When he looked around his Republic of Ireland dressing room, Martin O’Neill admits he wouldn’t necessarily have identified Robbie Keane as potential management material.
Having more recently noted Keane’s sterling work in charge of Maccabi Tel Aviv and Ferencvaros, however, O’Neill has no doubts that the 45-year-old should be firmly on Celtic’s radar to take charge of the club this summer.
Keane, who is not short of admirers in the Celtic boardroom, is now the bookmakers’ favourite to be Celtic’s next permanent manager.
O’Neill’s time in charge of the Republic of Ireland did not coincide with Keane at the peak of the striker’s powers but he still held a healthy regard for the country’s most-capped player and highest all-time goal scorer.
Keane retired from international football shortly after being a fringe player in O’Neill’s squad at the Euro 2016 finals.
After starting his coaching career with assistant roles with Middlesbrough and Leeds, he has flourished as a manager in his own right. Keane guided Maccabi Tel Aviv to the Israeli Premier League crown in 2024, earning a move to Ferencvaros where he is currently chasing a second consecutive Hungarian title.
Robbie Keane is chasing a second consecutive Hungarian title as manager of Ferencvaros
Interim boss Martin O’Neill says Celtic should be looking at someone of Keane’s calibre
Striker Kelechi Iheanacho is pushing for a start after scoring against Dundee at Dens Park
In an interview this week, Keane admitted he has ambitions to manage at a higher level and has never made any secret of the affection he still holds for Celtic where he scored 16 goals in 19 games during a spell on loan from Tottenham in the second half of the 2009-10 season.
O’Neill has enough on his plate right now trying to complete his salvage mission of Celtic’s season, with the 74-year-old still in contention to win a domestic double after answering the call to step back into the hot seat for a second time in the tumultuous campaign. He is more than willing, however, to endorse Keane’s credentials.
‘Why not?,’ said O’Neill when asked if Keane should be a candidate for the job. ‘Robbie has done really fine at Ferencvaros, so why shouldn’t he be?
‘The football club should be looking at someone of that sort of calibre. I worked with Robbie for a couple of years when I was the Republic of Ireland manager. We could have done with him when he was 26 or 27, rather than the latter part of his career.
‘Did he strike me as a future manager? That’s always hard to say. When I was a player at Nottingham Forest, for example, I am not sure I thought of management all that much.
‘The one person who I did think had all the attributes to do it was our defender Larry Lloyd. One, he could speak back to Brian Clough. Two, he was big and three, he was a good speaker in the dressing room.
‘He was very commanding and did well in his first job at Wigan, getting them promoted. I then played under Larry at Notts County. He’d lost a bit of confidence then and people expected him to take some time away from management and come roaring back. But he didn’t, he went into the pub business and I felt he was lost to management.
‘The point I am making is that you think someone will be a manager, and it doesn’t happen. Personally, I might have been the most unlikely player at Forest to become a manager.
‘So I don’t know enough about Robbie as a person to say how he would manage a group of people in a dressing room, but he’s made a fair fist of it so far.’
O’Neill remains coy about his own future beyond the end of the season, although he has previously hinted at a willingness to stay on at Celtic in some capacity.
He insists, though, that the spying mission he and his first-team coach Mark Fotheringham were spotted on at Preston’s game at home to QPR on Easter Monday wasn’t an indication he is expecting to have a longer-term role.
‘It was a chance to see a live Championship game and I wouldn’t be reading a great deal more into it,’ he said.
‘There were two elements to it, really. I went down because, at the end of it all, it’s my opinion we should still be looking at players. Also, I know the Preston director Peter Ridsdale from way back when he tried to get me to Leeds United and we have stayed in touch.
‘If there is someone who I think could be good for Celtic, the new manager might have a totally different opinion. But if we were looking at a couple of players in that game, at least it’s someone you can put on the board and say “we looked at them”.’
O’Neill’s priority is getting the most out of the current squad as they target the Premiership title and Scottish Cup in a fascinating finale to the season.
The striking department remains a major concern for O’Neill, despite injury-plagued Kelechi Iheanacho coming off the bench to score a crucial winner against Dundee at Dens Park last Sunday.
While tempted to now start the former Manchester City player against St Mirren at Celtic Park tomorrow, O’Neill remains uncertain of his ability to stay the course. With Czech striker Tomas Cvancara struggling for form, it’s a quandary for the manager.
‘Iheanacho is fired up and has a lot of natural ability,’ said O’Neill. ‘We’re not sure whether to start him because there’s a decent chance he won’t last the game. He says he would, but we’ll see. If he stays fit between now and the end of the season, we’ll need him.
‘I think it’s fair to say Tomas could do with more confidence. He missed two or three chances last week, one he would have taken with more confidence.
‘There were parts of his game I was pleased about but eventually centre forwards have to live and die by the number of goals they score.’
