With the departure of Ronny Deila this
summer from Celtic, once again both Martin O’Neill and Roy Keane are being
linked with a return to their former clubs.
O’Neill was in charge of Celtic for a highly
successful five years while Roy Keane played there for a short period, ten
years ago in 2006.
While O’Neill is one of many names linked to
the role, Roy Keane has emerged as the front runner.
Comments today by O’Neill will only add fuel
to the fire. Speaking ahead of the
upcoming friendly matches ahead of Euro 2016, O’Neill said:
“Anything
can happen between now and the start of next season,” “Who can say? I think
that Roy will want to manage in his own right and make the decisions, which is
important”.
“He has been
used to making a lot of decisions throughout his life — as a player, captain
and as a manager.
“I think
this has been very good for him. Will he want to manage on his own again?
Absolutely, and if a really good opportunity comes up then I will wish him all
the best.”
“Celtic is one of the great clubs in the world, and Keane was one of the
great players in the world so that’s not a bad fit,”
Keane turned
down the role the last time it became available after the 2014 departure of
Neil Lennon. This time around it seems a
far more appealing move with the end of the European qualifying campaign and
the tournament itself tying in with the commencement of the new season where
Celtic will defend their title with the return of the old enemy Rangers to the
Scottish Premier division.
O’Neill went
on to add:
“But, as Roy
said, you still have to be asked to do it and so far I’m not sure that has been
the case.
“I don’t
think that he would give things up here lightly, and I think something would
have to be, as he often says as his favourite phrase ‘rock his boat’.”
“He has
enjoyed it here, I think it has been good for him here. But is he ready to go?
Yeah, he could very well be.”
A report in
the Irish Independent all but confirmed Keane’s interest in the job as Liam
Glynn, BoyleSports’ spokesperson said:
“We have had to suspend betting on the
next Celtic manager after an avalanche of support for Roy Keane over the past
24 hours.”
He added “We
couldn’t lay a single cent on original favourite Martin O’Neill over the past
48 hours, it’s all been about Roy Keane and it has gave our traders no other
choice but to suspend the market as it now looks like that Roy Keane has been
in talks with the Celtic management and things have gone smoothly so far.”
Keane may
feel the time will be right to move on after the European Championships, before
the start of a new campaign as qualifying for World Cup Russia 2018 gets
underway later this year.
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