February 17, 2011
By Staff Reporter
Many a story is told of the Irish general at the training ground. He’d burst around practice telling players off if they did not do the right thing during the “practice” game. Recently, though, Keane is a little more patient toward his teammates. In the locker room he takes more of a back seat and lets the likes of Gary Neville bust some chops. But if things get out of hand, Keane steps in and sorts out any nonsense. Most of the young players at Old Trafford will tell you Keane is the main man when it comes to them settling in at Manchester.
Some years ago, United was up against West Ham United. It was considered a no contest as Man. U. at the time was unbeatable in the league and West Ham was struggling. The atmosphere wasn’t right as the United players and staff fell into camp. It was obvious the Man. U. players thought it was to be a stroll in the park. The Hammers hit them with an early goal. Within minutes of the goal Keane made his rounds and spoke to most if not all of his players. We can only assume it was to the point and abrupt. It worked. United responded with a quick equalizer and went on to win, 7-1.
Given the competitive type of man Keane is as a captain and player, we can only imagine what he’d be like as a manager. It is also believed within the game that Keane has a sharp mind when it comes to the game itself. However, at the minute it seems we are even further away from Keane moving on as he is in such fine form. At the weekend, in a 5-2 victory over Crystal Palace, Keane, Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs were outstanding. The Cork man has bounced right back to dominating the midfield role under the coaching guidance of Carlos Queiroz.
Talk that Keane would move on to Celtic is on the back boiler. Rather than getting closer to that move, it now looks like he is further away from Glasgow, as he could easily finish his playing career at Old Trafford. It would be a better move to stay there should he go on to coach there. It’s also assumed that he has his eye on making the 2006 World Cup games to be held in Germany. Once again this makes more sense that he would stay with United so as to keep his game at the top level with World Cup preparation in mind. A couple of years back going north was on the cards for Keane, but what a comeback. Many greats play on to their mid-30s and many finish in a blaze of glory in the World Cup. The road is paved for Keane to win more honors at United and prove himself on the World Cup platform. A platform that caved in on him once before. Of course, anything can happen with the time bomb from Cork. But for once it seems he is on his way to finishing out a playing career destined to be legendary. The question is can he achieve such success as a manager? Or to put things simpler, can he even make it as a manager?
Well it’s looking good for Keane to go on and do all right in a managerial career. Many an Alex Ferguson player has gone down that road already. Steve Bruce is with Birmingham, Mark Hughes is with Blackburn Rovers, and Bryan Robson is with West Bromwich Albion. All three managers are battling it out in the bottom half of the table, just over the relegation zone. At the weekend, Birmingham thrashed West Brom, 4-0, while Blackburn held high-flying Everton to a nil-all draw.
Another ex-United man waiting on the touchlines to make his comeback to the premier is Gordon Strachan. The fiery Scot was doing really well with Southampton but decided to take a break from the pressure. While he turned down a possible move to Portsmouth, it sure looks like Strachan is on his way back. Since Harry Redknapp left Portsmouth, former United player Joe Jordan has taken over first-team duties. Losing to Arsenal 1-nil over the weekend was his first defeat in five games. However, the big ex-center forward makes it clear he is only into coaching and not management.
Ex-Uniteds are everywhere indeed. Obviously the Old Trafford experience pays dividends for players and staff who want to further their careers. What’s got to be a prime example of Ferguson’s philosophy in encouraging his staff to move on is the departure and return of Queiroz.
When Queiroz settled in at Old Trafford a couple of years ago, United looked set to keep their winning ways intact. The new look about United rattled the giants of Europe. Everybody knew Ferguson was on to something hiring Queiroz as No. 2. And though it’s taken a while for United to settle down this season, things are beginning to click.
It’s not necessarily the first 11 that’s clicking, but, rather, how the entire squad is moving in and out of the lineup. Every player is getting rest and that spells a long season for opponents. It is hard to get a handle on how United play. It’s even more difficult to plan against particular players as they may be rested or dropped. However, should opposition need to really do their homework on beating United, Roy Keane is the player they need to cancel out, and that’s difficult to achieve. Imagine what it’s going to be like to beat him as a manager.