Speaking exclusively with BOYLE Sports , former Republic of Ireland forward Kevin Doyle has describes former teammate Keith Andrews start with Brentford but warns against him making the move to pastures new anytime soon and argues he's too young for the Ireland job yet.
Doyle , who made 62 appearances for the Republic of Ireland , has discussed Roy Keane’s potential return to management and his links to Man Utd arguing that he could've turned the club around instantly.
The former League of Ireland striker plays down talk that Roy could return to the Domestic League in the future and suggests that only the Republic of Ireland role would interest the Corkman and offers his perspective on the latest comments from Eamonn Dunphy.
Keith Andrews
Andrews “Fabulous” Start
It’s been a fabulous start. I know Keith reasonably well; I played with him for a good number of years. I also did a bit of TV work with him. He was always very good at analysing games, getting into real detail. That seems to have transferred into his ability to get his point across and speak to people, and now into his managerial career.
Obviously, everyone knows it was a big appointment to give him the job with so little experience, but they clearly saw something behind the scenes in how he was working, particularly on set pieces. They put their trust in him, and so far, it’s been repaid.
He's doing better in the league than you would expect. He's had a really good start. Hopefully, he'll be a manager for a long time, years and years to build up a career. Things can come and go very quickly in this job, but so far, he couldn't have hoped for a better start. Like everything in life, you find out more about someone when the pressure is on, and things aren't going quite so well. That's going to happen to him, as it happens to everyone, and he knows that. I'm fairly certain he knows he'll go through a bad spell as a manager. How he deals with that will be key.
I suppose the one thing is that, as a manager, in the majority of cases, you'll have learned what it's like when things aren't going well, maybe at a lower level or not as much in the media. For him, when it starts, it's going to be as a Premier League manager, which I’m sure will be extremely intense and interesting to deal with. But it's brilliant. Keith is a very nice guy, and it’s great to see an Irish person, an Irish manager , doing very well.
Could He Attract Interest?
If I were Keith personally, I would want to get a few years under my belt. It's very hard to turn down fabulous offers, but I would be more along the lines of, ‘Listen, I've got a great job. I'm learning on the job at the end of the day. But I do get that, although it's the Premier League , it's not one of the massive clubs in the Premier League.
As an Irish person watching him and wanting him to do well as a manager and have a long career, I would say stay where you are. As long as they want you, stay there for three or four years to learn your job. It's very hard to turn down anything. Whether you're a player and you're at a club and you have a good first year there, it's the same thing. When a big club comes along, you don't know if that's going to be your one chance to take it or not. But it's the same for him now as a manager, in his first year as a coach.
Personally, looking at it, I think he should and needs to stay and get more experience.
A Future Ireland Manager?
I think he's too young. You don't want to be too, you know, he's a young man, and the international job, in my opinion, is for someone older than me and Keith . Someone in the second half of his career, who has learned and had a good career as a manager. Again, who knows? He might think differently. He might want that different style of life, not day-to-day management. He might be more into that.
I can't speak for him. But you want someone as international manager who's had a long club career, who's sort of seen it all and is more winding down and doesn't need the day-to-day side of it, which is what you get with the international job. Carlo Ancelotti has done it right. What a legend.
Will Keith Andrews Eventually Manage Ireland?
Roy Keane
Keen On Keane For United
They've tried everything else, haven't they? They've gone down the experienced route, they've gone the new, sort of, sexy manager route, they've gone the Jose Mourinho 'going to win you trophies' route. They've tried everything in the last, what, 10 years, probably since Sir Alex Ferguson left. So, I can see why the ex-players and people around the club were saying, ‘You might as well just try Roy .
But, if you're the owner, I suppose you're thinking, would I put my trust in someone who hasn't managed? I think Roy's last job was Ipswich , and that's almost 15 years ago. I would say most of the players who were playing had probably borne the wrath of his TV analysis. It would have been a massive, massive gamble.
It may well have worked out because when he was a manager, he did have instant success at Sunderland . So, possibly it could have worked. It would have been great for us in the media. It could have gone brilliantly. But, if you're the owner and you're sitting back, you think, ‘Listen, I've taken plenty of risks, and I've tried everything,’ but it might have been one risk too far.
Could Keane Still Succeed?
Every club's situation is different. Roy Keane may have gone in there and turned them around instantly with his style of management. He's a clever man, you see the analysis side, the critical side, maybe on TV, but he wouldn't just go in and be the sort of character everyone sees. I'm sure he'd be decent.
He's had success as a manager and great success as a player. That doesn't always translate, but it did translate for him as a manager with Sunderland pretty much instantly. Not so much with Ipswich , but that was a different situation again. I'd love him to get the United job, as a fan growing up as a kid, I had his name on my jersey. But I would like him to get another job first and sort of repeat what he did at Sunderland or something along those lines. Have success again before you're going straight to the top of Manchester United. It's a big risk.
Roy To The League of Ireland?
I'd love to see him manage again, but I don't see him doing it. I don't know if he's said it or not, but he looks quite happy doing everything that he does. I think it would be great for the game to see him managing again, but I just don't see it happening. Maybe I'm wrong. I think he was linked to the Ireland job, and maybe got asked about it. Again, that might suit him.
I was there for a little bit when he was assistant manager, but that might suit him a bit more as the head coach. Maybe next time that comes around.
Would Roy Keane Return To The League Of Ireland?
Dunphy vs Keane
Dunphy's Keane Criticism
Eamon wrote his autobiography, so there's been a fallout since then. It's their job, isn't it, for Eamon and for Roy , to come up with things to talk about. We all started to do it. I wouldn't read too much into it.
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