Sky Sports News featured a clip of Ireland manager Martin O’ Neill and his staff sitting pitchside during training. Apaprently, this is some sort of clue that Keane has been moved down the pecking order and replaced by Steve Walford..
Roy used to sit next to him. He’s been moved further along the line.
Here is O’ Neill;
And here is where he made Keane sit;
Anyway, the thought of not having to work with Keane after the weekend has taken years off O’ Neill:
So, despite the denials, the rumours and all the speculation, it looks like the new guy will be announced on Monday. That gives him time to give serious thought about who he would like as his assistant, and who he would like as head coach. We believe that his first suggestion to the board has been turned down.
Whoever gets the job will need to be strong enough to stand up to Keane, but also command the respect of the sometimes fiery Irishman. Theres not many people Keane gets on with, so at least he won’t bring one of his pals with him.
The more realistic suggestions include Roy Aitken, who has a wealth of experience and knows the club inside out. He deserves a chance to restore his reputation with the support after he left under a bit of a cloud back in the eighties. Aitken gave his heart and soul to Celtic, but carried the can when things started to go wrong. Unfairly, with hindsight, and he might be the man to shield the players from the more extreme bouts of Keanes rants.
However, we hear he is currently undergoing surgery;
Lisbon lion on twitter held a caption competition, and gburns won it with this entry. Made me chuckle, despite the memory of that awful night. They’ve not found the boot to this day.
Diary regular Holy Sea came up with Brian McClair as a number two, which given the association with Keane, the link to Celtic, and McClairs work at the Manchester United Academy, is as good a shout as any.
The assistants job at any club is a very important role, and with Celtic under Keane, it is a little more than that. Its absolutely essential the board get this right.
No yes man, no doing someone a favour, no hoping it all goes right on the night. It has to be someone who will work with Keane, and whilst acknowledging who is boss, he must not be afraid to stand up to him. Most importantly, he will have to have extraordinary powers of man management, because he is going to be very busy with the players.
The club have released a statement thanking everyone who has renewed their season books. Over 40,000 are estimated to have been sold, and thats without the expected kick from a new manager or new signings.
“OUR Season Ticket renewal deadline has now passed, with the Celtic supporters once again demonstrating their phenomenal commitment to the club by renewing in great numbers for the 2014/15 season.
Since this year’s campaign was launched by captain Scott Brown at the beginning of last month, our supporters have given fantastic backing to the Bhoys, as we target a fourth consecutive Scottish League title in the season ahead.
The numbers who have renewed to date puts the club well on course to having in excess of 40,000 Season Ticket holders once again next season.
Anticipation is also building ahead of next month’s European draw when we’ll find out who we’ll face in our quest to make the UEFA Champions League group stages for the third consecutive year.
And of course, we soon hope to know the identity of the new manager of Celtic Football Club, someone we know will receive the full support of the Celtic faithful as we aim to tackle the challenging European qualifying rounds.
A Season Ticket is your passport to European football and gives holders a guaranteed right to buy UEFA Champions League tickets – should the team make the illustrious group stages – ensuring you don’t miss out on some of the biggest games of the season.
The commitment and support of our fans is vitally important to the ongoing success of Celtic, and we would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank our Season Ticket holders being part of our great club.
We look forward to welcoming you to Celtic Park once again in 2014/15.
BECAUSE WE’RE THE BEST FANS IN THE WORLD
BECAUSE THIS IS OUR TIME
The decision to use the buzzword ” Because ” looks to have backfired there, as the bit in bold doesn’t quite make sense when its tagged onto the line above. “We look forward to welcoming you, because we are the best fans” ? Surely it should be “you are the best fans ” ?
Still, money well spent again, I see.
PR and marketing are not a particular strength of the current incumbents, but not to worry, we’ll get all the publicity we need when Keane gets the job.
But fair play, they have at least acknowledged the supporters contribution. Under the Kellys and Whites they used to tell us hardly anyone had turned up and hide the gate money under the bed. Either that or someone else was doing that, and telling them no-one was there. I remember a home game against Airdrie I was at in the eighties, maybe midweek, and the attendance in the paper was 4,800.
Pure fiction. There was at least 6000 there.
Mind you, if you want a book, it might be an idea to get your finger out. This is the queue today
We believe that the deal for Keane is now almost finalised, and its just a matter of what car he’ll be driving and if can he get time off if one of the dogs needs to go to the vets.
John O’ Shea, who gave us a moment of delight when playing for Manchester Utd against the old Rangers-he got booked after about thirty seconds for kicking someone-reckons the deal is done as well, and he thinks Keane will do well;
‘I think he’d cope very well,’ said O’Shea. ‘His appetite since he’s come into this job will have increased “
That should put the fear of God into Ally McCoist, himself no stranger to a meat pie.
‘He’s obviously learned from Martin along the way, too. He’ll relish the challenge. If it does happen, Celtic will be getting a very hungry and determined manager.’
Asked if he thought that would be the outcome, he added: ‘Yeah, it looks very much like it now.
‘It was mentioned at the start of the week and slowly but surely it’s snowballed into having talks with Celtic. So I’d very surprised if it doesn’t get across the line.’
