Keane back with a blast

Roy Keane has demonstrated that five months out of football have not mellowed him with a withering dismissal of the managerial achievements of his old Manchester United team-mates.

The former United enforcer also showed that he is still capable of the verbal equivalent of a two-footed tackle with a put-down of his former Ireland team-mate Tony Cascarino, who had questioned whether Keane would ever get another job after quitting Sunderland in December.

“I would not give him the time of day,” Keane said of Cascarino.

“I am quite happy to comment on people’s opinion in football I respect, but Tony Cascarino I certainly do not respect for a lot of reasons, and if I told you, you would be shocked. So the day I worry about Tony Cascarino will be a very sad day in my life.”

Keane’s capacity to ruffle the feathers even of people he considers friends was reflected in his response to a request to assess why he and former team-mates like Steve Bruce, Bryan Robsons, Mark Hughes and Paul Ince had gone on to become successful managers.

“Who are the good managers you are talking about?” he asked. “Sparky (Hughes) and Brucey have not won a trophy, have they? They have potential but anyone can have potential.”

Keane stressed that he would judge himself on an equally demanding standard.

“I have done nothing in the game yet. I did OK at Sunderland, but I want to do better than OK.”

Neither Hughes nor Bruce showed any sign of having taken offence at Keane’s comments, with both men suggesting they had long since got used to their former team-mate’s tendency to shoot from the hip.

“Roy is just making a statement,” said Hughes with a smile. “The media are very glad he is back on the scene because he is good value. I don’t think many managers who get appointed to a mid-table Championship team could make the impact Roy has.

“It is a compliment to him and the personality he has. He has taken on a big task there, just as I have here (at Manchester City). It is about driving our clubs forward.”

Bruce accused England’s newspapers of getting together and deciding, “We’ll hammer Roy’s mates.”

He added: “I’m sure it was taken out of context, but the one thing I have always said about Roy is that, even in a little sleepy town like Ipswich, he is back page headlines, over two or three pages.

“For me, football is better with him back in it, because we were all intrigued on Thursday – with how he looked, what he was going to do, what he was going to say, and whether he was going to come out with something outrageous.

“I am glad he is back in the game, and I am sure he will be a success at Ipswich. He’ll put himself under enormous pressure – but that’s Roy.

“He seems to be excited by the challenge, which can only be good.

“I’ve known him since he was 20 years old, so if there is somebody who can understand him a little bit, I know where he is coming from.

“And he’s right! We haven’t won anything. Two promotions means nothing in his book. You have got to win the Premier League and the European Cup as a manager to be a success in Roy’s eyes.

“That’s the sort of standards he sets himself – but it is very difficult to do that.”