EFL owner explains why he’d never hire Roy Keane – “Transfer requests after two weeks!”
Peterborough United owner and chairman Darragh MacAnthony has revealed the reason why he’d never hire Roy Keane as the club’s manager.
Keane, 52, wasted little time getting into management after announcing his retirement at Celtic in 2006, spending the next two-and-a-half years in charge of Sunderland, who he guided back to the Premier League in a stellar first season before resigning in December 2008. The Manchester United legend then spent 20 months at Ipswich Town, getting the sack in January 2011.
Since leaving Portman Road, Keane hasn’t held a head coach position, although he has been part of the backroom staff at Aston Villa, Nottingham Forest and the Republic of Ireland national team. The former United captain, who’s considered one of the Premier League’s all-time great midfielders, has expressed his desire to return to management in the near future, now spending much of his time working as a TV pundit.
Keane has spoken to various teams at both club and international level down the years, and recently went on the record to state that he’s still open to becoming a manager again. But if he does accept a job, don’t expect it to be Peterborough, where Sir Alex Ferguson’s son, Darren, is current enjoying his fourth spell in the hot seat.
Asked while appearing as a guest on talkSPORT whether he’d consider hiring Keane, MacAnthony admitted that although he rates the Irishman as a pundit and loves his no-nonsense approach to analysing the modern game, he would worry about a culture clash between Keane and his players.
“No, no, not for me,” the Posh chief replied to a caller. “I love listening to him on ITV, I love all of that, but no way. I know he did phenomenally at Sunderland, he won promotion with them, they went on the run and won the league and got to the Premier League.
“But I think we have to look at this – and it drives me mad sometimes – generations today have changed from footballers 10, 15, 20 years ago.”
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