Keane - I'm going to have to be the good cop

Roy Keane spoke to the media this afternoon for the first time since becoming Republic of Ireland Assistant Manager and insisted that anything less then qualification for France 2016 will be a failure.

Keane has had 48 hours and two training sessions to get to know the squad, among which are players he has shared a pitch with during his playing career. The Cork man says it’s a credit to Martin O’Neill that he took the risk of appointing him as his assistant.

“It goes to show how strong he is that he has brought me on board, because some might see me as a threat or a troublemaker of some sort, hopefully Martin has seen something in me and that I have something to offer.”

Keane will work under O’Neill as the focus switches to improving the fortunes of a nation that have been sorely scarred by an underwhelming and often heartbreaking World Cup campaign. But what will the Cork man offer in the new set-up?

“I’ve lots of experience, lots of knowledge, hopefully I like to set high standards, and a lot of people seem to have an issue with that. A lot of the criticism I’ve faced over the last 15 or 20 years is that I’m very demanding and that I don’t settle for second best – well I’m certainly not going to apologise for that. That’s just part of my make up.”

There has always been a notion that Ireland don’t produce the quality of player that can compete on the international stage, and that defeats are often blamed on the manager, when in fact the raw materials aren’t available. But Keane doesn’t agree and thinks Ireland should be beating teams that they’ve come unstick against in recent times.

“Anytime I played for Ireland we always felt we had a chance of winning any match we went in to. It didn’t always happen against the top teams, I hope the players will go into every game believing they’ll get the right result. You look at the Sweden and Austria’s and I think Ireland should be getting better results. I thought the same as a player and that’s why I used to get frustrated, because I thought we should be doing better then we were doing.”

To challenge the best Ireland will need all the tools available at their disposal. One of those is Stephen Ireland whose period in International exile may well come to an end under the new management. Keane has been full of praise for Ireland in the past and says he is hoping he may get back involved over the next while.

“It’s great to see him (Stephen Ireland) back playing, we only got the job last week and I know there’s loads of areas I’m sure Martin will look at. Lads will maybe be back on the scene, I know a few lads have come back, people like Anthony Stokes, so if Ireland is any bit interested in coming to play for Ireland again and Martin wants him involved then we’ve got to do our best to try and get these type of players back involved.”

Shining out through the seriousness was a more light hearted side of the Cork man, who made sure to give his old haunting ground of Saipan a fleeting, yet roundabout, mention. “We’ve had a lovely few days, the hotel has been great, the food’s been excellent, the training grounds been excellent, no potholes, football, bibs, everything, major progress.”

And being referred to as the ‘bad bad cop’ by O’Neill last week may not have been entirely correct. “I think its going to have to be the other way around, I think I’m going to have to be the good cop. You obviously don’t know Martin as well as you think you do, he makes me look like Mother Theresa.”

But Roy, why this and why now? “The emotional attachment to it. I’m quite an emotional person, I know some of the players, I’m looking forward to the lads I haven’t worked with before. It’s the whole package – it’s good for my family, it’s good for Martin and to try and help the team qualify. Like in any opportunity, any job you look at the pluses and the minuses and I couldn’t think of any minus of why not to get back involved.”