THE BRADY BUZZ
Robbie’s winner gave me a huge thrill, says Keane
HE was always the barnstorming, team-mate-rollicking, vein-in-thetemple-throbbing captain of Ireland and Manchester United who demanded the best, but Roy Keane says he no longer lets football consume him like it used to.
In a wide-ranging interview on Newstalk’s Off the Ball last night, the Ireland assistant manager was adamant that he never lost his love of the game following his sacking as Ipswich Town manager in 2011 and revealed the sight of Robbie Brady celebrating his famous goal against Italy at Euro 2016 last summer was the sort of buzz which has kept him hooked all these years.
However, while Keane stressed that he now has a more hands-on role on the training pitch with the Ireland squad in his position as Martin O’Neill’s assistant, he was at pains to point out that he is not one to mirco-manage every little detail.
‘It’s not about stopping a training session and telling everyone where to stand and go. When you’re working with good players, its about football intelligence,’ he said.
‘I still like the idea of being a manager and calling the shots but the beauty of international football is that I’m getting a taste of being on the training pitch and then having a big input with Martin in terms of selection and the final XI, I’m getting the best of both worlds.
‘The element of management and coaching, I’d sway for the management side of things I have to say but I’m also enjoying my role that I’ve got at the moment… It doesn’t mean to say I’m shutting any doors on myself going back into club football.’
The focus now, with Wales coming to Dublin in just over a week’s time for a crucial World Cup qualifier, will be to help guide Ireland to Russia next summer. Six years after Ipswich sacked him as boss, Keane’s rejuvenation under O’Neill could soon be complete.
‘I suppose everyone loves the game when you are winning. You can get frustrated with what’s going on around the outside of the game with chief executives, agents et cetera, the beauty with the Irish job is that I can hone in on the matches and the players on the pitch and not get bogged down by off-the-field stuff.’
Although he still has his fair share of such duties to carry out every weekend. ‘That’s not all it’s cracked up to be either,’ he deadpanned. ‘I enjoy watching the Irish players. I went to Wigan and Bristol on Saturday and [Callum] O’Dowda was on the bench so you travel and think “My God, the one player I’ve come to watch is on the bench”.
‘That’s the risk you always take but this idea of travelling to the matches and meeting people for a cup of tea at half time... let me tell you that doesn’t rock my boat. Sometimes when you go to these grounds you can’t even get a decent cup of tea and you make a lot of small talk with people you don’t want to have small talk with.
‘You bump into lots of idiots on your travels so don’t be kidded that it’s all glamorous. The idea of networking small talk and sitting in car parks and motorways for hours, that doesn’t give me a buzz in the mornings when I wake up. Watching matches and watching good players, that’s great.’
None more so than when Brady’s brave header sent Ireland into the last 16 against France in the summer.
‘You don’t get many of them in your career, your life, Robbie’s goal that night. You saw his reaction from his family and that’s the satisfaction you get,’ he said.
‘Listen, you don’t go back to your hotel and start jumping on the bed, but you look around people, you look around the staff members, not that I’m blasé about success. Thank God I was at United and won one or two trophies. But that’s the buzz I get, watching other people enjoy it. The reaction and the supporters. It’s nice to know you’re giving people a lot of satisfaction.
‘The fact I was fortunate enough to play and now still be involved at senior level, I do enjoy that, don’t get me wrong. Don’t think for one minute that I take it all for granted. No, no, this idea, do I get great satisfaction, where does the buzz come from? The buzz comes from working with good young players, watching the staff, the buzz in the dressing room afterwards, the bus journey with the singsong and people having a few pints.’