Martin O’Neill could be replaced by Robbie Keane as the manager of Celtic this summer, but the former striker was once denied the opportunity to join his coaching staff at the Republic of Ireland.
Keane is on a shortlist of managers tipped to take the long-term role when O’Neill steps aside at the end of the season.
Ireland’s all-time scorer has been linked with Celtic in the past following his work with Maccabi Tel Aviv and Ferencvaros, but O’Neill opted against giving him a platform in 2016.
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I want the next manager of Celtic to be…
Why Martin O’Neill didn’t let Robbie Keane join the Ireland coaching staff
After retiring from football, Keane was looking to move into a coaching role before evolving into management and had been tipped to join O’Neill’s team.
The move didn’t happen as the Hoops legend admitted that he didn’t want to reshuffle his coaching team to make special room for the forward.
“At this minute I wouldn’t bring Robbie in at the expense of one of my coaches – I don’t think that would be wildly fair.
“I’m sure he’ll be great and myself and Roy wouldn’t have a problem talking to him about that. But I think the way he’s going, he’ll be strong-minded enough to go his own way.”
Robbie Keane listened to Martin O’Neill’s advice
Dermot Desmond personally funded Keane’s move to Celtic and has no doubt been watching his career closely.
His reputation means that he could have landed a big-club role immediately, but he chose to go elsewhere after listening to the advice of his former manager.
“You take your chance,” said the Celtic legend. “You go manage at a lower level. I managed Wycombe in the Vauxhall Conference. But if you fail there, you might never be heard of again.
The links are back again… Would you welcome Robbie Keane as Celtic manager?
Tell us why…
“There’s a decent chance that if you’re not getting results, somebody three divisions higher is not going to pick you out and say, “He’s just learned his trade down there”.
“No, it’s, ‘He’s failed down there’ so it’s no bad way to learn something from people with great experience.”
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