backtracking there by monty,

I wondered how he was going to come back from that one

Monty is a high quality poster, I'm surprised he's let that one out. Schoolboy error that.

He is and he's allowed a slip every so often. We all have weak moments. God knows I've had plenty.

I still think he's overrated. There, I said it. People act like he was the second coming as a player, whereas he was a fantastic captain in a driving-on sense, a pretty good player and a disciplinary liability in what was a much weaker league than we have now. Like Cantona - he was a god up at United but nobody in Europe could really give a shit

Revisionist nonsense pal.

Keane announced himself to a European audience on a very wet night in Seville for Ireland in 93. He was outstanding in USA94 and Ireland's best player at that tournament. He personally dominated many an international midfield after that, particularly at home to Portugal in 01. Even his last game for Ireland at home to France in 05 he didn't give Zidane a kick. He did all this playing next to the likes of honest but limited triers like Kilbane, Holland and Kinsella.

At European level the likes of Redondo and Effenberg got the better of him near the end but for about 5 years before then he was the best European midfielder at club level. Witness how average Butt and Scholes were at international level without him.

A lot was made of Keane's fear factor as a player but he was very good with the ball, was well able to score, run with the ball, tackle, tactically superb. Vieira was a superb player but Keane was better and I'd say that view was held across Europe at the time.

He pisses all over Cantona, gifted tho he was, who was essentially a flat track bully in a weak English top division.

[QBVILLA]

Some top notch backtracking there by monty,

I wondered how he was going to come back from that one

Monty is a high quality poster, I'm surprised he's let that one out. Schoolboy error that.

He is and he's allowed a slip every so often. We all have weak moments. God knows I've had plenty.

I still think he's overrated. There, I said it. People act like he was the second coming as a player, whereas he was a fantastic captain in a driving-on sense, a pretty good player and a disciplinary liability in what was a much weaker league than we have now. Like Cantona - he was a god up at United but nobody in Europe could really give a shit.

Anyway, more seriously, I still want to know why, with Culverhouse and Karsa and now Keane, Lambert is so intent on having assistants known for what might kindly be called no-nonsense (really, why are his only friends thugs and bullies?).

Weren't Juventus in for him at the time he negotiated his £50k a week contract, making him the highest paid player in England at the time?

[RussellC]

I'd also disagree that it was a "much weaker league than we have now." I think the likes of Ronaldo, Bergkamp, Zola and co would have something to say about it.

[supertom]

I'd also disagree that it was a "much weaker league than we have now." I think the likes of Ronaldo, Bergkamp, Zola and co would have something to say about it.

Yeah I think the Prem has got worse in the last 10 years. We're not blessed with quite as many standout, world class players as years gone by. Even then they tend to find the grass is a bit greener and fudge off to Spain.
The lower end sides are a lot worse than they used to be too.

[RussellC]

I'd also disagree that it was a "much weaker league than we have now." I think the likes of Ronaldo, Bergkamp, Zola and co would have something to say about it.

Yeah I think the Prem has got worse in the last 10 years. We're not blessed with quite as many standout, world class players as years gone by. Even then they tend to find the grass is a bit greener and fudge off to Spain.
The lower end sides are a lot worse than they used to be too.

Yep - and sadly we're about as good an indicator in the drop in quality as you can get.

[Dante Lavelli]

This is a quote from an ex Man U coach (casually name dropping - see if you can spot it) which does somewhat support my belief that we need a different sort of coach to Keane:

"I worked with a guy called Cristiano Ronaldo at Manchester United. From a young age he decided he wanted to be the best in the world and was going to go on a mission to get there. As a coach, I listened to what he needed and tried to help him achieve just that. Part of that was giving him space to hone those skills. Cristiano would stay behind for 40 minutes every day and, without anyone watching, he would work on his skills without pressure. Skills thrive without pressure."

The whole interview can be found here:
http://www.shortlist.com/entertainment/sport/how-england-can-win-future-world-cups

[Drummond]

The reality of the situation is that we've no idea how Keane shapes up as a coach.

Given that he has worked under Clough and Ferguson as his managers and coaches like Kidd, McLaren, Phelan and Quieroz, I'd say he's got a pretty good idea about how to do the job. He's clearly fairly intelligent and knows the game well.

Just because he was aggressive on the pitch, doesn't mean he'd be a nutcase off it.

I'd also doubt that MON would tolerate an idiot in his midst, and certainly not someone that would cock it up for him either.

[ChicagoLion]

I agree Keane was a hell of a player, if you had put Keane in the Villa team at his pomp we would have won silverware and been competing for trophy's every season. He made a decent Manu team a great team.

I don't care what people think of him as a person but as a footballer he was outstanding.

[Chico Hamilton III]

The reality of the situation is that we've no idea how Keane shapes up as a coach.

Apart from his 2 spells as a coach, both of which  ended acrimoniously

Just because he was aggressive on the pitch, doesn't mean he'd be a nutcase off it.

I think it's common knowledge that the bloke is a nutcase off the pitch. It's been well documented