Learning not only from O’ Neill, but Clough and Ferguson as well. Keane will know how to manage, and he certainly has the passion, but can he transfer that into results ? We could be getting the greatest manager of this generation, or the biggest train wreck since Craig Whyte told Ally McCoist to leave the VAT until next month…Book me a seat and get me some popcorn. I can’t wait.
Ireland head to America on Wednesday for further friendlies against Costa Rica and Portugal. O’Neill expects Keane’s situation to be clarified before they cross the Atlantic.
‘I imagine that in the next few days the situation will resolve itself,’ he said. ‘Whether it goes into Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday, we are not actually leaving until Wednesday.
So I would imagine that the situation would be sorted by then. Celtic are actively seeking a manager and they have a certain number of days to try and do something because they will want a man in place for when they come back for pre-season.’
O’Neill also insisted Keane was in wider demand, adding: ‘As I have said before, I would have expected him to step into management eventually because I think that was something that was still burning within him.
‘But I did not think it would happen so quickly, that he would have offers – a number of offers – on the table. And I am not talking about Celtic, I am talking about other teams “
-added O’Neill, desperately trying to appease Dermot Desmond, who sent him a text asking him to go along with the pretence that Keane is interested in other jobs and Celtic are interested in other people.
Graham Spiers, writing in the Herald, presumably so no-one will notice, pointed out Keanes “erratic ” managerial record, and warns us;
Little wonder that Sir Alex Ferguson quickly backed off from his original notion that Keane would be a success in the dugout
Thats right, he chose Davie Moyes to replace him instead.
The Daily Record have decided to set the scene for the arrival of the new man, by printing a pageful of his “best rants ” , which are no doubt amusing the staff at the paper. Bear in mind, its only funny when it happens to someone else…
“Who do you think you are having meetings about me? You were a crap player and you are a crap manager. The only reason I have any dealings with you is that somehow you are the manager of my country and you’re not even Irish, you English ****.”
Keane on Mick McCarthy, below, after falling out with the Republic of Ireland boss before World Cup 2002.
“I probably haven’t done myself justice at Celtic. If I’m going to keep getting niggling injuries, that’s no good to anyone. I’ve not made a definite decision but I’m sure other things will come up for me. Doing coaching badges is in the back of my mind.”
Keane on the possibility of hanging up his boots.
“I felt like a fraud at Celtic. I made a big mistake there in terms of commuting yet was asking myself why I kept getting injured. I twice tore a hamstring.
“It wasn’t the best preparation. To me it doesn’t matter if you’re on £100,000 a week or £5000, you’ve still got to do things properly.”
Keane on why his time at Celtic wasn’t a success.
“I do remember having conversations with the manager when I was at the club about loyalty and, in my opinion, I don’t think he knows the meaning of the word. It doesn’t bother me too much what he says about me but to constantly criticise other players at the club who brought him a lot of success, I find very strange. But I won’t be losing any sleep over it.”
Keane on why his time at Celtic wasn’t a success.
“I do remember having conversations with the manager when I was at the club about loyalty and, in my opinion, I don’t think he knows the meaning of the word. It doesn’t bother me too much what he says about me but to constantly criticise other players at the club who brought him a lot of success, I find very strange. But I won’t be losing any sleep over it.”
Keane on ex-Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson, above.
“Will those on telly be remembered for what they’ve achieved? No.
“I wouldn’t trust them to walk my dog. There are ex-players and ex-referees being given airtime who I wouldn’t listen to in a pub.”
Keane on football pundits … before joining ITV as one.
None of these compare to this one, where Roy heard Patrick Viera had a pop at Gary Neville…
keane discusses football with Viera
In a documentary, years later, Keane explained to Viera;
“When we were going out for the start of the game I had forgotten my armband and when I came out I heard, I had obviously seen you at the top of the tunnel probably having a go at Gary and maybe one or two others and what really annoyed me that night was again whether I was right or wrong was that you were picking on Gary, you know, I was looking at Nicky Butt and I think Wes Brown and I’m thinking you were almost picking on the weakest link so that’s what got my back up that, there were two or three of you ganging up on Gary. Simple as that,” said Keane when talking about the incident.
Vieira saw things differently and claimed he was trying to stick up for his then team-mate Robert Pires, replying: “But the way I wanted to make the point to him at the time was like, when we played at Old Trafford his tackling was flying on Robert Pires and he was doing it on purpose and I said listen, we are not at Old Trafford here, this is Highbury.
The two squabble in the documentary about the details of the event, with Vieira saying: “You wasn’t there, you wasn’t there.”
Keane later on goes to say that his recollection of the events aren’t great, saying: “No I cant really remember. Erm I cant quite remember I’m sure you’re going to remind though are you.”
United beat Arsenal 4-2 that day and it was the last time Keane and Vieira faced each other in the Premier League
( From the Daily Express, so the score might be the only thing correct in that piece, and even that might be worth checking. )
Inside Roy Keane is a great manager. The problem is to be a great manager, you must first learn how to manage yourself.
