Martin O’Neill believes Roy Keane’s role as his assistant manager “will be brilliant for the Republic of Ireland” and that Keane “ has points to prove” in football.
O’Neill appeared alongside John Delaney at the Gibson Hotel this afternoon and told the assembled press he sees Keane as “an iconic figure, a great, great player.”
The issue of Keane’s infamous temperament was raised, inevitably, and O’Neill talked of his admiration for Keane, built over his time working with him for ITV.
“All I do know is from working with him...doing television work in the champions league games. I have found him very, very engaging, I have found his thirst for knowledge amazing,” O’Neill said.
“All told I think it will be great. I think it will be great for me for a start...but more importantly I think it will be brilliant for the Republic of Ireland... I think, like all of us in the game, I think he has points to prove,”he added.
O’Neill touched on the topic of Sir Alex Ferguson’s comments on Keane in his recently released autobiography. “I see Sir Alex Ferguson’s points there that he said that perhaps maybe Roy might have gone into management too soon. I don’t really know that.”
O’Neill spoke of his happiness in accepting the role, and his warmth towards the press and the job at hand will surely please FAI officials keen to get away from the more abrasive style we had become accustomed to with Giovanni Trapattoni. O’Neill said: “[It is a] genuine privilege and pleasure to be here today. Privilege being manager of the Republic of Ireland. I’m genuinely excited by it and looking forward to it immensely and just really pleased to be here.”
O’Neill explained that he had dealt with reservations regarding making the switch from club management to the international game, with the lack of contact time with players his most pressing concern.
“That is the thing that I probably was pondering over most. Not the fact that it was the Republic of Ireland, quite the opposite, but really it was the idea of stepping in from day to day management, which I had done for twenty odd years, into managing an international team.”
Listen to the full press conference via the player below and tune in after 3pm to hear O'Neill speaking with Ger Gilroy in an exclusive Off the Ball interview
