Ex-Blues boss Roy Keane is being lined up as Martin O’Neill’s Republic of Ireland number two with the former Celtic, Aston Villa and Leicester manager now appearing certain to be confirmed as the successor to Giovanni Trapattoni, who left by mutual consent in September.

O’Neill is now understood to have indicated to the FAI that he is interested in the job following a series of meetings. Discussions are believed to be continuing over the weekend with confirmation perhaps coming as soon as Monday.

The 61-year-old is reported to have instigated the idea of former Ireland skipper Keane, 42, joining his staff and the ex-Manchester United man is thought to be interested in the role despite a well-documented rocky relationship with the FAI.

Former midfielder Ray Houghton and performance director Ruud Dokter have been working as headhunters for the FAI and the ex-Liverpool man confirmed to the BBC that he expected developments soon: "I'm involved in the process of bringing the manager in.

"At the moment there are a few things under way but until things are signed we just have to wait and see. Something, hopefully, in the next few days will come about."

Current Town manager Mick McCarthy was seen as the other frontrunner along with O’Neill but the Blues never received an approach from the FAI.

Photo: Action Images

lucytown added 21:34 - Nov 2 Roy Keane interested - Desperate?!
0

Warkys_Tash added 22:27 - Nov 2 Great, Tuck Keano under your arm Martin and walk the plank, 'cos that's the only thing that's going to happen if you take him on board with you. Now let's get back to business, put this distraction aside & let MM & TC crack on with the job of getting us up the league!
0

RedDust added 01:06 - Nov 3 @RegencyBlue "Can't see Roy keane being anyone's number 2" I can he's my number 2.... Because he is sh1t!
0

cyprustractorboy added 08:26 - Nov 3 itfc can now concentrate on playing and winning all they need to do is get taylor in the right position for 90 minutes
0

bohslegend added 12:26 - Nov 4 (With my ITFC hat on): PHEW! My instinct all along was that MM was going nowhere regardless of how some of the anti-MM "fans" on here liked to dress it up, MM was never asked about the Ireland job and therefore did not need to answer a hypothetical question for the sake of easily-rattled fickle fans. In Mick We Trust! Onwards and Upwards! (With my Ireland hat on): Disaster! Trap may have had his ways which some may have disagreed with but with a limited squad we did well all things considered. Some fans didn't appreciate his style of play. Well, here's news for ya; MON is not known for playing á la Barcelona! And now with an egocentric gobsh!te from Cork as his No.2 we don't so much have the dream team, more like the Nightmare team. Halloween indeed.

0

BlueVelvet added 12:40 - Nov 4 RK as assistant, can you imagine it?
0

bluelodgeblue added 16:24 - Nov 4 O'Neill will hook em, and Keane will clean n fry em!!! Yeehaa jesters dead! great Balls of Fire!
0

pegasus added 16:51 - Nov 4 Nice item in Tony Cascarino's 'Tony Awards' in today's Times: COLD COMFORT Roy Keane It's the assistant manager's job to put an arm round the shoulder, to console, to advise, to be a buffer to the big boss. Does that sound like a job Roy Keane can do for Ireland?
0

Surco72 added 17:24 - Nov 4 Perhaps Ireland officials have been watching Town recently which is why they didn't even contact MM
0

kerryblue added 20:33 - Nov 4 I can see this working Keane shows a lot of respect to Oneill and has done down the years,cant be any worse than Crap Trap
0

itfctrent added 13:37 - Nov 5 I know that people will not agree with me on this post, but some (some being the pivotal word) but not all of our football under Keane was good. We started well under him before if anything little motivation from our manager caused us to fall down to table. With Mick, we have stability and our football has never been so good (since Joe Royle anyways). I appreciate our form has dropped and we cannot keep a lead because we choose to almost sit back but lets get behind the manager and hopefully, with our support, we can be rewarded and enjoy a push for play-offs at last!

0

Blogs 297 bloggers

Ipswich Town Polls