He will have to learn what motivates his players, what hurts and damages them, what makes them feel better, and how to make them run that final mile, not because he tells them to, but because they want to.
Whatever happens, its going to be worth watching.
Ah, yes, the players.
Emilio Izaguerre and Mikael Lustig both signed new deals yesterday, meaning that two members of the best defence we’ve probably ever had are on board for the ride. Now, its just the rest of them.
Hopefully, England will return home from Brazil after three 8-0 defeats and Forster will stay with us. and perhaps Van Dijk and Ambrose were big Man Utd fans growing up…., with posters of Roy Keane on their walls…..
We’ve featured a couple of Barry McGonigles restored photos before, to great approval-and no wonder-and this one deserves a mention as well, which is a work of art;
Another pic, done by Jobby Tash, hopefully not his real name, or he will struggle to get a girlfriend, is as iconic as any done for the modern age;
Yesterday we showed a picture of Andy Payton, who signed for Celtic at the wrong time, as did many others during that period. Payton was a more than decent forward in a poor team, who would have flourished in another era.
Now, can you identify this blue eyed bhoy ?
Jim Melrose..worst player ever to have donned the hoops!
After Paul McGugan.
Have you forgotten about Du wei?:-? :-))
Any one remember Hugh Maxwell. He must be in the running for that title.
jim melrose.
Darryl Murphy?
That queue are relocators who have already bought their SBs, We are relying on new people buying season books from next Tuesday to get us over the 40,000 mark.
Jim Melrose
Jim Melrose…who threw up behind the goals at Tannadice if I’m not mistaken and that was his most notable feat as a player in the hoops but…I’m sure he scouted for Celtic or at least tipped us off about a player or two. One in particular who was successful but whose name has gone out of my head. Anyone help?
GEM CHEWED, RALPH and me with some real inside info. It just wasn’t about a new manager!!
H H
Bhramblejelly
In case you did not believe there was a conspiracy to bin my comments, ask the Troll why my comment is in your replies.
That player? Was it his cousin Abbey? No wonder my comments are hooked.
H H
Ralph
Surely the Troll is bloated by now with the amount of comments he has devoured. He must be getting as huge as a lower division manager – and as blue.
If this does not get posted he will burst!!
I am posting with Royal Mail from now on. At least it gets there – sometime.
H H
Keane won’t be a yes man I hope, just delighted Lennon is gone. Hopefully whoever we get will take one look at scott brown in training and tell him to leave Celtic Park.
that’ll be the Scott Brown who has played under every Celtic & Scotland manager since he signed for us (about 10 managers in total)- the Scott Brown who now captains both Celtic & Scotland – the Scott Brown who has now played about 200 games for Celtic & about 40 for Scotland?
How come all these football managers have been conned by Scott Brown ?
Who is it you’re managing / scouting for, because I’d love to see who you rate as a footballer?
I don’t have a problem with people having an opinion, but everyone, apart from you, seems to have at least something positive to say about Celtic
Well done Andy. He needed that and it saves me saying it.
bogbhoy’s comments are what you might expect from a Sevco fan…
That will be the same Scott Brown who has lifted 7 trophies for Celtic ,ran through the pain barrier and never left the field of play without leaving his sweat allover the park whilst playing in the hoops for Celtic.
I sometimes wonder what it is fans actually want at our Club?
“he’s scored loadsa goals n nat no..”<<Glory hunting bastard statement.
Commons is one of the laziest players at Celtic but because he contributes with goals and assists this is deemed ok by some?
If he had half the fucking commitment as Brown then he's be worth millions.
Brown has given Celtic almost 7 very good years service and for me leads by example with his total commitment to chase every tackle or loose ball with 100%effort and conviction.
If we had a team full of that effort we would be one hard team to beat at every level.
Stands and applauds for Andy and Charlie…well said lads!
Agreed.
It’s a pity Scott Brown doesn’t have a brain to match his energy ! Just think back to the stupid foul on Neymar and what that cost our team !
It would also help if he would learn how to pass the ball to a teammate and how to score a few more goals.
As a lifelong Celtic supporter brought up on a diet of some of the greatest midfielders and captains the game has ever seen – Evans, Peacock, Fernie, Crerand, Murdoch and McStay to name just a few – it amazes me that we persist with someone who would not be allowed to lace any of the aforementioned’s boots.
Perhaps Roy Keane with his knowledge of midfield play and captaincy will make our most expensive signing and highest paid ( £30k per week ! ) player finally earn his corn.
Bogbhoy , what colour is the sky on the planet u live ?
PB’s troll stealing my comments
Not very keen on Keane, I think he will drag us back the way that Barnes/Dalgish/ Mowbray (take your pick) did, he as a big failure as a manager in England and a very over-rated player
John Mc
You must be on same planet as Bogbhoy if you don’t rate Keane as a player. May not be a good manager but highly rated as a player and Captain at Man U
Broony has proved himself now…..he’s a great Celt
Ralph – i think you have the occasional exchange with my dad – of the same fine name – i have a pal who is raising money for an operation for his lad and was hoping to put the link on your page. do you have an e mail i can get you on to give you a bit of detail?
joe