Adam Dennehey WAFU manager
According to stories today in several leading newspapers, Roy Keane could be about to make a surprise return to management to take over as the new national coach of Iceland.
The 40-year-old former Manchester United and Republic of Ireland legend captain has been out of work since January when he was sacked by Ipswich after a disappointing 20 months, where he was only able to win 28 out of 81 games in charge
The Icelandic Football Association (IFA) are believed to want to meet Keane and offer him the role to replace the outgoing Olafur Johannesson for the 2014 World Cup Qualifying campaign which is due to start in September next year.
Whilst there’s no doubt it would be good to see Keane back in a job getting more experience as a manager, if he were to take up the job, it would raise some interesting points:
- Why would Keane take over the job of a struggling nation?
- What aside from a nice salary, would the job offer?
- Wouldn’t it be better to manage a struggling side in club football than at a national level?
- Why wouldn’t he want to go into club-management instead which tests a manager more?
All of those questions raise certain points. Whilst Keane still has alot to learn as a manager, there’s no doubt that from his time at Sunderland where he won the Championship in his first season in charge, he clearly has potential to be a good manager and deserves another chance somewhere.
Perhaps though, if he were to take over managing Iceland, it would be a good way for him to prove people wrong and get the best out of players who (rightly or wrongly) have struggled to make a challenge to qualify for a major tournament – not that they should be expected to given their size and quality of their national league.
One thing is for sure, Keane would certainly demand the best from any team that he is in charge of and would surely along with the IFA want to improve on the team’s FIFA world ranking of 124th, moulding them into a tougher side that would be harder to beat.
By Adam Dennehey @ADennehey87
