Robbie Keane is the reported frontrunner to be Celtic’s next manager.
The rumours are seemingly getting louder every week, with uncertainty persisting over Martin O’Neill’s future in the Parkhead dugout.
Keane, on the other hand, is locked in a crucial title race with Ferencvaros at risk of missing out on the Hungarian league title for the first time since 2018.
Despite this, his name continues to dominate the Celtic conversation.
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Robbie Keane: Celtic speculation doesn’t bother me
Asked by Sky Sports how he deals with speculation, Keane said: “To be honest with you, it doesn’t bother me. And it never did as a player.
“I think the speculation… it means that I must be doing okay.
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“But again, I can’t take my eye off the ball where I am. I think my biggest strength is that I don’t care what happens outside me.
“It doesn’t bother me. I don’t care about criticism, because I’m not worried about people criticising me that don’t know me.
“So that outside noise never affects me. For me, it’s just about what I’m doing right now at this minute, and continuing to do that.”
“Because, I think, if you want to be successful… you talk about being demanding, you have to go into training tomorrow, and demand again off the players. You have to set the standards, you have to set the tone yourself.
On his performances with the Budapest club in Europe, Keane said: “As soon as the Europe thing happened… the budget that we have, I think we’re the third lowest in Europe out of 32 teams.
“So, you’re playing against teams got massive budgets. But for me, that’s a privilege. Because okay can we have a go when we look at the teams that we beat in Europe…
“You know drew with Fenerbahce, we beat Salzburg, we beat Rangers — which was nice — so we’ve beat massive teams.”
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Robbie Keane’s candidacy for Celtic
Keane is certainly remembered fondly for his excellent form when brought to the club on loan from the second half of the 2009-10 season, a disappointing campaign for the club as a whole.
His spell managing in Israel is troubling for parts of the Parkhead support, but it clearly isn’t dissuading the club from considering him as a candidate.
At Ferencvaros, he delivered the club’s first European knockout win in 50 years against Ludogorets earlier this year.
He is also in the final of the Hungarian cup.
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